- This is very much in line with the analysis given in the contemporary economics literature. Economists interpret brands as information conveying devices, the function of which is to reduce uncertainty for the consumer. The predominance of branded goods in the marketplace reduces the variance of product quality, as producers have an interest in “defending” their brands.
- Although as Katz points out, this conception of brands was not shared by the pre– World War II consumer movement. Early consumer activists saw branding as obfuscation by producers (N. D. Katz 1977, p. 278).
- “Fair Trade Protection of Name Brand Integrity,” Los Angeles Sentinel, October 18, 1951, p. A10.
- Carter 2006, Table De482–515, Advertising Expenditures.
- See also Belk and Pollay (1985).
- Pollay controlled for the influence of changes in the product mix by restricting his analysis to advertisements for manufactured goods and found a similar pattern. Pollay’s findings cast some doubt on the Thorsten Veblen thesis. If, as Veblen and his followers suggest, increasing accumulation of products was driven primarily by status competition, this was not reflected in the degree of prominence of status as a theme in advertising content.
- In some states, express warranties negate implied warranties, while in others the implied warranty holds over and above the express warranty.
- Express warranties apply to any statement made by a company about the performance of a product. So if during a television commercial a manufacturer promises 100,000 hours of use for a light bulb, this can count as an express warranty, even if the written warranty is limited to thirty days. The legal implications of the express warranty then forces companies to be circumspect about claims made about their products, because they can be held accountable for the failure of their products to perform as described.
- “The Free Sewing Machine,” Boston Globe, July 11, 1920, p. 4.
- Sheafer “Lifetime” advertisement, Chicago Daily Tribune, November 24, 1924, p. 5.
- “Sell on Quality, Not on Price—Says Pen Head,” Wall Street Journal, January 29, 1935, p. 3; “Small Town Jeweler’s Acumen Guided Sheafer Pen to the Top,” Chicago Daily Tribune, September 5, 1959, p. 5.
- David and Mark Shepherd Parker “51, Surrenden Pens Limited, 2004; Dr. S. S. L. Hettiarachchi, “The Most Wanted Pen in History,” Sunday Times of Sri Lanka. There is still a very active secondhand market for Parker 51s and “Lifetime” Sheafer pens, not just as collector’s items but as everyday working pens. Some of these pens are now over seventy years old and are still used as everyday writers.
- The durable and reusable fountain pen, which reigned supreme through the first twothirds of the twentieth century, eventually became superseded by the disposable ball point pen, the most famous example of which was introduced into the American market by Marcel Bich (later shortened to Bic) in 1959.
- “Manufacturers Make Progressive Strides in General Standardization Work,” New York Times; June 9, 1912, p. X15.
- “The Roosevelt Policies—In the President’s Own Words” New York Times, March 4,
1934, p. XX3. In the 1930s, Roosevelt was, in theory at least, quite sympathetic to the cause of
310
Notes to Pages 186–191