{"resolved":true,"match_type":"uuid","source_type":"original_book","book_id":"10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3","title":"Time for Things Labor, Leisure, and the Rise of Mass Consumption","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9780674250529","requested_by":"printed_page","book":{"source_type":"original_book","book_id":"10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3","id":"10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3","uuid":"10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3","title":"Time for Things Labor, Leisure, and the Rise of Mass Consumption","normalized_title":"timeforthingslaborleisureandtheriseofmassconsumption","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9780674250529","isbns":["9780674250529","9780674250536","9780674979512"],"parsed":true,"ai_readable":true,"document_type":"book","page_count":355,"navigation_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3","title_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/title/Time%20for%20Things%20Labor%2C%20Leisure%2C%20and%20the%20Rise%20of%20Mass%20Consumption","fixed_page_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3/page/{printed_page}","path_api_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/book/10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3/page/{printed_page}","read_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/read/10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3","page_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3/page","search_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/10f0f318-a2eb-4ea9-8798-d4fb0304f8c3/search"},"page":{"printed_page":242,"pdf_page":250,"physical_index":250,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"d750e1aa0d916d8013c22fa806dc3f5d5285c9ceb6ee45c9f343747572406ef8"},"chapter":"FOR","content":"Anxiety about being implicated in planned obsolescence extended to members of various professions involved in industrial production. Henry Dreyfus, the prominent industrial designer, in 1968 contributed an op-ed piece to the Wall Street Journal defending his profession from any suggestion that it was involved in the conspiracy (the existence of which was taken as given) to compromise use value through planning obsolescence. “Although industrial designers are in the business of change,” he comments, “we resent planned obsolescence. A change in technology, improved eficiency, additional safety or comfort, a new utility development, an improved method of fabrication, the introduction of new material—these warrant a new physical expression. But to put a ‘new look’ on an existing piece of merchandise—this, to us, constitutes the duping of an unsuspecting public.”58 Likewise, David M. Pesanelli, former designer for Ford automobiles, wrote an extended exposé for the Washington Post in which he described the practice of planned obsolescence; condemned it for violating the moral obligation to produce durable items, expressive of “the value system that considers that possessions are meant to be cherished for years”; and ofered consumers practical advice on how to resist the associated marketing strategy: “Two factors limit the desirability span of any product. One is the precisely measured design life of product components. The other is faddish styling that causes that bluesy feeling when next year’s model arrives. Either of these will get to you,” he warned. The advice Pesanelli ofered consumers, on the basis of which they would, he suggested, be empowered to resist the marketing sophistry of “new design,” is to cultivate an eye for “timeless quality.” He also advised them to make use of Consumer Reports test results to assess performance and reliability.59 Similarly, in 1959 engineer and designer Jack Waldheim, penned a passionate denunciation of planned obsolescence and “death dating” in Design News: “Planned obsolescence is the deliberate attempt to have something break down or become outdated long before it has lost its usefulness—its utility—or its value.  .  .  . Its danger to the customer is that it cheats him of his hard-earned money, though he may not realize it in the beginning.”60 The moral status of planned obsolescence was also addressed by engineers attempting to square their professional practice with their religious commitments. In October 1967, a Christian vocation seminar for engineers was held in Chicago specifically to discuss “ethical issues” arising from planned obsolescence. Taking a stronger position than these designers and engineers, perhaps because his profession was perceived as being more directly involved in the practice, Walter Henry Nelson, a repentant former ad man, went on the record about the pathologies of the American economic model, which he had spent his professional life promoting: “I’ve always been dismayed by the planned obsolescence and shoddy workmanship in all too many American cars. Too many American businessmen are more interested in seeming good than in being good.”61\n\n242\n\nTime for Things","previous_page":241,"next_page":243}