{"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":243,"pdf_page":251,"physical_index":251,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"6b9028b2b6d27659c8b28390ad440196557825af32df906a38bcb5c6081939d6"},"chapter":"FOR","content":"8. Marketing “Planned Durability”\n\nThe strongly negative opinions about planned obsolescence prompted some companies to make an efort to signal that their products were designed and constructed according to diametrically opposite principles. This was particularly true of the auto industry. In the 1960s a large number of ad campaigns were launched by corporations, the point of which was specifically to deny that they implemented planned obsolescence. “Borgward does not believe in ‘planned obsolescence,’” went one advertisement, typical of those adopting this strategy, adding, “Improvements are made gradually—without outward changes.”62 Similarly, the copy in a Volkswagen ad from 1959 proclaims: “We do not believe in planned obsolescence. We don’t change a car for the sake of change,” continuing to note, like the Borgward advertisement, that while the company makes changes to its products every year, these changes constitute invisible improvements to function and durability rather than being merely stylistic.63 One ad agency announced that its strategy was to take clients (in this case Volvo and the American Motor Company [AMC]) along a “value” route in promoting their products, in contradistinction to “planned obsolescence.”64 AMC issued a press release in 1960 proclaiming its resolute stance against planned obsolescence. According to one report, “American Motors Corporation announced it will open another attack on ‘planned obsolescence’ in automobiles in 1960. The company said it will introduce ceramic coated muflers as standard equipment in its 1961 models in an efort to prove that cars don’t have to start falling apart after three years or 70,000 miles of driving.”65 In the 1960s, at least eight major car manufacturers— Mercedes, Volkswagen, Peugeot, AMC, Volvo, BMW, Rover, Borgward, and Rolls Royce—in addition to several smaller brands (Checkers and Imperial, for example), launched advertising campaigns organized around the message that their cars were emphatically not produced according to the principle of planned obsolescence. A 1963 campaign launched for Checker Family Cars (an ofshoot of Checker’s taxi cabs) was built around the message “No Planned Obsolescence, Planned Permanence!”66 Similarly, Imperial, Chrysler’s luxury brand, went to great lengths in its 1961 advertising campaign to distinguish itself on the basis of being resistant to obsolescence. The lead copy of the ad was “Planned continuity is part of its elegance.” It went on to note that “Imperial’s design reflects planned continuity, not planned obsolescence. This magnificent automobile—except for many refinements—has remained unchanged for the past five model years. . . . Thus, Imperial’s owners pay little penalty in money or satisfaction when the next Imperial model comes out.” The ad makes an association between the absence of model changes and physical durability, describing the Imperial as “America’s most carefully built car.”67\n\nMoral Panic about Utility\n\n243","previous_page":242,"next_page":244}