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The Cult of Convenience: Marketing and Food in Postwar America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2020

MARGARET WEBER
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Abstract

Amidst other major changes to the food system, America witnessed an extensive transformation of marketing within the postwar era. Specifically, the concept of convenience quickly became a favorite of corporations across the food chain. However, despite the favorable market conditions and an outwardly receptive customer base, companies quickly found that they needed to negotiate with public perceptions of food, cultural ideals, and social realities. Using primarily corporate sources, this paper explores the development and use of convenience by food marketers. It investigates how processors sought to exploit postwar tensions between labor and gender. The project also examines how companies grappled with customer expectations of product quality. Ultimately, companies that successfully leveraged their ability to offer quick, quality meals further embedded themselves into consumer choices and lifestyles. By cultivating and marketing a specific message, corporations used convenience to make themselves appear indispensable to living and eating well in the postwar era.

Keywords

FoodgendermarketingUS 20th
Type
Article
Information
Enterprise & Society , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , September 2021 , pp. 605 - 634
Copyright
© The Author 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved.

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Footnotes

I would like to thank Pamela Riney-Kehrberg, Katherine Warming, Michael Belding, and the article reviewers for their encouragement and feedback.

References

Bibliography of Works Cited

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Deutsch, Tracey. Building a Housewife’s Paradise: Gender, Politics, and American Grocery Stores in the Twentieth Century. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Freidberg, Susanne. Fresh: A Perishable History. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gisolfi, Monica R. The Takeover: Chicken Farming and the Roots of American Agribusiness. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2017.Google Scholar
Hamilton, Shane. Supermarket USA: Food and Power in the Cold War Farms Race. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2018.Google Scholar
Hisano, Ai. Visualizing Taste: How Business Changed the Look of What You Eat. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2019.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Strasser, Susan. Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of the American Mass Market. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2004.Google Scholar
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Ziede, Anna Canned: The Ruse and Fall of Consumer Confidence in the American Food Industry. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2018.Google Scholar
Abratt, Russell, and Goodey, Stephen Donald. “Unplanned Buying and In-Store Stimuli in Supermarkets.” Managerial and Decision Economics, 11, no. 2 (1990): 111–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alvarez, R. Michael, Levin, Ines, and Sinclair, J. Andrew. “Making Voting Easier: Convenience Voting in the 2008 Presidential Election.” Political Research Quarterly, 65, no. 2 (2012): 248–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, Gary S. “A Theory of the Allocation of Time.” Economic Journal, 75 (September 1965): 493–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, Leonard. “The Time-Buying Consumer.” Journal of Retailing, 55 (Winter 1979): 58–59.Google Scholar
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Bliss, Perry. “Supply Considerations and Shopper Convenience.” Journal of Marketing, 25, no. 1 (1960): 43–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Hisano, Ai “Selling Food in Clear Packages: The Development of Cellophane and the Expansion of Self-Service Merchandising in the United States, 1920s–1950s.” International Journal of Food Design, 2, no. 2 (October 2017): 153–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Jacoby, Jacob, Szybillo, George J., and Bemrning, Carol K.. “Time and Consumer Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Overview.” Journal of Consumer Research, 2 (March 1976): 320–339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luce, Mary Frances, Payne, John W., and Bettman, James R.. “Emotional Trade-Off Difficulty and Choice.” Journal of Marketing Research, 36, no. 2 (1999): 143–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matejowsky, Ty. “SPAM and Fast-food Glocalization in the Philippines.” In Taking Food Public: Redefining Foodways in a Changing World, edited by Williams-Forson, Pysche and Counihan, Carole 369–383. New York: Routledge, 2012.Google Scholar
McConnell, J. Douglas. “The Price-Quality Relationship in an Experimental Setting.” Journal of Marketing Research, 5, no. 3 (1968): 300–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penfold, Steve. “Fast Food.” In The Oxford Handbook of Food History, edited by Pilcher, Jeffrey M. 279–301. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.Google Scholar
Pignatiello, Grant A., Martin, Richard J., and Hickman, Ronald L.. “Decision Fatigue: A Conceptual Analysis.” Journal of Health Psychology, 25, no. 1 (2020): 123–135.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Toh, Rex, and Sock-Yong, Phang. “Quasi-Flag of Convenience Shipping: The Wave of the Future.” Transportation Journal, 33, no. 2 (1993): 31–39.Google Scholar
Weber, Margaret Baker. “Manufacturing the American Way of Farming: Agriculture, Agribusiness, and Marketing in the Postwar Period.” PhD diss., Iowa State University, Ames, 2018.Google Scholar
Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc. records, 2014.135, Nabb, Edward H. Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture, Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD.Google Scholar
International Harvester Corporate Archives, Central File 1842-1985, McCormick Mss 6Z, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, WI.Google Scholar
Monsanto Company Records, 1901-2014. WUA00131. University Archives, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO.Google Scholar
Perdue Farms Inc. records, PA2010, Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture, Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD.Google Scholar
Rath Packing Company Records, MS 562, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library, Ames.Google Scholar
Ladies Home Journal, 70, no. 1 (January 1953): 7.Google Scholar
1999 A.D. Directed by Lee Madden. Written by Tom Thomas. Produced by Ford-Philco Corporation, 1967. Industrial Film. Accessed October 15, 2018, https://archive.org/details/1999-AD-1967-/1999-a-d-1967-10mbps.mp4.Google Scholar
Food for Thought. Directed and written by Herman Boxer. Produced by Dudley Pictures Corporation, 1949. Industrial Film. Accessed October 7, 2018, https://archive.org/details/0938FoodForThought.Google Scholar
Design for Dreaming: Kitchen of Tomorrow. Directed by William Beaudine. Produced by MPO Productions, 1956. Industrial Film. Accessed October 7, 2018, https://archive.org/details/design-for-dreaming-1956.Google Scholar
Cohen, Lizabeth A Consumers’ Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America. New York: Vintage Books, 2004.Google Scholar
Cowan, Ruth Schwartz. More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave. New York: Basic Books, 1983.Google Scholar
Deutsch, Tracey. Building a Housewife’s Paradise: Gender, Politics, and American Grocery Stores in the Twentieth Century. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Freidberg, Susanne. Fresh: A Perishable History. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gisolfi, Monica R. The Takeover: Chicken Farming and the Roots of American Agribusiness. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2017.Google Scholar
Hamilton, Shane. Supermarket USA: Food and Power in the Cold War Farms Race. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2018.Google Scholar
Hisano, Ai. Visualizing Taste: How Business Changed the Look of What You Eat. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2019.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, Roger. Putting Meat on the American Table: Taste, Technology, Transformation. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Jellison, Katherine Entitled to Power. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Jones, Lu Ann Mama Learned Us to Work: Farm Women in the New South. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.Google Scholar
May, Elaine Tyler Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. New York: Basic Books, 2008.Google Scholar
Rosen, Ruth The World Split Open: How the Modern Women’s Movement Changed America. New York: Penguin, 2000.Google Scholar
Strasser, Susan Never Done: A History of American Housework. New York: Henry Holt, 2000.Google Scholar
Strasser, Susan. Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of the American Mass Market. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2004.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Labor, Employment Standards Administration, Women’s Bureau. 1975 Handbook on Women Workers. Bulletin 297. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1975.Google Scholar
Ziede, Anna Canned: The Ruse and Fall of Consumer Confidence in the American Food Industry. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2018.Google Scholar
Abratt, Russell, and Goodey, Stephen Donald. “Unplanned Buying and In-Store Stimuli in Supermarkets.” Managerial and Decision Economics, 11, no. 2 (1990): 111–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alvarez, R. Michael, Levin, Ines, and Sinclair, J. Andrew. “Making Voting Easier: Convenience Voting in the 2008 Presidential Election.” Political Research Quarterly, 65, no. 2 (2012): 248–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, Gary S. “A Theory of the Allocation of Time.” Economic Journal, 75 (September 1965): 493–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, Leonard. “The Time-Buying Consumer.” Journal of Retailing, 55 (Winter 1979): 58–59.Google Scholar
Berry, Leonard, Seiders, Kathleen, and Grewal, Dhruv. “Understanding Service Convenience.” Journal of Marketing, 66, no. 3 (2002): 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bliss, Perry. “Supply Considerations and Shopper Convenience.” Journal of Marketing, 25, no. 1 (1960): 43–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downs, A. “A Theory of Consumer Efficiency.” Journal of Retailing, 37 (Spring 1961): 6–12.Google Scholar
Eastlack, J. O. “Consumer Flavor Preference Factors in Food Product Design.” Journal of Marketing Research, 1, no. 1 (1964): 38–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, Shane. “The Economies and Conveniences of Modern-Day Living: Frozen Foods and Mass Marketing, 1945–1965.” Business History Review, 77, no. 1 (2003): 33–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hisano, Ai “Selling Food in Clear Packages: The Development of Cellophane and the Expansion of Self-Service Merchandising in the United States, 1920s–1950s.” International Journal of Food Design, 2, no. 2 (October 2017): 153–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holbrook, Morris B. and Lehmann, Donald R. “Allocating Discretionary Time: Complementarity Among Activities.” Journal of Consumer Research, 7 (March 1981): 395–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, Roger. “Making the Chicken of Tomorrow: Reworking Poultry as Commodities and as Creatures, 1945–1950.” In Industrializing Organisms: Introducing Evolutionary History, edited by Schrepfer, Susan R and Scranton, Philip 215–237. New York: Routledge, 2004.Google Scholar
Jacoby, Jacob, Szybillo, George J., and Bemrning, Carol K.. “Time and Consumer Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Overview.” Journal of Consumer Research, 2 (March 1976): 320–339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luce, Mary Frances, Payne, John W., and Bettman, James R.. “Emotional Trade-Off Difficulty and Choice.” Journal of Marketing Research, 36, no. 2 (1999): 143–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matejowsky, Ty. “SPAM and Fast-food Glocalization in the Philippines.” In Taking Food Public: Redefining Foodways in a Changing World, edited by Williams-Forson, Pysche and Counihan, Carole 369–383. New York: Routledge, 2012.Google Scholar
McConnell, J. Douglas. “The Price-Quality Relationship in an Experimental Setting.” Journal of Marketing Research, 5, no. 3 (1968): 300–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penfold, Steve. “Fast Food.” In The Oxford Handbook of Food History, edited by Pilcher, Jeffrey M. 279–301. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.Google Scholar
Pignatiello, Grant A., Martin, Richard J., and Hickman, Ronald L.. “Decision Fatigue: A Conceptual Analysis.” Journal of Health Psychology, 25, no. 1 (2020): 123–135.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Toh, Rex, and Sock-Yong, Phang. “Quasi-Flag of Convenience Shipping: The Wave of the Future.” Transportation Journal, 33, no. 2 (1993): 31–39.Google Scholar
Weber, Margaret Baker. “Manufacturing the American Way of Farming: Agriculture, Agribusiness, and Marketing in the Postwar Period.” PhD diss., Iowa State University, Ames, 2018.Google Scholar
Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc. records, 2014.135, Nabb, Edward H. Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture, Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD.Google Scholar
International Harvester Corporate Archives, Central File 1842-1985, McCormick Mss 6Z, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, WI.Google Scholar
Monsanto Company Records, 1901-2014. WUA00131. University Archives, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO.Google Scholar
Perdue Farms Inc. records, PA2010, Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture, Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD.Google Scholar
Rath Packing Company Records, MS 562, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library, Ames.Google Scholar
Ladies Home Journal, 70, no. 1 (January 1953): 7.Google Scholar
1999 A.D. Directed by Lee Madden. Written by Tom Thomas. Produced by Ford-Philco Corporation, 1967. Industrial Film. Accessed October 15, 2018, https://archive.org/details/1999-AD-1967-/1999-a-d-1967-10mbps.mp4.Google Scholar
Food for Thought. Directed and written by Herman Boxer. Produced by Dudley Pictures Corporation, 1949. Industrial Film. Accessed October 7, 2018, https://archive.org/details/0938FoodForThought.Google Scholar
Design for Dreaming: Kitchen of Tomorrow. Directed by William Beaudine. Produced by MPO Productions, 1956. Industrial Film. Accessed October 7, 2018, https://archive.org/details/design-for-dreaming-1956.Google Scholar