Installment & Credit
Q: What "buy now, pay later" payment system spread rapidly in the 1920s?
A: Installment buying / credit
Q: What types of large retail stores (like Macy's and Sears) turned shopping into entertainment?
A: Department stores
Q: Which new household technology connected families directly to a shared national culture?
A: The radio
Q: What major product saw over half of its total sales paid for using credit in the 1920s?
A: Automobiles (cars)
Q: What condition was Listerine mouthwash marketed to cure to ensure social success?
"Halitosis" (bad breath)
Q: Name one household appliance that revolutionized domestic chores and freed up leisure time.
A: Refrigerator, washing machine, or vacuum cleaner
Q: What traditional value (saving, repairing, reusing) was replaced by a "culture of desire"?
A thrift
Q: Instead of just listing product features, what two things did 1920s advertisers sell?
A: Dreams and emotions
Q: What electric company (formed by a merger involving Thomas Edison) aggressively promoted credit?
A: General Electric
Q: What traditional value (saving, repairing, reusing) was replaced by a "culture of desire"?
A: Confidence and modernity
Q: Which group of people found independence and public participation through department stores?
A: Women
Q: Which product gave 1920s American families unprecedented physical mobility?
A: The automobile (car)
Q: What 1920s economic habit gave way to disaster when what major event occurred in 1929?
A: The Stock Market Crash
Q: What non-shopping features did department stores add to make shopping a leisure activity?
A: Cafés, beauty counters, and live music
Q: Which two home appliances completely transformed food storage and laundry care?
A: Refrigerators and washing machines