Advertising & popularizing media artifacts in Germany, France, and Luxembourg in the «long» 1960s.

The «long» 1960s in Western Europe saw a dynamic development of mass consumption, especially in the field of consumer electronics. Media artifacts, such as transistor radios, television sets, or cassette recorders all became significantly more common in Luxembourg, France, and Germany, influencing the composition of the media ensemble and opening up new ways for consumers to interact with media. In a concomitant development brought about by the new market conditions, companies producing such media artifacts – such as Braun or Telefunken – became increasingly interested in marketing, placing consumers and their desires at the center of their considerations in lieu of production.
Using internal company documents, advertisements and statistics as sources, this research traces how and at what scale producing companies used advertising and other marketing measures to popularize media artifacts in the «long» 1960s and how these efforts interrelated with the media ensemble. This project is part of Popkult60.