Mass Production

Mass production calls for mass consumption. Thus mass production helped create the modern advertising industry as manufacturers sought to make consumers buy their products. But what if everyone already had bought a car? Partly to give customers more choices, partly to give those who already owned a car a reason to buy another, in the 1920s GM began creating a new version of its cars each year. In the 1930s, Ford followed. While mass-production purists like Henry Ford felt this was a marketing gimmick more appropriate for clothes than cars, most consumers were happy to finally have more choice in what they bought. Further, the Model T had been designed purely to function well. Many found it ugly. The Model A was considered far more visually appealing. Industrial design became important in winning customers. Just because hundreds of thousands of copies of a product were made did not mean they had to be visually uninteresting.

Mass production of chocolate-covered doughnuts. Photograph by Chris Jones. The Stock Market. Reproduced by permission.