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The 1950's
 On the Road with Burma Shave - Advertising in the Fifties

On the Road with Burma Shave - Advertising in the Fifties
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.32

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    advertisers, altho, debonair, ducktail, growly, hands-down, harmonious, kiddo, overload, pepsi, Pepsi-The, pithy, sensual, sign-series, slicked, timex
     content words:    Davy Crockett, Fifties Dads, Pepsi-The Light Refreshment, Coca-Cola Makes Good Things Taste Better, Your Mouth, Your Hand, This Fifties, Timex Takes, But Keeps, You Can Prevent Forest Fires

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On the Road with Burma Shave - Advertising in the Fifties
By Toni Lee Robinson 		  
1     If you walked into a place with turquoise and pink walls and black and white tiled floors, you might have wandered into the Fifties. Color was a big part of the Fifties attitude. A few years down the road, the Sixties would bend the mind with psychedelic colors and the sensual overload of hard rock music. The Fifties weren't so chaotic. Their cheery colors were bright and harmonious, like the early rock n' roll songs of that time.
 
2     Besides pink and turquoise, the Fifties produced plenty of fads. Hula hoops and Davy Crockett gear captivated the youngsters. Teen boys went crazy for hot rods (souped up cars), flat top hair cuts, and being cool. Girls were "hep" to (liked) pedal pusher pants (down to just below the knee), poodle skirts, ponytails, and anything pink.
 
3     Actually, the Fifties era was the first to have a distinct teen culture. Before then, most teens got zapped right from childhood into adult responsibilities. Kids made the early leap to maturity for one compelling reason. Their incomes were important to family survival. In the Depression days of the Thirties, even very young children worked to keep food on the table. But the Fifties years weren't nearly as lean as earlier decades. Also, fewer families made their living on farms where the sheer volume of work turned teens into full-time laborers.
 
4     Many teenagers in the Fifties had jobs, but few had to hand their earnings over to make family ends meet. Instead, Fifties Dads usually brought home the bacon. In many families, Dad even had enough "jingle" left over to hand out allowances.
 
5     Whether they worked or just held out their hands when Dad passed out the dough, young people in the Fifties had money in their pockets. That made them a tempting target for advertisers. At the time, television was taking the U.S. by storm. TV ads tugged like a powerful magnet on the coins in the pockets of teens.
 
6     Grooming products, snacks, fashions, and cars were pitched to young people. Many catchy slogans stuck like pocket lint in the minds of American kids. Soft drink sellers competed to find the magic jingle that would open young peoples' pocketbooks. Pepsi blurbs boasted that it was the soda with "More Bounce to the Ounce." Later came the more sophisticated "Pepsi—The Light Refreshment." Pepsi's chief competitor responded by asserting that "Coca-Cola Makes Good Things Taste Better."
 
7     One candy company might win the "test of time" award for its slogan. Fifty years after the jingle was first aired, most any American kid could tell you which candy "Melts in Your Mouth, not in Your Hand."
 
8     Hopefully, all that candy and soda would have made kids think of reaching for the toothpaste. If not, they would be prompted by advertisers. One toothpaste would fit right in with today's push for blinding white teeth. This Fifties ad offered not just healthy teeth, but attractive smiles: "You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent."

Paragraphs 9 to 17:
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