After World War II America and the West experienced a consumer boom resulting from greater disposable incomes, advances in technology and commodity production. Part of consumer culture at this time involved the pleasure derived from acquiring goods which came to symbolise lifestyles or identities (Featherstone 1991). The baby boom generation that followed the War became teenagers numbered ten to fifteen million in the 1950s with a potential spending power of nine billion dollars (Gilbert 1957: 21). It is therefore unsurprising that this market became the target of advertising and mass media exploitation (Osgerby 2001). Teenagers, newly identified as potential markets for advertisers, were identified with enjoyment, freedom and came to symbolise the plenitude and benefits of modern capitalist culture (Gilbert 1986). Gidget book cover, 1957 Poster Muscle Beach Party (1964) featuring Candy Johnson (Miss Perpetual Motion), Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello are pictured bottom left.
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