Marketing and the Cold War: an overview

Abstract

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Marketing in the late Soviet garment industry

“…Some researchers see marketing as hardly relevant to the Soviet economy. “Evidently, Soviet industrial policy was not as receptive to marketing, particularly American interpretations of marketing practice,” “the consumer and their needs were not at the forefront of the manufacturer, factory or retailer attention” (Tadajewski and Stole, 2016, p. 4), “marketing as an activity had no place in the rambling vastness of the Soviet command economy” (Holden et al , 2008, p. 474). At the same time, Mila Oiva, analyzing practices of Polish clothing exporters to the Soviet market, notes that “our general understanding according to which shortages of planned economies marginalized consumers into insignificant actors contradicts partly the above-explained development visible in my primary resources” (Oiva, 2014b, p. 99).…”

Red Tsars and Iron Ladies: Exploring the role of marketing forces in the construction of political heroism

“…Also, the aforementioned authors focused primarily on the links and overlaps between neoliberal ideology, market expansion and consumer-centricity in Western contexts. Unquestionably, the ideological principles of economic liberalization have had a tremendous impact upon the formation of contemporary marketplace cultures, however, limited research exists around the effect of Cold War binaries on marketing theories (Tadajewski and Stole, 2016) and how socialist ideology shaped advertising and cultural industries within communist-controlled zones and countries. Although marketing historians have explored the rise of Soviet marketing systems and the role of socialist distribution systems in structuring the preferences of Soviet citizen-consumers (Reid, 2016), the infusion and role of communist ideological underpinnings via propaganda mechanisms and state-directed marketing communications has received negligible attention.…”

“…Simultaneously, such propaganda skilfully covered and overshadowed a long period of purges, mass executions, deportations and authoritarian oppression that led millions of Soviet citizens to death, including many artists and state propaganda officials (Montefiore, 2007). Historical marketing research could not only show how consumer culture turned into an ideological battlefield between the two superpowers (see 1959 Kitchen Debate for example) and Cold War binaries (Tadajewski and Stole, 2016), but also how governments and marketing communications glorify and heroize institutional actors so as to inspire citizens and attract consumers along with mass market segments. Within western and capitalist contexts, socio-politically orientated marketing scholars could further explore the role and branding mechanisms of entertainment industries (e.g.…”

Western influences in Turkish advertising

“…One of the major tools that enabled the USA to access to European markets and shape the cultural climate was the European Recovery Programme (ERP), also known as the Marshall Plan (Amerian, 2014). Implemented in 1948, the ERP sought to contain the communist expansion and offered a benchmark against which the advantages of each system – capitalist and communist – could be easily visualized (Tadajewski and Stole, 2016). It was also designed to serve as a strong counterforce against Soviet communism.…”