Economic Situation and Public Relations, Essay Example

The 1920’s business sector was booming, and many Americans were enjoying the wealth increase to the economy after World War I. During the 1920’s people were mostly living beyond their means. American life was thriving as innovative inventions, was making American life easy. Automobiles were being developed, and the Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote. This passage was helping to encourage a breaking of traditional domestic roles. During the 1920s, prohibition had just been enacted the year before. The economy was providing companies with funds to create new products that helped in new communication methods. Thanks in part to the development of transportation systems, electric lights, airplanes, and other inventions many people were communicating.

The development of the Henry Ford system, was creating the cheap mass production of the automobiles that was allowing more people with modest incomes. In dealing with the financial institutions, unbeknownst to many Americans that the economic situation was getting into a recession, with employment going down to 12%. (Woods Jr, 2009) The corporate agency practiced rapidly increased during the business boom, and the economy shifted towards a consumer culture. The media landscape was changing with more importance given to businesses targeting consumers with name brand and installment plans. (Penning, 2008) Companies began to heavily rely on print advertising in locales to billboards. The founding to the Advertising Federation of America (AFA) was created to provide standards. The media landscape was evolving into films, radio, and tabloids for new media. Public relations were recognized during this era, as many journalism agencies were created to provide a code of ethics, as businesses were changing the way they advertised. The blast from media helped in encouraging Americans to buy items they could not afford, negatively impacting the economy.

References

Penny, Timothy. (2008). First Impressions: US Media Portrayals of Public Relations in the 1920s. JCOM 12, 4. Pg. 344-360. Retrieved from http://www.ijpc.org/uploads/files/PR%20First%20Impressions%20%20by%20T.%20Penning.pdf

Woods Jr., Timothy. (2009). The Forgotten Depression of 1920. Ludwig Von Mises Institute. Retrieved from http://mises.org/daily/3788