The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism

by Thomas Frank

While the youth counterculture remains the most evocative and best-remembered symbol of the cultural ferment of the 1960s, the revolution that shook American business during those boom years has gone largely unremarked. In this fascinating and revealing study, Thomas Frank shows how the youthful revolutionaries were joined—and even anticipated —by such unlikely allies as the advertising industry and the men's clothing business.

"[Thomas Frank is] perhaps the most provocative young cultural critic of the moment."—Gerald Marzorati, New York Times Book Review

"An indispensable survival guide for any modern consumer."— Publishers Weekly , starred review

"Frank makes an ironclad case not only that the advertising industry cunningly turned the countercultural rhetoric of revolution into a rallying cry to buy more stuff, but that the process itself actually predated any actual counterculture to exploit."—Geoff Pevere, Toronto Globe and Mail

" The Conquest of Cool helps us understand why, throughout the last third of the twentieth century, Americans have increasingly confused gentility with conformity, irony with protest, and an extended middle finger with a populist manifesto. . . . His voice is an exciting addition to the soporific public discourse of the late twentieth century."—T. J. Jackson Lears, In These Times

"An invaluable argument for anyone who has ever scoffed at hand-me-down counterculture from the '60s. A spirited and exhaustive analysis of the era's advertising."—Brad Wieners, Wired Magazine

"Tom Frank is . . . not only old-fashioned, he's anti-fashion, with a place in his heart for that ultimate social faux pas, leftist politics."—Roger Trilling, Details

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Sociology, Economics, Business, Politics, Cultural

322 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Thomas Frank is the author of Pity the Billionaire, The Wrecking Crew, and What's the Matter with Kansas? A former columnist for The Wall Street Journal and Harper's, Frank is the founding editor of The Baffler and writes regularly for Salon. He lives outside Washington, D.C.

Reviews

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A surprisingly obtuse effort from Thomas Frank. The premise of this book is to challenge the notion that the counter-culture of the 1960s was some kind of organic and pure force that was subsequently co-opted by consumer culture. Instead Frank argues that the counter-culture was in some ways a product of changing advertising techniques; that the values of the counter-culture were pre-figured by changes in advertising.

The Conquest of Cool's style is very academic and somewhat repetive. What's more, it is a long way from making any kind of definitive point that massive social upheaval that began in the 1960 was based solely or primarily on responding to changes in advertising style. Frank is convincing in showing that changes in popular culture were reflected in changes within advertising agencies and in the candor of the ads that were produced by those agencies. But that's hardly surprising is it? There is very little cultural ground that did not undergo serious change during this period. Frank demonstrates that there is more going on than the familiar story of capitalistic co-option, but does not demonstrate that the basic framework of the narrative is wrong.

On the other hand, the book is interesting as a straightforward history of some aspects of advertising, especially automobile advertising. It also has a good chapter on Coke and Pepsi's never ending feud. But it doesn't hint much at Frank's future as a political theorist, and doesn't succeed in the fundamental challenge to popular conceptions as some others seem to think it does.

[Esteban · Rating 1 out of 5]

Una de las predicciones más acertadas del Brave New World de Huxley fue la de imaginar una sociedad donde el desinterés por la publicidad es un rasgo de filisteísmo. ¿Cómo llegamos a esto? En principio, un libro sobre la historia de la publicidad durante el momento fundacional de nuestros valores (léase "lo que lo que se supone que debemos desear") está en buenas condiciones de responder esa pregunta.

Los primeros capítulos de The Conquest of Cool, de hecho, son muy prometedores. Nos invitan a ver la interacción entre lo hip y lo square de forma más matizada que las fantasías de la derrota de los conservadores y la nostalgia de lo que nunca fue de los apólogos de los 60s. A medida que pasan las páginas sin un punto de referencia fuera del microclima viciado de las agencias de publicidad - un mundo a escala que reproduce los conflictos entre técnicos y bohemios que ocurren en ámbitos menos miserables -, va quedando claro que Thomas Frank no está interesado en responder esa pregunta, y que ni siquiera está lo suficientemente distanciado de su objeto para considerarla. Leer una alusión no irónica a una "Revolución Creativa" en publicidad es una experiencia tan abominable que tienta al lector a darle a Adorno la razón que nunca tuvo.

Bajo el régimen de una ilustración sumisa a los medios masivos, un libro de cultural studies historiográficamente nulo como este puede y será leído como un tratado de estética. Es un prospecto bastante triste, porque con todas sus observaciones ingeniosas, The Conquest of Cool es en definitiva un libro complaciente, un sucedáneo de historia cultural listo para ser disfrutado sin sobresaltos por creativos y fanboys de Mad Men.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rare book where I had a hard time deciding between the "academic" and "popular" history categories. Are the two mutually exclusive? Maybe not in this case - I let the publisher decide for me; the University of Chicago Press is undeniably an "academic" publisher. The author is probably best known as the editor of "The Baffler," which is described on the back of the book as a "cultural criticism journal." His other accomplishments do seem confined to the area of journalism and commentary of current events, but nevertheless, this is a well-researched work of history, as well as an unusually entertaining read.

Frank's thesis with this book is fairly simple: that the so-called "counter-culture" of the sixties, far from being co-opted by consumer culture, was in fact intrinsically linked to it from the outset. The values which this sub-culture espoused were, in fact, anticipated within advertising culture by at least a decade, and they meshed perfectly with the message of liberation through personal choice rather than mass action which advertisers used when targeting youth. Frank observes that "fantasies of rebellion, liberation, and outright 'revolution' against the stultifying demands of mass society are commonplace" within the mass cultural products of the United States, even up to the time of his writing (1997), and this, he says, comes from an attitude that started on Madison Avenue long before it reached Haight-Ashbury. Frank traces the development of this attitude in literary sources and memoirs of advertising executives, who strove, from the late 1950s onward, to be the hippest folks around, and who challenged management theories that encouraged conformity for the simple reason that conformity didn't sell. By the time of the summer of love it was easy for advertisers to market to young people, as with the "Uncola" campaign of 7Up, because these people had grown up speaking the same language as the advertisers themselves.

Frank's use of sources does at times leave one wondering what might be left out of the picture - did older more "conformist" styles live longer in ads for laundry detergent, say, than for cars and soda pop? But the argument presented is fascinating and worth considering for anyone interested in the cultural history of the United States.

[Justin Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend recommended this to me when I was complaining that it's hard to find good books on post-war advertising, and I'm very glad he did. I've no interest at all in Frank's recent populist books, but this is the one that benefits from that populism: it was a dissertation, and retains the mind-numbing rigor needed by that form; but it's very nicely written and filled with pleasing anecdotes that pull you through the dull bits.

The introduction, particularly, is a masterly statement of the way people--professional historians and we lumpen masses--perceive the sixties: as an era of 'pure' culture that was then coopted by 'corporations' or, failing that, an era in which people 'subverted' the corporate culture that was fed to them via mass media. Frank's research on the culture and theory of advertising firms pretty much destroys this vision: he shows, convincingly, that advertising firms and management theorists pre-empted many, indeed, almost all, of the 60s' 'radical' cultural and social criticisms; if that's not enough, he then does a nice job interpreting the advertising of the time to show that the copy writers and designers and even managers were also putting those criticisms *into* their advertisements.

The later chapters aren't as exciting (particularly the chapter on men's wear says nothing you wouldn't get from common sense), but it's worth reading nonetheless.

This mix of theoretically informed social criticism, business history and cultural history is pretty rare, but clearly there should be more of it. Frank gestures to the idea that the nineties were, similarly, preempted by sixties and seventies advertising firms and management theorists; I wish he'd stop worrying about Kansas, hunker down, and really work through the social movements and business history of the last two decades.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five Key Points:

1. Management and business (capitalism) in the 1960s underwent a counterculture revolution just as dramatic as that found in the streets: "Postwar American capitalism was hardly the unchanging and soulless machine imagined by countercultural leaders; it was as dynamic a force in its own way as the revolutionary youth movements of the period, undertaking dramatic transformations." (6)

2. Book examines 'co-option' of counterculture by business, seeking to go beyond traditional vilification of it: "This book is... an analysis of the forces and logic that make rebel youth cultures so attractive to corporate decision-makers." (7)

3. A radical section of American businessmen saw the counterculture as a kindred spirit in their own attempts to revitalise society: "Many in American business... imagined the counterculture not as an enemy to be undermined or a threat to consumer culture, but as a hopeful sign, a symbolic ally in their struggles against the mountains of dead-weight procedure and hierarchy." (9)

4. The capillaries of countercultural thought in business stretch into the 1950s, with a turn against hierarchy and towards creativity gradually becoming more popular: "Even in the most complacent management literature of the fifties one finds harbingers of dissent and upheaval." (21)

5. Consumerism was able to remain such a powerful part of American society through its ability to allow individuals to show dissent- including dissent towards consumerism! "No longer would Americans buy to fit in or impress the Joneses, but to demonstrate that they were wise to the game , to express their revulsion with the artifice and conformity of consumerism."

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. If you'd like me to elaborate with a 1,000 + word review, I accept both cash and personal checks.

[Maryana Pinchuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matthew Weiner owes Thomas Frank some serious royalties, or: if you haven't watched all 8 seasons of Mad Men and want the Cliff's Notes, just read this book.

[Joseph Valoren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty fascinating work. Frank explicates the relationship between advertisers and consumers during the 50's through the 90's as one of symbiosis: many of the ad-men capitalizing on cool were, themselves, part of the same generational cohort they were repackaging hip culture and selling it back to. It’s easy to think of marketing in explicitly cynical terms, but Frank deftly points out an obvious truth that is easily overlooked when one discusses companies as though they were people: that companies are not actual people, but instead are comprised of them, and that while the pursuit of capital is the ultimate goal of any company, the ways and means whereby that goal is achieved and the extent to which it is pursued will vary depending upon the individuals in the organization. “Ad men” were not robots, and in some cases their attempts at marketing also served the dual purpose of being earnest attempts at creating art.

With that said, Frank apologizes a little too much for the earnestness of the hip ad men. Ultimately their purpose is still to appropriate outsider culture and repackage it as something attractive and toothless for the purpose of commodification. The Conquest of Cool serves as a compelling look at the playbook of the more sympathetic contingent of the advertising industry, useful as a warning. But as an apologia for ad men and capitalism, I have no sympathy.

[Edward Champion · Rating 4 out of 5]

While not as strong as his later political volumes, Thomas Frank does examine the nature of how advertising co-opts outsiders and antiauthoritarianism with a plethora of scholarly receipts and some fairly solid examples (such as the Volkswagen ads from the 1990s). I did end up purchasing two additional books thanks to Frank. I suppose I should send him the bill. This is another dichotomy-fueled riff that Frank has typically offered throughout his career. And the weakness of Frank's two category approach (with one side co-opting the messaging of the other) is that it often leaves little room for ambiguity. Even so, Frank is original enough in his citations to keep things relatively interesting.

[Justin Gerhardstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an advertising classic that describes how advertisers have taken what is "cool" (which usually involves the trends of non-conformity and rebellion) and packaged it, and re-sold it to the non-conformists. Perfect example: Even hippies shop for clothes that suit their fancy, and at the beginning of the production line is managers that are picking apart the hippie psyche and marketing to that demographic. This concept, which is refered to as co-optation, is not the only topic that is breached, but all-in-all, the book tells of how "cool" has been interpreted and successfully adapted by advertisers to sell "cool". Not too long of a read, about 250 pages, but it covers the basics of hip consumerism.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

One can get a much better distillation of the book's thesis in the newer "Nation of Rebels" by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter or from "Commodify Your Dissent" a collection of columns from Frank's seminal journal of political/cultural criticism "The Baffler". In columns, Thomas Frank is one of my all-time favorite political observers, but in books he is often long-winded and repetitive. This is one of those times.

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing book exploring the relationship between the 1960s counterculture and corporate America. The book offers a detailed look at how major brands and advertisers embraced the rebellious spirit of the era, transforming it into a marketing tool. Frank does a great job of dissecting this phenomenon, providing numerous examples of how companies like Pepsi and others used countercultural imagery to sell their products. It's an eye-opening account that challenges the traditional narrative of the 1960s as purely anti-establishment.

What makes this book particularly informative is Frank's meticulous research and analysis. He digs deep into advertising campaigns and corporate strategies, revealing the ways in which businesses not only adapted to the cultural changes of the time but also actively shaped them. The book sheds light on the origins of "cool" as a marketing concept and how it has continued to influence advertising and consumer culture up to the present day.

However, while the content is deep and thought-provoking, the delivery can be a bit dry. Frank's writing style leans heavily on academic language, which might not appeal to all readers. There are times when the book feels repetitive, as similar points are reiterated throughout, making certain sections drag.

Despite these drawbacks, "The Conquest of Cool" is a valuable read for anyone interested in the history of marketing, advertising, and cultural studies. It provides a unique perspective on the 1960s, showing how the era's iconic "cool" ethos was not just a grassroots movement but also a lucrative business strategy. While the book has its dry moments, it's a solid resource for understanding the complex interplay between culture and commerce.

[Ronnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

When I first picked up this book, I figured it would be something along the lines of Naomi Klein's No Logo or Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter's The Rebel Sell, which come at the issue of consumerism from opposite angles but ultimately, somehow, end up in the same place.

This was not the case with The Conquest of Cool. This book is an academic read that studies the evolution of advertising from the 1950s to the 1960s. It doesn't speak of how capitalism co-opted the social movements of the 60s, but rather how it drove them, and created a generation of super-consumers. Advertising of the 60s pushed individuality from conformity in order to drive sales, and wow, was it wildly successful.

It isn't until the final chapter where Frank gives us a couple of sentences about how consumer culture occasionally co-opts social movements -- particularly anti-capitalistic social movements -- in order to dilute them. By and large, this book strives to illustrate how the changing standard of advertisements in the 60s helped to drive the change of conformist squares to hip, individualistic consumers, who would always be there to buy the new fashions and trends.

Some readers might find this book dry -- again, it is written in a very academic style, and I found the overall point Frank was trying to make got a little bit lost, but it was a very interesting look at the history of advertising in the decade where it underwent the most changes.

[Liam · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The strange relationship of corporations and counterculture becomes considerably less strange when examined from the perspective of management literature. During the 1950s and 1960s, management thinkers went through their own version of the mass society critique, first deploring the demise of entrepreneurship under the stultifying regime of technocratic efficiency (The Organization Man), then embracing all manner of individualism-promoting, bureaucracy-smashing, and anithierarchical schemes (The Human Side of Enterprise, Up the Organization). Infatuation with youthful cultural insurgency came almost as naturally for them as it did for Charles Reich and Theodore Roszak: it seemed to be a lively cultural fermentation dedicated to many of the same principles as were the leaders of the business revolution." (20)

"Not surprisingly, the same texts that praised the counterculture or its questioning of conventional ways usually came around to the consumer culture's single worthiest point: its revolutionizing of America's consuming ways" (122)

"It is a cleavage that goes to the heart of the commercial revolution of the sixties: every brand claimed to be bored, disgusted, and alienated, but for some these meant the never-changing Volkswagen and blue jeans; they steered others toward the Pontiac Breakaway and the Peacock Revolution." (157)

[Lee Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though this is a somewhat old book, the universals of cool are still valid, and we live in a world permanently occupied by cool. You could even say that the whole idea of revolution postwar, and ramping up mid-60s was borne of Madison Avenue, decidedly ant-conformist and even anti-science. (Think "The Dodge Rebellion" in 60s car commercials). The soul of America is in many ways the result of advertising and marketing. It's when the creatives rebelled, and now the meme of rebellion has been completely acculturated.

"In 1966, advertising writer Nicholas Samstag contributed a long essay to Madison Avenue magazine entitled "You Can’t Make a Good Advertisement Out of Statistics.” By then the argument that advertising was “more an art than a science” had definitely been won, he noted, but the traditional hostility of business for something as nebulous as art had made this difficult to put across: “the men who pay for advertising are ill at ease in the presence of artists.”

I also recommend The Origins of Cool in Postwar America

[Sqwidink · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent history and review on advertisement geared towards youth culture. However this was a bit of a slog to get through with little argument to it. Frank gets lost in what seems to be praise for admen and descriptions of old commercials and ads without really giving a why to it all. A deeper argument or opinion would've really added something to it, as it stands I wouldn't really recommend this unless you really love old car Pepsi ads. The end as he broaches the subject of men's fashion seems to try to get at something with the drive of hip consumerism bringing forth a more disposable product as a way to sell more but ending on the recursive nature of the cycle of ads seems a bit obvious. Yes, of course there will always be a new "hip" generation to market towards and trends come and go in cycles because anything truly new or innovative isn't actually good for capitalism but Frank doesn't even delve in deeply enough to make commentary on this. He rather chooses to state the observation and end my suffering by ending this very dull book.

[Scott Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book delivers the idea that counterculture was born from the 60s. It advances that argument by analysis of changes in both advertising and menswear. Written in the '90s, it closes on the idea that the hip/square dichotomy and the eternal "youth" angle was reused for Generation X. I'm writing from 2020, and I think it's reasonable to say the author would say it's been reused for at least another generation since.

While I don't buy the date of birth— what a coincidence it arrived with the author— the breakdown of what is a hip ad stands up:

• show evidence of minimalism or graphic sophistication
• speak flippantly of the prouct in question or show it damaged or defiled in some way
• mock consumer culture or address the problems of mass society
• speak of "escape," defiance, resisting crowds, rebellion, nonconformity
• use the imagery of the counterculture (not just any youth culture and not just any reference to "generations" is sufficient)

[Luis Hace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aunque esperaba encontrarme un ensayo más abstracto que un análisis pormenorizado de la evolución del marketing en USA desde los años 50 a los 90, el contenido final sí es lo que andaba buscando.

Seguramente el marketing sea una rama social algo menospreciada, cuando en la realidad es que su importancia es vital en nuestro día a día porque es un reflejo de los deseos de una sociedad.

En este sentido, La conquista de lo cool establece un preciso análisis sobre una paradoja: cómo pudo el marketing (aka lo establecido) influirse de unos valores contraculturales que apelaban con romper lo tradicional.

[Mtume Gant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent account of how capitalism commodified the counter culture and helped make rebellion an individualist market based activity. It’s a little over exhaustive which is probably more helpful for those who want all the nuances but for someone who doesn’t need every detail it can come redundant in the middle, but it’s excellent and an extremely important document of the socialization of the American social appetite

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I'd hoped for a little more on business culture and hip consumerism, but this is mostly a (fairly repetitive) history of advertising in the 1950s and 60s, with a chapter or two on fashion. I got led to this through a podcast's referencing it, and honestly, the hour long podcast covered most of the interesting bits. This could have been a very long essay, and much of the book feels like filler. (Although the essay would have been very interesting.)

[Arshan Sadri · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read (!) to accompany your recent Mad Men rewatch, it being a core text of inspiration for the show’s creators. I just wish the book was organized a bit more coherently. Some parts were repetitive and I feel it glossed over a lot of the sociopolitical changes that were occurring alongside these moments in advertising. Perhaps the author needed a creative director to guide his vision a bit more.

[Johann_tor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the kind of book that is best described as a digest of its sources, and it is an interesting one at that. Personally I would not expect that the American advertisment industry would publish so much internal commentary, but then I thought, why not, exaclty? For the people of Thomas Frank's generation his definition of cool vs square reveals no blind spots or biases.

[Francisco Borja · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find very interesting how the Boomer generation defined consumer culture until today and how we all have lived in their shadow. From reading the book it is though obvious that the end of the age of youth rebellion as the engine for consumer culture. The book was written in the 90s, when this paradigm was still the norm. We enter a new paradigm now.

[J.Christopher Proctor · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you liked What's the Matter with Kansas do yourself a favor and read Conquest of Cool. It's a hell of a lot more academic, but you can see the seeds of so much of Frank's later work. It also changes how you see culture and advertising. Not an easy read but well worth it.

[Andrew Corsini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always good to good to re-read this classic about the business class co-opted counterculture for their own purposes in the sixties. Thomas Frank's book is short and swift to the point -- it wasn't that these were evil guys in suits, they liked and admired the counterculture, too.

[szymborskalyte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic account of the changes in advertising in the 60s!

[A. Sebastián · Rating 5 out of 5]

🚬🥃

[Francesca · Rating 4 out of 5]

very fun very interesting , particularly if you’re interested in 70’s Americana

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Thomas frank is the goat, lots of thought provoking thing in here. Will be thinking about co-optation and advertising a lot more now

[Paige McLoughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in the nineties about how capitalism sells counter culture to push product and has been doing so for a long time.