It Can Enrich Your Whole Life, Cadillac Sixty Special Advertisement

Location: United States

Links: 

• Cadillac and the Ad that Became a Legend | The Saturday Evening PostLinks to an external site.
• 1957 Cadillac 60S Sedan Advertisement, "It Can Enrich Your Whole Life"Links to an external site.

Examining The Questions: 

• How does mass mediation shape social and personal identities?
• How do design choices influence societal perceptions and opinions on socioeconomic class?

Examination:

As mass media became increasingly widespread throughout the 20th century, advertisements played a very important role in shaping how people viewed status and identity within society. The 1957 Cadillac advertisement It Can Enrich Your Whole Life particularly demonstrates this by showing how companies used mass-produced images and messaging to associate products with status and identity. Published in Time magazine, the ad promoted Cadillac as a symbol of wealth, sophistication, and achievement rather than a means of transportation. By promoting these messages, advertisers influenced how a large group of people understood success and how material possessions contribute to "success."

Rather than focusing on the practical functions of the vehicle, the ad uses visual presentation and messaging ("it can enrich your whole life") to portray a particular lifestyle. The Cadillac is presented as a luxury product, which encourages viewers to associate ownership of the Cadillac with financial success and, in turn, a "better" societal position. The advertisement suggests that purchasing the vehicle could improve the daily life and society's perceptions of the purchaser. These design choices demonstrate how mass media can establish recognizable symbols of social status and encourage consumers to perpetuate these ideas by incorporating the symbols and messages into their lives.