The Revolution of the 60's

The 1950's and the early 1960's had a growing sense of counterculture. The general norms were completely different from the activities of the commercial world. The two sides clashed in thought. The counterculture believed in nature, simplicity and drugs in search of an authentic experience, which was different from the prevailing culture . The counterculture was against the idea of "mass society" which was being promoted the most.

The commercial world of advertising had a working way that was completely different from the counterculture. They believed in giving the consumer what they wanted. They just worked towards satisfying the wants of consumers. The "Theory X" was what it was called where they just worked to satisfy every "whim" of their consumers. This "Theory X" encouraged them to chose a path that had values of "science, efficiency and management" to deal with this and to solve their problems. the only thing that was focussed upon was how they could sell their products rather than being "creative" in marketing them. These ads were 'shielded from real life,' making no effort to 'engage their readers on a direct basis or attempt to involve them.'" The target for these ads was just plainly persuasive and not psychologically effective, giving a reason for the consumers to buy something.

In contrast, the counterculture did not encourage this and they believed in "creativity and carnival." The scientific effect did not appeal to the counterculture to a great extent. They wanted to engage the audience with the products. They wanted to make every product seem like an individual identity, creating brands, creating brand images, etc. Their belief was that advertising had to be creative and individualistic to sell.

The new generation of advertisers in the 1960's were now coming up with authentic, artistic and sophisticated ideas. The old monotonous, repetitiveness was fading away and the advertisements were now becoming more hip. The hierarchal and "slow moving" Madison Avenue was now conveying messages of being more hip than following the standard consumerism. The idea of mass society was looked down on now. The sixties were turning to the counterculture and making it the prevailing culture. A sense of individuality was now prevailing in the advertising industry.