You Are What You Shop: Consumerism and the 1930s Storefront

media release: The dramatic and visually stunning change in Art Deco storefront design reflects radical changes in the marketing of consumer goods in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Structural glass storefronts of the 1930s reveal a complex architectural program intended to promote consumption using the aesthetic qualities of modernism as a vehicle for new psychological theories of consumer marketing. These “consumption engineers” discovered that they could trigger an urge to purchase goods by the careful manipulation of external stimuli including the architectural design of the store. Learn the psychological theories that radically changed storefront design in the 1930s, and discover how they still manipulate the way you shop today.

Speaker: Jim Draeger

Part of the 2022-2023 Virtual Architectural Series collection. Learn more about the series on our website.

Madison Trust Members: $5.00 | General Public: $10.00

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Ticket sales close at 5:00pm on January 24.

This is a virtual event on Zoom. Only one ticket is needed per household.

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