The Scramble for the Teenage Dollar

Co-ed, junior miss, grad, teenster. From the late 1930s to the 1950s, the teenager emerged as a distinct and ideal market segment. The Scramble for the Teenage Dollar explores how consumption and commodities became integral parts of being a teenager. This nascent consumer – always a white, middle-class, heterosexual high school student – was authoritative, competent, and opinionated, with purchasing power that demanded recognition. At least, that was the image fashioned by Canadian advertisers and retailers, and especially the biggest department store of the time: Eaton’s. Using evidence from Eaton’s archives, mail-order catalogues, and consumer magazines, Katharine Rollwagen traces the making of the Canadian teenager through back-to-school specials, beauty contests, fashion shows, fads, specialty shops, and special size ranges. In advertisements, promotions, stores, and schools, the teenager was both a desirable customer and a valued commodity. Eaton’s even went so far as to establish junior advisory councils drawn from high school student bodies. Packed with insights about how retailers and advertisers attempted to shape the look, bodies, and behaviour of young Canadians, this intriguing book illuminates the power of corporate actors to influence popular understandings of growing up. It also reveals the roots of the hyper-consumerism common among young people today.