{"id":16844,"date":"2023-07-27T16:58:25","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T20:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/?p=16844"},"modified":"2023-07-27T16:58:25","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T20:58:25","slug":"years-1960s-rise-counterculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/2023\/07\/years-1960s-rise-counterculture\/","title":{"rendered":"Through the Years: The 1960\u2019s and the Rise of Counterculture"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 1950\u2019s was thought of by some as a \u201cgolden age with a pristine sheen\u201d and what followed in the 1960\u2019s was a tumultuous era of upheaval where great tragedy and triumph stood side by side. The Cold War was in full swing, and the decade featured some of the most intense moments in American history including the moon landing. The buttoned-up propriety of the 1950\u2019s gave way to counterculture as baby boomers began to mature and question America\u2019s place in the world. The Civil Rights movement took momentous strides during this time under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with his iconic \u2018I Have a Dream\u2019 speech occurring in 1963 and the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965. The outbreak of war and potential nuclear disaster led to a reckoning of the American exceptionalism that had defined past decades. Every industry in America had to adapt to these historical shifts and balance appealing to both baby boomers and their parents while maintaining the momentum from the golden age.<\/p>\n

\"\"The 1960\u2019s saw the murders of not one, but three iconic and loved political figures. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., President John F. Kennedy, and his brother Robert F. Kennedy were all assassinated and each successive death rocked the nation. The Civil Rights movement had created incredible momentum before King\u2019s death and America had not seen a President assassinated for nearly a hundred years. The U.S. also had to deal with the Cuban Missile Crisis that threatened nuclear war and the full scale of the Vietnam War. These killings and conflicts changed the way many people felt about themselves and in turn changed the way in which they engaged with the economy. This upheaval devastated some businesses, yet others were able to adapt by addressing not just what they sold, rather what their company stood for. This ushered in the era of brand identity as corporations fought for the attention of the baby boomers leading counterculture.<\/p>\n

\"\"The television revolutionized advertising in the 1950\u2019s, yet ads became their own beast in this decade. Brands turned to popular cartoon characters to promote instant meals like cereal to children. The busy family lifestyle of the 60\u2019s encouraged instant meals like T.V. dinners and instant potatoes. Grocery stores<\/a> became bigger and the number of malls exploded. The U.S. was able to expand these types of stores on the outskirts of town now that automobiles were becoming commonplace. Bigger stores meant more shelf space and more competition from similar products. Product packaging became an important feature as they attempted to grab the attention of the shopper. Discount<\/a> \u201cfive and dime\u201d stores had to keep up with the growing size of the grocery store and mall and thus the big-box store was born. Big Lots<\/strong>, Target<\/strong>, and Best Buy<\/strong> all got their start during this decade as did Sam Walton\u2019s fledgling Walmart Discount City. Walmart<\/strong> was an innovative concept, yet it would have come as a shock that this new big-box store would become one of the largest corporations in the world.<\/p>\n

Grocery stores and big-box stores weren\u2019t the only industries that were able to turn the upheaval of the 60\u2019s into an advantage. The maturing of baby boomers meant new houses and a demand for hardware supplies. The proliferation of automobiles paid dividends for auto part retailers<\/a> and convenience stores<\/a> with gas stations. Walgreens<\/strong> finally got some competition as both CVS<\/strong> and Rite Aid<\/strong> were founded even though it would take them some time to catch up to the pharmacy giant<\/a>. Restaurants<\/a> also benefitted from baby boomers as fast-food giants Arby\u2019s<\/strong> and Hardees<\/strong> got their start alongside family friendly restaurants Red Lobster<\/strong> and Huddle House<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The need to grab a customers attention and quickly respond to a changing America is reminiscent of many of the advertising campaigns we see today. The 60\u2019s were a volatile time and disruption in the market opened the door for new ideas and new companies. There was a significant amount of loss in this decade, yet it also set the stage for a changing culture that would redefine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 1950\u2019s was thought of by some as a \u201cgolden age with a pristine sheen\u201d and what followed in the 1960\u2019s was a tumultuous era of upheaval where great tragedy and triumph stood side by side. The Cold War was in full swing, and the decade featured some of the most intense moments in American… Continue reading Through the Years: The 1960\u2019s and the Rise of Counterculture<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":16851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"post-template-no-sidebar.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-16844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-though-the-years","tag-csg-exclusive","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chainstoreguide.com\/offthechain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}