With America's youth at the forefront, the late 1960s saw a forceful expression of individuation and differentiation.
Historians generally agree that the middle-to-late 1960s marked a turning point in American cultural history. The conformity that characterized much of society in the 1950s and early 1960s gave way to a youth-driven spirit of rebellion that caused major societal upheaval.
In
his The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise
of Hip Consumerism, Thomas Frank describes the onset of 1960s-style individuation:
"Spearheaded by a dynamic youth uprising, the cultural sensibility of the
1960s made a decisive break with the dominant forces and social feeling of the
postwar era. Rebellion replaced machinelike restraint as the motif of the age.
Conformity and consumerism were challenged by a new ethos that found an enemy
in the 'Establishment,' celebrated difference and diversity, and sought to maximize
the freedom and 'self-realization' of the individual." (Frank, 15)
A number of factors help explain this dramatic social change. First, the number of American teenagers and young adults, developmentally prone to rebellion, exploded as the postwar "Baby Boomers" came of age. Secondly, protest became recognized as an increasingly viable form of social action as the Civil Rights Movement reached a boiling point in the early 1960s. The integration of minority groups into white culture limited the possibilities for a uniform standard of conformity, as these groups began to bring their own cultures and diverse perspectives into mainstream society. Thirdly, the Vietnam War and other world events proved extremely divisive, exacerbating political differences within communities and even families. Fourthly, critics of 1950s conformity like Vance Packard, Betty Friedan, and others gained notoriety and appeal among many groups, causing awareness where there once may have been ignorance. Fifthly, individual trendsetters like The Beatles and Timothy Leary pushed the envelope of societal acceptability and became role models for vast numbers of Americans.
For whatever the causes--and they are doubtless complex and myriad--the rebellious atmosphere of the late 1960s and early 1970s permeated many aspects of society, including consumption. More choices were available and demanded, as children sought to consume differently from their parents and the older "Establishment" generation. To be seen as "square" or outdated was brand suicide among the youth market, which comprised half of the entire American population by this point. (Frank, 109) As we shall see in the discussion of the "Uncola" campaign, 7up and the J. Walter Thompson Company were entirely aware of the rebellious tendencies of the era and deliberately sought to reposition 7up as a hip, anti-Establishment, youth-oriented beverage. In becoming the "Uncola," 7up adopted the rebellious attitudes of the broader American social environment.