Editing Planned obsolescence (section)

== History ==
[[File:1923_Chevrolet_Superior_Series_B,_National_Road_Transport_Hall_of_Fame,_2015.JPG|thumb|The 1923 Chevrolet is cited as one of the earliest examples of annual facelifts in the car industry because it had a restyled body covering what essentially was nine-year-old technology.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.autonews.com/article/20080914/OEM02/309149950/annual-model-change-was-the-result-of-affluence-technology-advertising|title=Annual model change was the result of affluence, technology, advertising|website=Automotive News|date=September 14, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514134210/https://www.autonews.com/article/20080914/OEM02/309149950/annual-model-change-was-the-result-of-affluence-technology-advertising|archive-date=May 14, 2023|access-date=May 14, 2023}}</ref>]]
[[File:London (1932) Ending the depression through planned obsolescence.pdf|thumb|upright|''Ending the Depression Through Planned Obsolescence'', by [[Bernard London]], 1932]]

In 1924, the American [[Automotive industry|automobile market]] began reaching [[Market saturation|saturation point]]. To maintain unit sales, [[General Motors]] executive [[Alfred P. Sloan|Alfred P. Sloan Jr.]] suggested annual model-year design changes to convince car owners to buy new replacements each year, with refreshed appearances headed by [[Harley Earl]] and the Art and Color Section. Although his concept was borrowed from the bicycle industry, its origin was often misattributed to Sloan.<ref>{{cite book |last=Babaian |first=Sharon |title=The Most Benevolent Machine: A Historical Assessment of Cycles in Canada |date=1998 |publisher=National Museum of Science and Technology |location=Ottawa |isbn=978-0-660-91670-5 |page=97}}</ref> Sloan often used the term ''dynamic obsolescence'',<ref>{{cite book|last1=Grattan|first1=Laura|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnJVCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT116|title=Populism's Power: Radical Grassroots Democracy in America|date=6 January 2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780190277659|via=Google Books}}</ref> but critics coined the name of his strategy ''planned obsolescence''.

This strategy had far-reaching effects on the automobile industry, [[Product design|product design field]] and eventually the whole American economy. The smaller players could not maintain the pace and expense of yearly re-styling. [[Henry Ford]] did not like the constant stream of model-year changes because he clung to an engineer's notions of simplicity, economies of scale, and design integrity. GM surpassed Ford's sales in 1931 and became the dominant company in the industry thereafter. The frequent design changes also made it necessary to use a [[body-on-frame]] structure rather than the lighter, but less easy to modify, [[unibody]] design used by most European automakers.

The origin of the phrase ''planned obsolescence'' goes back at least as far as 1932 with [[Bernard London]]'s pamphlet ''Ending the Depression Through Planned Obsolescence''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/London_(1932)_Ending_the_depression_through_planned_obsolescence.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819154515/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/London_%281932%29_Ending_the_depression_through_planned_obsolescence.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Bernard London's pamphlet|archive-date=August 19, 2012}}</ref> The essence of London's plan would have the government impose a legal obsolescence on personal-use items, to stimulate and perpetuate purchasing. However, the phrase was first popularized in 1954 by [[Brooks Stevens]], an American industrial designer. Stevens was due to give a talk at an advertising conference in [[Minneapolis]] in 1954. Without giving it much thought, he used the term as the title of his talk. From that point on, "planned obsolescence" became Stevens' catchphrase. By his definition, planned obsolescence was "Instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary."<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/industrial-strength-design |last=Adamson |first=Glen |title=Industrial Strength Design: How Brooks Stevens Shaped Your World |date=June 2003 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-01207-2}}</ref>

The phrase was quickly taken up by others, but Stevens' definition was challenged. By the late 1950s, ''planned obsolescence'' had become a commonly used term for products designed to break easily or to quickly go out of style. In fact, the concept was so widely recognized that in 1959 [[Volkswagen]] mocked it in an advertising campaign. While acknowledging the widespread use of planned obsolescence among automobile manufacturers, Volkswagen pitched itself as an alternative. "We do not believe in planned obsolescence", the ads suggested. "We don't change a car for the sake of change."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=80kEAAAAMBAJ |title=LIFE |date=1959-08-03 |publisher=Time Inc |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228030304/https://books.google.com/books?id=80kEAAAAMBAJ |archive-date=February 28, 2017 }}</ref> In the famous Volkswagen advertising campaign by [[DDB Worldwide|Doyle Dane Bernbach]], one advert showed an almost blank page with the strapline "No point in showing the 1962 Volkswagen, it still looks the same".

In 1960, cultural critic [[Vance Packard]] published ''[[The Waste Makers]]'', promoted as an exposé of "the systematic attempt of business to make us wasteful, debt-ridden, permanently discontented individuals". Packard divided planned obsolescence into two sub categories: obsolescence of desirability and obsolescence of function.

"Obsolescence of desirability", also known as "psychological obsolescence", referred to marketers' attempts to wear out a product in the owner's mind. Packard quoted industrial designer [[George Nelson (designer)|George Nelson]], who wrote:

<blockquote>Design ... is an attempt to make a contribution through change. When no contribution is made or can be made, the only process available for giving the illusion of change is "styling"!</blockquote>