Creating Consumers in the 1930s: Irna Phillips and the Radio Soap Opera

Abstract

The 1930s marked an important stage in the evolution of a mass consumer society in the United States. The current article examines the roles that Irna Phillips and the early radio soap opera played in that process. Through the daytime serial, Phillips developed a program format that appealed to American housewives, who were the likely purchasers of most household products. She adjusted story lines to meet the selling needs of her sponsors; she used soap opera characters as effective product spokespersons; and she designed program promotions to stimulate product sales. However, at the same time that her programs sold products contributing to social change, they also reinforced traditional expectations about the roles of women as housewives and mothers.