Surrealism Impact on Fashion Advertising Between the years 1930 to 1950, the art movement

Between the years 1930 to 1950, the art movement known as surrealism had an important impact on fashion advertising in America. During that period, many fashion ads used elements of fantasy in order to make an emotional appeal to consumers. Prior to that time, fashion advertisements were generally concerned with simply informing the consumer about the products. Usually, the ads just showed the products and described the facts about them. The ads generally did not elaborate on how the products would make the consumer feel better or improve his or her life. An example of this "old style" of fashion advertising can be seen in a Sears Roebuck catalog from the turn of the century.

During the 1920's, styles in fashion advertising began to undergo change. As noted by Margolin, Brichta & Brichta (1979), the 1920's saw a shift in "the focus of advertising from explaining how an article worked to describing the pleasure it could give the user" (pp. 62-63). Along with this shift in emphasis, modern art styles became increasingly predominant in fashion ads. The elements of modern art were used because they helped increase the emotional appeal of the advertisements. Art deco, cubism, futurism,etc