American Corporations and the Media, 1890-1940
American corporations have never been reticent to use available media to reach their goals, and in the years between 1890 and 1940, there are impressive examples of how U.S. corporate interests have utilized various media to realize additional profit and power -- sometimes employing unorthodox and unethical methods. This paper delves into instances of corporate use of media, and points to the dynamics that allowed those associations to flourish.
"Today's critics of media conglomerates fail to grasp the reality that corporate power, in league with the state, [has] made a mockery of prospects for a democratic global media system… [and it's vital to recognize that] the U.S. radio industry subsequently followed a similar pattern of monopolization in the 1920s…" (Peterson, 2004, p. 86).
Author James Schwoch points to the fact that the American radio industry had a profound impact on Latin American activities between 1900 and 1939, and he uses several examples to back up his assertion. For example, U.S. Rubber (whose point man was E.C. Benedict, a board member and "experienced Wall Street finance capitalist") had a strong interest in seeing more effective strategies in terms of the management of "wild rubber forests" in the Amazon basin (Schwoch, 1990, p. 16). Indeed, U.S. Rubber had established purchasing agencies for "raw rubber" from Amazon states Para and Manus, which was due to the fact that they had eyes for greater control of the rubber in the Amazon.
The annual report for U.S. Rubber in 1903 stated: "We have…laid the foundation in another direction for acquiring and handling generally our very large requirements of crude rubber"; the report went on to explain that "special advantages" the company was developing would offer U.S. Rubber access to rubber "never before possessed by this company, and not enjoyed by any other consumer of rubber" (Schwoch, p. 16).
What was that advantage that Benedict alluded to? It was the establishment of "Amazon Wireless," a radio / broadcast system that would play a big role in the U.S. Rubber corporation gaining power, money, and of course rubber from the Amazon region. The Amazon Wireless deal was cut with Brazil thanks to the efforts of two Americans, Richard Mardock and Charles Archer, who began experimenting in the Amazon in 1901. Using new radio technology developed by iconic electronics innovator Reginald Fessenden, Mardock convinced the Brazilian government that he had the technology to bring wireless communication to Brazil. So a deal was inked on September 29, 1902, allowing fifteen years of operation of Amazon Wireless in Brazil.
Fessenden had implemented the already existing electromagnetic theory and pursued it to its ultimate end: a) he was the first to transmit voice over radio waves; b) he was first to send two-way wireless telegraphy messages across the Atlantic Ocean; c) Fessenden was first to send "wireless telephony (voice) across the Atlantic Ocean"; and d) Fessenden produced the first wireless broadcast of voice and music (Balrose, 1994, p. 1). He didn't do it to help U.S. corporations earn more profit, but it turned out to be an advantage for corporations.
While U.S. Rubber did not make the great profit strides in the Amazon jungle with their Amazon Wireless project -- the Brazilian government backed away from cooperation with U.S. Rubber, taking over the project, and the Fessenden system had serious technical problems operating in the deep Amazon jungle -- other U.S. corporations had success in Latin America, including the United Fruit Company (UFC). Indeed, the UFC used radio equipment purchased from Lee DeForest and established "a [radio] system between Port Limon, Costa Rica, and Bocas del Toro in Panama" (Schwoch, 21). One reason that UFC succeeded and U.S. Rubber failed -- besides the difficulties U.S. Rubber experienced setting up transmissions that consistently functioned properly in rainforest environments -- is that the UFC project involved the company planting banana plantations rather than depending on "wild harvesting" in remote areas such as U.S. Rubber had to deal with (Schwoch, 22). Eventually UFC built steamships and used wireless transmissions on board those ships for constant communication with corporate regional offices.
Upton Sinclair, who "railed against the corporate takeover of America," went to Colorado during the coal miners strike of 1927-28; he called the Denver Post that had, he says, "published some perfectly fantastic falsehoods about me, made up out of whole cloth. I called [an editor] and protested. He cursed me and said 'we say what we & #8230;' and I won't repeat his language but 'we are gonna say what we please about you and we don't care a blankety-blank-blank...
The main focus of the 1980s regarding brands focused on a trend in takeovers, enabling successful brands to become extremely valuable on the open market. Even very early on, a value associated with a brand large was viewed in part as more important than the product itself. Early research indicates that many thought the only way to have a successful brand was to buy one. Many felt that the
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now