I read an article about fads recently that I found intriguing. It said that fads are apt to appear when society is shaken up for some reason. Perhaps they sooth our collective psyche when the culture is clouded with unknowns.
Take, for instance, fads in the Roaring Twenties, like flappers or yoyos. Flappers represented new freedom. Women were no longer bound by the social constraints of earlier generations. They could vote and go to work. Coupled with Prohibition (which gave rise to speakeasies) and the popularization of jazz, glitzy short dresses and bobbed hairdos represented freedom in an unsure time.
Yoyos were also popular in the 1930s. They were first introduced by a Filipino immigrant who began manufacturing them in California in 1928. Quick-thinking Donald Duncan, an American entrepreneur, bought the company, made adjustments, and yoyos exploded onto the scene, just in time to be all the rage during the Depression; they’re still around today.
Fads are generally classified as products or behaviors that have little utility but are characterized by a quick rise in popularity, followed, most of the time, by a quick decline.
One scary time that left millions of Americans unsure of the future was the Great Depression of the 1930s. Fads grew to gigantic proportions in all areas of society. Betty Boop first appeared in 1930, and America fell in love – and laughed. At a time when both food and money were scarce, dance marathons became widespread. Organizers provided dancers and audience with food and shelter for days until the last couple, who had been standing and moving for days, were proclaimed winners. Dancers paid a fee to enter, but they stood a chance of winning a sizable cash prize. Better than standing in a soup line, some thought.
The ’30s into the 1940s brought forth food fads, the combination of hunger for foods not available and, later, the motivation to conserve for the WWII effort. Mock apple pie was a staple in many homes when apples were too expensive or not available. Ritz Crackers hit its zenith in 1934 with its fashionable recipe for “fruit” pie filling made of crushed crackers, lemon juice, vanilla syrup, and sugar. Similar fads followed, and in the 1940s the Campbell’s soup company brought forth a tomato soup spiced pudding, followed by various cake recipes using the soup. Reportedly, their kitchens are still experimenting with tomato soup cakes.
The first atomic bomb era of the 1950s was met not only with backyard bomb shelters and kids crawling under their school desks, but also with a celebration of Slinkies, Davy Crockett madness, Tang (the flavored orange crystals that accompanied the first astronauts into space) and the much-loved Hula Hoop.
A lot of us remember more recent fads like Beanie Babies and Pet Rocks. It makes me wonder what fads will appear during the next round of trying times. Guess I’ll relax with my Fidget Spinner and see what the future has in store.
