Scramble for the Teenage Dollar: Creating the Youth Market in Mid-Century Canada

Studies how the identity of the Canadian teenager shifted in the twentieth century into that of a consumer.

Co-ed, junior miss, grad, teenster. From the late 1930s to the 1950s, the teenager emerged as a distinct and ideal market segment. The Scramble for the Teenage Dollar explores how consumption became an integral part of being a teenager.

This nascent consumer--always a white, middle-class, heterosexual high school student--had purchasing power that demanded recognition. At least, that was the image fashioned by Canadian advertisers and retailers, especially the biggest department store of the time: Eaton's. Katharine Rollwagen dives into consumer magazines, Eaton's archives, and mail-order catalogs to discover how the commercialized Canadian teenager was created.

Packed with insights about how retailers and advertisers attempted to shape the look, bodies, and behavior of young Canadians, The Scramble for the Teenage Dollar is an intriguing look at the power of corporate actors to influence popular understandings of growing up. It also reveals the roots of the hyper-consumerism common among young people today.