Sample Outline

 
Preparing for the Information Age:
An Analysis of AT&T Advertising

 
Thesis:  American Telephone and Telegraph uses advertising to create and exploit its customers' need for a personal relationship with an impersonal system.
 
  I.  Early advertising is used to sell reliability of new technology.
       A.  Alexander Graham Bell exhibits new technology.
       B.  Ads assert that new technology is available to America's predominantly rural population.
       C.  Telephone  technology expands and enriches personal lives of
             rural Americans.
 
 II.  Advertising in the '20s and'3os reveals tension between old and new
       technology.
       A.  Ads celebrate values of rural life.
       B.  Ads introduce innovations that accelerate growth of urban life.
       C.  Ad for direct dial telephone assures consumers that technological
             change is manageable.
 
III.  Advertising in the '40s and '50s explains and then exploits industrial
       expansion.
       A.  Ads explain value of new technology for winning the war.
       B.  Ads exploit post-war affluence by encouraging the purchase of
             more technology.
       C.  Ad for extension telephones appeals to consumer's desire for
             convenience and status.
 
IV.  Advertising in '60s and '70s seeks service rather than products.
       A.  AT&T establishes technology for global communication.
       B.  Ads encourage long distance calling.
       C.  "Reach Out and Touch" campaign tries to personalize the use of
             new technology.