Coury TurczynIt is in the best interest of corporations to invest in training us to become good, compliant consumers and workers. Today that means mining our private online data or inflicting “team-building” exercises and performance reviews at work. But several generations ago it meant producing LPs with the expectation that people would to them take home and listen to them with their full attention.
Whether introducing product lines, inspiring employees, or fostering a positive public image, companies such as United States Steel, Westinghouse, and Merck turned to the medium of vinyl records as part of their marketing campaigns. Whether they actually worked is knowledge that’s probably lost to the ages. But these audio tributes to consumerism do make for something fun to collect.
