Catalogue Number
NMLH.2023.69.8
Object Name
Poster
Title
Consumerism
Date
1972-1982
Description
The Poster Collective was a collective formed in 1971 at the Slade School of Art,  a group formed to initially produce posters in response to the miners strike and on the wars in both Vietnam and Ireland. It was formed on the basis of developing a coherent visual style, which addressed the political issues of the time. This included the armed struggles against colonialism in Africa, the struggle of women for equal rights and the continuing struggle against racism. The collective was active in the 70's and 80's, producing posters on a wide range of issues, including for educational purposes. The group was not-for-profit and used a variety of hand-printing techniques to create their posters. This poster is part of a set, 'Future Fictions', produced when the collective moved to the North London Polytechnic is a set of posters reflecting on technological development and leads us to address environmental issues of today. This poster is white and orange and features images of a married
couple stood above various technological devices such as TVs, washing machines, radios, etc. Orange text at the bottom reads "CONSUMERISM" in large letters. Smaller purple text across the poster reads "Beginning in the United States in 1940 and after World War II in Europe, there was a third major technological revolution leading to an unprecedented fusion of science, technology and production. World trade doubled every decade as production levels and the range of good available increased dramatically. The automobile, television, synthetic clothing, domestic appliances, jet travel all became part of a mass consumer culture. Overall the expansion of consumer culture in the technologically advanced Western countries was substantially based upon the resources that flowed from the underdeveloped countries of the Third World. In stark proportional terms 85% of the planets production is consumed by 15% of the population, with the poorest half of the world's population accounting for only 5%
of the world's income. Technology within this context has been one of the main agencies of reinforcing the differences of wealth in the world." A quote near the middle of the poster reads "As we begin to master the potentialities of modern science we move towards an era in which science can fulfill its creative promise and help bring into existence the happiest society the world has ever known." - President Kennedy 1963"
