A Chain Reaction

People always wonder why the stock market crashed in 1929. The general consensus is that people were buying stocks when they did not have the money to back up that investment. So many people did this that the market became valueless, thus crashing. But why were so many people buying stock on credit? Why was it acceptable to buy things knowing that you could not afford them? The answer goes back to the attitude of the 1920s, buy buy buy. In the 20s, Consumerism exploded. Companies and marketing agencies were unveiling mass advertising campaigns that were designed to appeal to the whole nation. This along with the newly invented consumer products like the radio, the telephone, and fountain pens were so irresistible to consumers that they had to have them, even though they could not afford them; and this attitude became acceptable in society. It was not that big of a deal to invest in very expensive items knowing you possessed insufficient funds to actually pay for these items. So in summary, the stock market crash of 1929 happened because of the ability for people to purchase stocks on credit because it was an accepted practice of the era because people had been purchasing consumer goods on credit because that was acceptable because mass marketing campaigns targeted the consumer with revolutionary advertising because of the new ability to mass produce goods because of the recent strides in the development of technology.