Reassesses the concept of consumer engineering in a comparative, transnational framework, moving beyond the familiar narrative of consumer manipulation

Considers the history of consumer engineering in the context of mid-century developments such as social engineering, modernist planning and design, and the professionalization of various fields

Appeals to scholars of marketing and business history, consumer culture, social engineering, social movements, transnational history, and the history of capitalism

1. Beyond the Mad Men: Consumer Engineering and the Rise of Marketing Management, 1920s-1970s: An Introduction.- I. Twentieth-Century Marketing: Aspirations and Limits, Costs, and Benefits.- 2. Marketing as "Consumer Engineering"? A Concept in Transatlantic Perspective, 1930s-1960s.- 3. What Does "Fast Capitalism" Mean for Consumers? Examples of Consumer Engineering in the United States.- 4. A Theoretical Exploration of Consumer Engineering: Implicit Contracts and Market Making.- II. Consumer Engineers and Transatlantic Exchanges at Mid-Century.- 5. Shopping Malls and Social Democracy: Victor Gruen's Postwar Campaign for Conscientious Consumption in American Suburbia.- 6. Consumer-Based Research: Walter Landor and the Value of Packaging Design in Marketing.- 7. German-Style Consumer Engineering: Victor Vogt's Verkaufspraxis, 1925-1950.- III. Consumer Engineering Practices in Postwar Europe.- 8. Consumer Credit as a Marketing Tool: The French Experience in European andTransatlantic Comparison, 1950s-1960s.- 9. Adidas and the Creation of a Transnational Market for German Athletic Shoes, 1948-1978.- 10. Imagined Images, Surveyed Consumers: Market Research as a Means of Consumer Engineering, 1950s-1980s.- IV. Consumer Engineering and Consumer Movements.- 11. Marketing a New Society or Engineering Kitchens? IKEA and the Swedish Consumer Agency.- 12. "The Consumer Crusader": Hugo Schui and the German Consumers Association.- 13. Consumer Engineering by Belgian Consumer Movements: From Modern Marketing with a Transnational Touch to Late-Modern Insecurities, 1957-2000.