«Κατά το τετράμηνον Ιανουάριος-Απρίλιος 1956… Η Κινηματογραφική Υπηρεσία του Ελληνικού Κέντρου Παραγωγικότητος εφωδίασε τας Τεχνικάς Σχολάς με 103 ταινίας, παρουσιαζούσας τεχνικάς προόδους και τεχνικάς μεθόδους δια την αύξησιν της παραγωγικότητος… Προεβλήθησαν ενώπιον 6.810 θεατών σπουδαστών… Χρησιμοποιήσατε την Υπηρεσίαν αυτήν. Είναι εις την διάθεσίν σας» (cf. Παραγωγικότης, April-May 1956, issue no. 12, Athens, p. 2, their emph.).

The educational project of the Greek Productivity Center would be further complemented by the establishment and operation of a library. The April 1958 issue of Παραγωγικότης informs its readers of such library, and explains that it is open to the public at large. This institution would provide users with a wide variety of manuals, and it was targeting whosoever was interested in issues related to productivity. It housed a rich collection of textbooks, special studies, periodicals, newspapers, and so forth. All such materials centered round problems of productivity and concomitant issues related to the organization of the production process, be that of industry as such, or of small crafts industries. The library also housed materials related to questions of organization in the fields of agriculture and trade. It would issue a weekly bibliographical bulletin informing users of incoming materials. All services – at the disposal of everyone – were free of charge. The announcement concerning this library, as published in Παραγωγικότης, reads as follows:

«Η ΒΙΒΛΙΟΘΗΚΗ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟΥ ΚΕΝΤΡΟΥ ΠΑΡΑΓΩΓΙΚΟΤΗΤΟΣ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΑΝΟΙΚΤΗ ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΔΙΑΘΕΣΙΝ ΤΟΥ ΚΟΙΝΟΥ…Η Βιβλιοθήκη του Ελληνικού Κέντρου Παραγωγικότητος όσους ενδιαφέρονταιπεριέχει πάσης φύσεως βοηθήματα, δι’ όσους ενδιαφέρονται δια την Παραγωγικότητα…Συγγράμματα, ειδικαί μελέται, περιοδικά κ.λ. συνδεόμενα με την Παραγωγικότητα, την οργάνωσιν και με τεχνικά θέματα της βιομηχανίας, της βιοτεχνίας, της γεωργίας και της εμπορίας, είναι εις την διάθεσίν σας, εις την Βιβλιοθήκην του ΕΛ.ΚΕ.ΠΑ.Ώραι λειτουργίας 9 π.μ. – 1 μ.μ. καθημερινώς και 6 – 8 μ.μ.καθ’ εκάστην Τετάρτην και Παρασκευήν.Καποδιστρίου 28…Υπό της Βιβλιοθήκης του Ελληνικού Κέντρου Παραγωγικότητος ήρχισεν εκδιδόμενον Βιβλιογραφικόν Δελτίον, διαλαμβάνον του ΕΛ.ΚΕ.ΠΑ πλήρη κατάλογον των εισερχομένων εις την Βιβλιοθήκην του ΕΛ.ΚΕ.ΠΑ. βιβλίων, περιοδικών, εφημερίδων και άλλων εντύπων.Το Δελτίον τούτο εκδίδεται καθ’ εβδομάδα και δίδεται δωρεάν εις τους ενδιαφερομένους»(cf. Παραγωγικότης, April 1958, issue no. 28, Athens, p. 170, their emph.).

But it was not just the Greek Productivity Center and its various organs – from the Cinematographic Service to its library – that would attempt to reorganize the structure and functioning of Greek endogenous capital. The overall philosophy of the Greek Productivity Center would be consciously reproduced in the various advertizing campaigns of the day addressed to the new needs of local companies. We know that various private enterprises and initiatives would join the bandwagon to help Greek companies update their organizational structures – one such, as we have seen, was TWI, Inc. One other private enterprise that would also attempt to advance the overall philosophy of the Greek Productivity Center would be the well-known conglomerate specializing in office equipment, Remington Rand. The latter would attempt to ply its products amongst local companies by fully espousing the strategies and discourse of the Greek Productivity Center. Remington Rand would address itself to all Greek companies, whatever their type and whatever their size. Advertizing campaigns organized by this conglomerate in the 1950’s would articulate a discourse that would place emphasis on the need for local companies to adopt new methods of self-organization within their own Headquarters. Such reorganization at the level of management would be facilitated through the use of Remington office equipment. It would be precisely via such office technology that enterprises would be able to raise their efficiency in the running of their affairs. Such efficiency would also be instrumental in lowering the cost of managerial work. The April 1958 issue of Παραγωγικότης would carry an advertisement promoting such Remington office machines – it would explain in great detail the functionality of such machines in the context of the need to ameliorate productivity as a whole. This important advertisement reads as follows:

«Το Αποδοτικώτερον Λιπαντικόν… Πόσον ρυθμικώτερα λειτουργεί μια επιχείρησις της οποίας η διεύθυνσις χρησιμοποιεί τα συστήματα οργανώσεως και τας μηχανάς γραφείου “REMINGTON”! Τα μέσα αυτά διατηρούν τους τροχούς της παραγωγής, της διανομής και της διοικήσεως σε συνεχή κίνησι κατά τρόπον ομαλόν και παραγωγικόν. Η συμβολή των εις τον έλεγχον των επιχειρήσεων παντός είδους – εις μεγάλην ή μικράν κλίμακα – αναγνωρίζεται από κρατικάς και ιδιωτικάς επιχειρήσεις, εις όλον τον κόσμον. Προσωπικόν, μισθοδοσία, αποθήκη, πωλήσεις, παραγωγή… Δεν έχει σημασίαν το είδος της εργασίας. Υπάρχει πάντα μία μηχανή ή εν σύστημα της “REMINGTON” που εκτελεί την εργασίαν αποδοτικώτερα. Δεν έχει σημασίαν που λειτουργεί η επιχείρησίς σας. Υπάρχει πάντα ένας αντιπρόσωπος της “REMINGTON” που έχει εις την διάθεσίν σας περισσότερα από 20.000 προϊόντα που παράγει η “REMINGTON”. Επί πλέον, διαθέτει τα 78 χρόνια πείρας της “REMINGTON” δια να λύη τα οργανωτικά προβλήματα που σας απασχολούν. Ελάτε σήμερα εις επαφήν με τον αντιπρόσωπον της “REMINGTON”. Αφήστε τον να σας βοηθήση με την πείραν του και να σας καθορίση νέας κατευθύνσεις, να σας δείξη νέα συστήματα και μέσα. Αφήστε τον να σας αναπτύξη πώς, με τα κατάλληλα όργανα, μπορεί να εκτελήται η εργασία σας πλέον αποδοτικά και οικονομικά. Η αποστολή του Οργανισμού “REMINGTON RAND” είναι να απλοποιή την εργασίαν του γραφείου…» (cf. Παραγωγικότης, April 1958, issue no. 28, Athens, p. 168).

This Remington Rand advertisement, addressed to both small- and medium-sized Greek firms, definitely belongs to what we elsewhere have referred to as the “adjustive” type, whereby its discourse is formulated according to the needs of the local environment, as also in terms of the prevailing strategy to modernize Greek productive units in the context of post-war “reconstruction”. Its discourse is representative of that type of advertisement which concentrates on the need to modernize company Headquarters themselves, thereby moving its focus from the shop floor to the manner in which company structures are administered from the “top”. The Remington Rand advertisement informs its potential clients that they need to regulate the rhythm of work performed at the level of Headquarters. To do that, companies would need to implement new organizational systems – such systems would be materialized via the use of office equipment produced by Remington Rand. The use of these machines would render them an organic part of the overall reorganization of a company’s administrative offices. By facilitating the smooth functioning of Headquarters, firms would thereby maintain – as the advertisement suggests – the continual motion of the interacting cogs of production, distribution and management. We have already emphasized that Remington Rand was addressing itself to all local units of production, whatever their size – its discourse was meant to deal with the real needs of endogenous companies that were struggling to attain some quality of self-organization that had thus far been hampered by the dysfunctionalities of traditionality and the role of familial networks within company Headquarters. Here, we may briefly refer to the case of the medium-sized A&M factory mill based at Aliartos: its problematic functioning and endemic organizational problems that had almost always beset it were typical of most local firms. We may here consider a letter by Marakis, the owner-manager of the flour mill. Written in 1955, this letter fully expresses the psychology of a man struggling to establish and modernize his factory in the 1950’s. It is worthwhile listening to the highly personal anguish of an entrepreneur who was both frustrated by his associates as also deeply “in love” with his project – this is what he writes to a certain Mihail Leousis, an “expert” who had been appointed to modernize and replan the A&M flour mill at that time:

«Αλιάρτω 26.5.1955
Προσωπικόν
Κον Μιχαήλ Λεούσην
Φίλε Κύριε,
Ήλπιζα πάντοτε ότι η τύχη δεν θα με άφινε να συνεχίζω εργαζόμενος με αδαείς και ανειδίκευτους τεχνίτας και ότι μίαν ημέραν θα εύρισκα εκείνον που ήθελα, εκείνον που θα έδινε τας πραγματικάς γνώσεις του δια να τελειοποιηθή ένα έργον που με τόσους κόπους και τόσον ζήλον και αφοσίωσιν ήρχισα – … Ευχαριστώ τον θεόν διότι επί τέλους βρήκα στο πρόσωπόν σας, τον εξ αυτού αποσταλέντα δια να με σώση. Ναι: να με σώση λέγω διότι εκινδύνευσα να χάσω τελείως την υγείαν μου και να στερηθώ της φιλτάτης οικογενείας – … Δια να ξεκινήσω και μόνον παρήλασαν πέντε ειδικοί – … Κανείς από αυτούς δεν μπόρεσε να μας βοηθήση, όλλοι τους ήσαν άτεχνοι. Μόνοι μας ημείς εκατορθώσαμεν να φθάσωμεν εκεί όπου μας βρήκατε σεις και τότε και μόνον τότε εστάθηκε κατορθωτόν ο μύλος μας να πάρη γραμμήν, γραμμήν πλέον πραγματικήν, μύλου πραγματικού, η οποία οφείλεται αποκλειστικώς σε σας… Σας παρακαλούμεν να δεχθήτε τα συγχαρητήρια μας περιβεβλημένα με πολλάς πολλάς ευχαριστίας δια το πράγματι φιλότιμον και φιλικόν ενδιαφέρον το οποίον και τότε αλλά και περισσότερον τελευταίως εδείξατε εις την τελειοποίησιν του μύλου, σεις πλέον είσθε φίλος παλαιός και όχι νέος. Σας παρακαλούμεν δε όπως συνεχίσετε το ενδιαφέρον σας και ολοκληρωθή ο μύλος τον οποίον τόσον ηγάπησα εγώ όσον και σείς – … Σας ευχόμεθα υγείαν και ευημερίαν δια την αξιοποίησιν της λεπτής τέχνης σας, εις όφελος ημών και των συναδέλφων μας» (cf. Α&Μ Archives, Marakis personal letters, 26.5.1955, unnumbered file).

This letter, as also the whole gamut of the Marakis correspondence available to us, bears testimony to the real nature of whatever organizational problems faced by most local firms at the time. The first and perhaps most striking element that dominates the Marakis discourse is the highly personalized approach to the problems of company organization. Such an approach, of course, circumvents the real problem of whatever organizational endeavours – viz. the technical matter of the problem. It is not at all surprising that Marakis scribbles the telling word, «Προσωπικόν» (“Personal”), right across the opening lines of his letter to Leousis. He goes on to express his personal hopes («ήλπιζα») as to finding the appropriate colleagues that would help him establish his flour mill plant on a solid footing. He also overtly declares his dependency on fate or chance («τύχη») to be able to achieve this, and which is symptomatic of his mindset. Thus far, Marakis complains, all his associates have turned out to be ignorant of technical matters («αδαείς») and unskilled («ανειδίκευτους»). We note that his assessment of colleagues, albeit most probably accurate, seems devoid of whatever knowledge of some job evaluation system, and which again points to the personalized approach to organizational problems. He is in search of someone with a “real knowledge” («πραγματικάς γνώσεις») of flour mill plants. But Marakis announces that he has now found just that man in the person of Leousis himself – he thanks god for such a discovery, believing that Leousis is the person that shall “save” him («δια να με σώση»). It is most interesting to note that, as far as Marakis is concerned, Leousis has been sent to him by god himself. Such an interpretation, of course, is indicative of the traditionalist/residual worldviews of many local entrepreneurs of the period. Much more importantly, it is also indicative of the absence of whatever rudiments of a Personnel Department functioning within the structures of the A&M company operational framework. In the absence of a Personnel Department to screen, shortlist and select a job candidate, Marakis would resort to a substitute he knew best – viz. god himself.

Unlike so many other Marakis letters, missives and official company documents which would deal with the inefficiency and/or insubordination exhibited by the flour mill’s Blue Collar workforce, the 1955 letter discussed here essentially focuses on the problems of the company’s Headquarters. The latter had been persistently manned by incompetent “technicians” (here, in the more specific sense of company technical planners). These had been called upon to undertake the overall “planning” of the factory – a document attached to the letter succinctly defines their purported assignment: «δια του σχέδιου μύλου». As mentioned, Marakis had been continually failing in his attempts to find the appropriate associates for such task – all five “technicians” prior to the arrival of Leousis had proven unsuitable in helping him with his entrepreneurial project, and he had no choice but go it alone. And yet, the owner-manager could intuit that what was really missing was what he calls a company “line” or a “real line” (in the sense of a company direction or policy), and which would yield a “real mill” («να πάρη γραμμήν, γραμμήν πλέον πραγματικήν, μύλου πραγματικού»). In this 1955 letter, we see that Marakis fully believes that the foundations for such “line” were finally being successfully established by Leousis, and thus he sincerely congratulates and thanks the man. The essentially personalized approach to matters of company organization typically leads Marakis to end his letter by expressing his deep “love” for the mill («τον οποίον τόσον ηγάπησα»). Naturally, Marakis also assumes that Leousis himself shares such “love” («όσον και σείς»).

As we have seen, this Marakis letter to a “technical expert” such as Leousis describes the real problems that any local factory owner-manager would face in his sincere attempts to organize his plant from the “top”. The organization or reorganization of a plant from the “top” would of course be the primary strategy of whichever company, big or small. But this was especially important for a flour mill plant such as A&M, it being a top-heavy organization (cf. our detailed analysis of employee statistics of the A&M company through the years verifying such a reality, op. cit.). And thus we see the almost existential urgency felt by Marakis to find the man that would provide his enterprise with a “real line”. But Marakis – as we shall further see below – would also gradually come to realize that the task of organizing a plant at the point of production was not merely dependent on finding the right sort of person to assist him with his organizational project. As the Remington Rand advertisement was trying to instill in the minds of all Greek entrepreneurs, one could not truly organize a plant unless one had also reorganized the work of Headquarters as such on a new technical basis. For Remington Rand, it would be its own office equipment that would help achieve such technical reorganization.

Of course, the impact of advertizing discourse such as that of Remington Rand must not be seen as one-dimensional, in the sense that it simply promoted its own Remington office equipment. As an expression of the overall strategies of the Greek Productivity Center, the Remington Rand advertisement would be fulfilling a function relatively autonomous of its own narrower parameters – apart from attempting to promote specific office equipment produced by the conglomerate it represented, it would also be introducing local entrepreneurs to a wider and radically new company culture based on new office technology (in fact, one need see all advertizing discourse as having a multi-purpose functionality covering, not only narrow company interests as such, but also expressing – and willy-nilly – wider socio-economic and cultural paradigms). Now, it is of interest to note that Marakis would ultimately come to latch on to the need for such new office technology so as to modernize his A&M Company Headquarters. By the 1960’s, for instance, Marakis would be undertaking an investigation of the office equipment market with the intention of modernizing office installations. Indicative of such systematic investigations is a formal letter he would receive from a Greek trade agent informing the owner-manager of the latest in German telephonic systems technology. The agent, by the name of Ioannis Maroulis (of Τεχνικαί και Εμπορικαί Αντιπροσωπείαι Αθήναι), would write to Marakis on July 19, 1966 – part of this letter reads as follows:

«Κύριε,
Έχομεν την τιμήν να προσφέρωμεν υμίν δια λογαριασμόν του Γερμανικού Εργοστασίου TELEFONBAU UND NORMALZEIT G.M.B.H., FRANKFURT/MAIN, τα κάτωθι… Αυτόματον Τηλεφωνικόν Κέντρον, νεωτάτου ρευματοληπτικού τύπου Φωτεινών Πλήκτρων, κατηγορίας ΙΙ B/C No. 02.5401.1000… κατασκευασμένου συμφώνως προς τους κανονισμούς των γερμανικών ταχυδρομείων, δια: 3 Γραμμάς Κέντρου πόλεως… [etc.]” (cf. Α&Μ Archives, Marakis business correspondence, 19.7.1966, file no. 100).

This letter was meant to introduce the A&M Company to, inter alia, the use of an automatic call distribution system. Apparently, the letter also includes technical data about other gadgets of office technology – in fact, a whole set of office equipment is being presented, of which the call distributor is but one example (not all the relevant information is available to us as only an extract of the document has survived the ravages of time). But it is important that an owner-manager such as Marakis – whose mill plant was located in the semi-rural backwaters of mainland Greece – was actively responding to the new entrepreneurial culture promoted by the Greek Productivity Center and the related advertizing campaigns such as that of Remington Rand. Based on the Α&Μ Archives, we know that the Marakis Headquarters was systematically informing itself of the latest developments in the field of technology by subscribing to the organ of the Greek Productivity Center, Παραγωγικότης, and it was doing so at least up until 1979 (cf. Α&Μ Archives, file no. 106).

The A&M Company is just one example of that type of endogenous non-monopoly firm that would be able to stand on its own two feet in the post-war period. It would be able to expand and survive right through to the 1980’s – it would be able to do so for a number of reasons which we do not intend to examine here. But at least one such reason was that it would be continually trying to modernize its technology both at the point of production and at the level of Headquarters, and it would be doing so more or less in keeping with the new entrepreneurial culture being promoted by the Greek Productivity Center. Of course, and again like so many other local companies in the 1950’s, the A&M Company would be a benefactor of Marshall Plan aid, via the Ministry of Supply and Distribution (cf. the 4th interview with Evangelos Mouratis, Aliartos, 16.3.2009, who would verify that «… ο Μαράκης είχε ευνοηθεί από το υπουργείο Εφοδιασμού»). Perhaps we should clarify here that the Ministry of Supply and Distribution would ultimately come under the umbrella of the Ministry of Coordination (set up as early as 1945), and which would be linked to the Marshall Plan’s drive for the rapid reconstruction of Greek productivity. With respect to the A&M Company and how it would benefit from the Marshall Plan, cf., as well, Προφορική μαρτυρία: Γιώργος Ζυγογιάννης, πρακτικός Επιμορφωτικόν Βήμα μηχανικός, published herein, gslreview.com, 12.03.2018).

Thus, it would be quite accurate to say that a flour plant such as that of the A&M Company would be able to offer jobs to Aliartian residents, as also to other Greeks from various parts of the country (such as Crete). Further, it would itself be able to gradually contribute to the overall amelioration of the Greek national income by the 1970’s and early 1980’s (and that, despite its so-called “exploitation” of the sexual division of labour, yielding an “ultra-cheap” female workforce – cf. our studies of wage-scales at the A&M Company through the years). And it would generally help feed the population via its almost nation-wide flour-distribution network. Above all, it would turn out to be an exporter of its flour products. Even as late as 1982, A&M would continue to be registered as an exporting company: a document available in the company archives, issued by the Εμπορικό & Βιομηχανικό Επιμελητήριο Βοιωτίας (the Boeotian Chamber of Commerce and Industry), testifies to the fact that the company continued to operate as an exporter («ΠΙΣΤΟΠΟΙΗΤΙΚΟ… ως εξαγωγέας» – cf. Α&Μ Archives, file no. 108).

And yet, and having said all this, most local companies such as that of A&M would continue to remain essentially impervious to the new methods of “scientific organization” of their production process as promoted by the Greek Productivity Center. Further, both the concept and the infrastructure for the establishment of something approximating a Personnel Department would escape them. The A&M Company would never really be able to achieve some structural mediation of the capital-labour and/or co-worker conflicts that would raise their head every now and then on the shop floor or within company Headquarters. Such conflicts would continue to take the form of essentially interpersonal clashes between the owner-manager and his employees, or amongst employees themselves occupying different positions within the company hierarchy.

Now, it is important to stress that such types of problems were not exclusively a symptom of managerial shortcomings. It was also the workforce itself that was not ready to accept the mediation of its grievances through at least some system approximating the structures of industrial relations (as would happen in countries such as the USA). This could be put down to, inter alia, the small number of working people concentrated on the shop floor and the ramifications of this with respect to shop floor unionization (the latter usually being a presupposition for the operation of some system of industrial relations). In direct response to such type of circumstances, at least certain local companies would try to impregnate their employees with the industrial culture being promoted by the Greek Productivity Center. Thus, while a company such as that of A&M would try to update itself on questions of productivity and technology by subscribing to the periodical Παραγωγικότης, other companies would attempt to share or spread the philosophy of the Center by directly introducing its ideas to employees themselves.

A January 1955 issue of Παραγωγικότης presents us with a number of local companies that would try to introduce their employees to the industrial culture of the Greek Productivity Center. One such company was Φαρμακευτικά Εργαστήρια Ι. Κωνσταντακάτος και Υιοί (Pharmaceutical Laboratories I. Konstandakatos & Sons), based in Athens. This company was attempting to establish a “climate” on its shop floor based on “understanding” («κλίματος κατανοήσεως») and a spirit of “unity” or “solidarity” amongst employees («συμπνοίας μεταξύ του προσωπικού»). There was, therefore, an emphasis on the “psychological factor” in work relations on the shop floor (cf. Παραγωγικότης, January 1955, issue no. 6, Athens, pp. 30-31).

This early 1955 issue of the periodical would publish a letter sent to it by the owner-manager of the local pharmaceutical company in question, I. Konstandakatos, who explains that his company plans to select articles published in Παραγωγικότης so that these be discussed amongst its employees. Konstandakatos presents the editors of Παραγωγικότης with the full text of his company’s notice addressed to all employees and with reference to the use of the periodical amongst them. The text reads as follows:

«Εις το πλαίσιον της όλης προσπαθείας της επιχειρήσεως προς εφαρμογήν των νεωτέρων μεθόδων εργασίας και οργανώσεως, συνιστάται όπως άπαντες οι εργαζόμενοι αναγνώσουν τα εκδοθέντα δύο πρώτα τεύχη του περιοδικού “Παραγωγικότης”. Ανά τρία τεύχη εξ εκάστου ευρίσκονται πάντοτε εις την κοινόχρηστον βιβλιοθήκην. Ίσως ωρισμέναι επιχειρήσεις έχουν την γνώμην ότι τοιαύτα περιοδικά είναι χρήσιμα μόνον δια τους ιδίους τους επιχειρηματίας και ότι η ανάγνωσίς των υπό των εργαζομένων δεν αποβαίνει εις όφελος της επιχειρήσεως αλλ’ απεναντίας είναι επιβλαβής. Αντιθέτως η ημετέρα επιχείρησις θεωρεί ότι η ανάγνωσις τοιούτων περιοδικών αποτελεί εποικοδομητικόν στοιχείον δια την εργασίαν. Ευθύς μάλιστα ως συστηματοποιηθή η έκδοσις του περιοδικού, θα εκλέγεται αριθμός άρθρων τα οποία παρουσιάζουν ηυξημένον ενδιαφέρον δια την επιχείρησιν, τα άρθρα δε ταύτα θα μελετώνται ιδιαιτέρως και εν συνεχεία θα συζητήται και θα σχολιάζεται το περιεχόμενον, ανταλλασομένων απόψεων κ.τ.λ.» (ibid.).

The Φαρμακευτικά Εργαστήρια Ι. Κωνσταντακάτος και Υιοί would place such attempts – as described in this notice to employees – within the context of its need to establish new work and organizational methods on the shop floor. Such need was in full keeping with the initiatives being undertaken by the Greek Productivity Center. The company’s owner-manager encourages all employees – both White Collar and Blue Collar workers – to read the first two available issues of Παραγωγικότης (cf. the editorial introduction to the company text, ibid., p.30). All forthcoming issues of the periodical would be made available to everyone through the establishment of an in-house company library («κοινόχρηστον βιβλιοθήκην»), and which may be seen as an extension of the initiatives of the Greek Productivity Center to establish its own central library.

In its notice to employees, the pharmaceutical company wishes to clearly differentiate itself from whichever other companies had been insisting that the contents of the Παραγωγικότης periodical should be restricted to management only. Apparently, there must have been certain local firms at the time that would wish to keep whatever “specialized” information to themselves – for these, such “monopolization” of knowledge was necessary as it could prove “harmful” («επιβλαβής») to the interests of the company were employees to set their eyes on such data. On the other hand, both the Greek Productivity Center and companies such as Φαρμακευτικά Εργαστήρια could sense that such “monopolization” of knowledge would mean that any attempts at modernizing the Greek shop floor would be operating in a vacuum unless the Greek workforce would itself be modernized in terms of the new industrial culture (and hence the need to emphasize the “psychological factor”, op. cit.). Thus, for companies such as Φαρμακευτικά Εργαστήρια, employee full access to a periodical such as Παραγωγικότης would be “constructive” («εποικοδομητικόν»), and so management would be planning to organize open discussions around various issues raised in the periodical, and especially so when such issues directly concerned the company itself.

Companies refusing to participate in such openness with respect to employees would continue to operate in a psychological vacuum on the shop floor, and that would remain a major obstacle to the implementation of the new industrial culture being promoted by institutions such as the Greek Productivity Center (we may say here that a company such as that of A&M would constitute a part of that problem, especially given management’s overtly “paternalistic” view of working people).

In response to such rampantly problematic circumstances, various institutions directly or indirectly related to the USA would continue to play an important role in the training of Greek company executives – the idea was to cultivate that new type of executive who would be sensitive to issues related to personnel relations and industrial psychology. Such training projects, which would be launched in the 1940’s, would be implemented in the course of the period covering the Marshall Plan up until 1952. But they would continue throughout the 1950’s and even through to the 1960’s. Perhaps the most important organization that would continue such work in the 1960’s – and which would ultimately establish itself as a permanent educational institution in the life of many young Greeks throughout the 20th century – would be the Ελληνοαμερικανικό Επιμορφωτικό Ινστιτούτο (the Hellenic American Training Institute). As has been elsewhere discussed (cf. our paper on advertizing discourse around the issues of work and “eros”), this institution had been established in 1946 and would, by 1968, be renamed Όμηρος (Omiros). The organization’s work would be promoted by an important bimonthly periodical named Επιμορφωτικόν Βήμα, and which would be issued under the auspices of the Greece-America Monthly Review, an organ established in the 1930’s with the aim of promoting cooperation between the USA and Greece with a special focus on youth education (ΔιμηνιαίαέκδοσηςτηςεπιθεωρήσεωςΕλλάς-Αμερική – δημοσιογραφικόνόργανονΕλληνοαμερικανικήςσυνεργασίαςειςταπλαίσιατηςεξυπηρετήσεωςκαιτηςεπιμορφώσεωςτηςνεολαίας).

In its July-August 1967 issue, the Επιμορφωτικόν Βήμα would refer to the Ελληνοαμερικανικό Επιμορφωτικό Ινστιτούτο as the largest post-war educational organization in Greece («… του μεγαλυτέρου μεταπολεμικού μορφωτικού οργανισμού της χώρας» – cf. issue no. 43-44, p. 832). It would explain to its readers that the Institute’s educational work would focus on the fields of Business Administration and the training of senior managerial staff («Ανωτάτων Στελεχών») within Greece, so as to preempt the tendency on the part of the more ambitious students to undertake such training overseas (ibid. – we should further note here that the Institute would also be focusing on the teaching of foreign languages and be offering training in clerical skills).

The central aim of such a training project was to bridge the psychological vacuum between employers and employees which continued to permeate industrial relations within small- and medium-sized local companies. We have seen how an employer such as Marakis, while ultimately willing to introduce new technology within his company’s Headquarters, would nonetheless remain impervious to the need for a new, radical reorganization of the production process based on the principles of structured personnel relations, and as organized by Headquarters. Only the new type of executive would be able to adopt such a new industrial philosophy, and that was precisely what the Institute was intending to teach. It would thus organize – well after the expiration of the Marshall Plan – a variety of courses aimed at nurturing a new and young elite conscious of the central importance of personnel relations and industrial psychology. Samples of such courses are presented in the 1967 issue of the Επιμορφωτικόν Βήμα — consider the following text:

«ΤΙ ΘΑ ΚΑΝΕΤΕ ΤΩΡΑ ΠΟΥ ΤΕΛΕΙΩΣΑΤΕ ΤΟ ΛΥΚΕΙΟ ΣΑΣ;
Αυτό είναι το πρόβλημα που μπαίνει μπροστά σε κάθε νέο και νέα που τελείωσε το Λύκειο ή άλλο ισότιμο σχολείο Μ. Εκπαιδεύσεως. Είναι ακριβώς το ίδιο πρόβλημα, που θ’ αντιμετωπίσουν και δεκάδες χιλιάδες νέων, οι οποίοι δεν θα έχουν επιτυχία στις εξετάσεις τους για τις ανώτερες και ανώτατες σχολές, όχι γιατί δεν το αξίζουν, αλλά γιατί ο αριθμός των εισακτέων είναι περιορισμένος. Η σύγχρονη, όμως, ζωή δεν δικαιολογεί ούτε την αδράνεια, αλλ’ ούτε και την απογοήτευση. Άλλωστε, για τον καθένα με θέληση πάντοτε υπάρχει διέξοδος. Γι’ αυτό, το Ελληνοαμερικανικό Επιμορφωτικό Ινστιτούτο θεωρεί πως συμβάλλει θετικά στη λύση των προβλημάτων των παραπάνω νέων δίδοντας εδώ πληροφορίες και τις επαγγελματικές σχολές και τμήματά του που λειτουργεί, οι οποίες ενδεχομένως θα ενδιαφέρουν πολλούς νέους και νέες. Διαβάστε, λοιπόν, τα παρακάτω με προσοχή κι ασφαλώς θα βρήτε κάτι καλό για τον εαυτό σας ή για τα γνωστά σας πρόσωπα…
ΚΕΝΤΡΟΝ ΔΙΟΙΚΗΤΙΚΩΝ ΣΤΕΛΕΧΩΝ
ΦΟΙΤΗΣΗ: 9μηνη, 2 ώρες κάθε βράδυ εκτός Σαββάτου.
ΜΑΘΗΜΑΤΑ: Ελληνική Οικονομία, Δημόσιες και Ανθρώπινες Σχέσεις, Λογιστική, Οργάνωση Επιχειρήσεων, Αλληλογραφία, Οργάνωση Γραφείου, Κοστολόγηση κλπ.
ΣΧΟΛΗ ΕΜΠΟΡΙΚΩΝ ΑΝΤΙΠΡΟΣΩΠΩΝ
ΦΟΙΤΗΣΗ: 9μηνη, 2 ώρες κάθε μέρα εκτός Σαββάτου.
ΜΑΘΗΜΑΤΑ: Νομοθεσία αντιπροσώπων, MARKETING, Ψυχολογία, Τεχνική Πωλήσεων, Ανθρώπινες Σχέσεις, Λογιστική, Φοροτεχνικά, Αλληλογραφία, κλπ.
ΚΕΝΤΡΟΝ ΔΙΟΙΚΗΤΙΚΩΝ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΕΩΝ (EXECUTIVES)
Μόνο για θήλεις, για περαιτέρω κατάρτιση πτυχιούχων Σχολών Γραμματέων, ή εργαζομένων πλέον του έτους ως Γραμματείς.
ΦΟΙΤΗΣΗ: 9μηνη, 2 ώρες κάθε μέρα εκτός Σαββάτου.
ΜΑΘΗΜΑΤΑ: Διοίκηση Επιχειρήσεων, Διοίκηση Γραφείου, Λογιστική Επιχειρήσεων, Δίκαιο Επιχειρήσεων, Δημ. και Ανθρώπινες Σχέσεις, κλπ. …» (ibid., p. 849).

This text, published in the summer issue of the Επιμορφωτικόν Βήμα in 1967 – the military coup had taken place just three months earlier – was addressing itself to young school leavers who, possibly for reasons beyond their control, had not made it to university. The text advises Greek youth that “modern life” («η σύγχρονη… ζωή») leaves no room for personal inertia («αδράνεια») and disillusionment («απογοήτευση»). It underlines the absolute importance of individual will, which can bypass whatever dead end («για τον καθένα με θέληση πάντοτε υπάρχει διέξοδος»). Elsewhere, we have examined the rise of a gradually emerging “optimistic” psyche amongst Greek youth in the post-war period, and which was naturally accompanied by a “will” to social success (cf., for instance, our paper on the work-“eros” interface in advertizing discourse) – it was precisely such wave of positive experimentation in the new mindset of Greek youth that the Επιμορφωτικόν Βήμα was attempting to ride. And it was that very mindset that constituted the sine qua non for continuing the project of “reconstruction” well after the Marshall Plan period (for some indication of the new business fever that was engulfing Greek society in the 1950’s, cf. H.A. Chomenidis, Νίκη, Εκδόσεις Πατάκη, Athens, 2014, p. 363 et al). Now, this new mindset had to be disciplined and harnessed to the specific needs of Greek industry – one such basic need was to train people in the context of the new industrial culture that we have been referring to above.

Thus, we see here that the 1967 issue of the Επιμορφωτικόν Διμηνιαίαέκδοσης της Βήμα invites Greek youth to consider joining one of the various vocational courses offered by the Ελληνοαμερικανικό Επιμορφωτικό Ινστιτούτο. The content of such courses – albeit schematically presented by the periodical – only makes sense if considered in the context of the continuing needs of “reconstruction”.

To begin with, the Institute had established a center for the training of executive directors (Κέντρον Διοικητικών Στελεχών). This training center would offer a 9-month course that would cover fields such as the Greek economy, public and human relations, accounting, business organization and office organization. As is obvious, this type of course was meant to help local companies in at least three ways: (i) allow management to reestablish its relationship with employees on the basis of “human relations” (“public relations”, by the way, would presumably deal with a company’s interaction with society at large); (ii) enable management to reorganize its company as a functional organization in its entirety; (iii) enable management to reorganize itself at the level of company Headquarters. All this would be gradually achieved by infusing local companies with a new, youthful elite which would take the place of old-timers that the likes of a Marakis had represented (but which was not necessarily meant to belittle the entrepreneurial endeavours of pioneers such as Marakis, the purpose being to “modernize” just such endeavours).

Another center run by the Institute would be the School for the training of trade representatives (Σχολή Εμπορικών Αντιπροσώπων). This School would also offer a 9-month course and it would train youths in fields such as the following: (i) legislation covering trade (or sales) representatives; (ii) marketing/selling techniques; (iii) psychology; and, again, (iv) human relations. This course would have been of special interest to a company such as the A&M flour mill, the operations of which would include both the production and circulation (direct selling) of flour products. Such combination of operational tasks would also apply to a wide range of local companies. We of course know that a company such as A&M would never find itself in a position of being receptive to such new approaches – in response, its trade representatives would have to make do with ad hoc strategies aimed at expanding their own distribution networks. Yet still, the A&M Archives provide us with documents and letters that point to the sheer ingenuity on the part of some of its trade representatives in their daily struggle to streamline distribution networks – they were in fact trying to make up for the anachronism of management (cf., for instance, file no. 61: “Stavros to Georgos Letter”, dealing with problems regarding the selling/circulation of flour products, etc., [21 tightly hand-written pages], 1960). It was just such unpredictable “primitiveness” that the Institute’s School for trade representatives was trying to overcome.

The Institute, further, had established a centre for the training of executive and/or administrative secretaries (Κέντρον Διοικητικών Γραμματέων). This center’s course, likewise spanning a 9-month period, was meant exclusively for females. These could further their training as secretaries – they would undergo schooling beyond clerical and routine office jobs, performing administrative duties for company staff in senior posts. The course would cover, inter alia, the following fields: (i) business administration; (ii) office administration; and, as in the training of executive directors, (iii) public and human relations. We may here point to the yawning gap that existed at the time between the type of secretary envisaged by the Institute’s center and the prevailing reality in most local firms operating in the 1960’s and 1970’s – for a detailed description of the work of A&M Company secretarial clerks, cf., inter alia, “The special case of Georgia M., Cashier-Clerk at the A&M Company Headquarters, 1954-1968”; and “The case of Amalia Eleftheriadou., Clerk, Cashier, and Assistant to the Accountant at the A&M Company Headquarters, 1966-1972”.

Generally speaking, the Ελληνοαμερικανικό Επιμορφωτικό Ινστιτούτο would be contributing to the long-term “reconstruction” of the Greek economy by operating at least twelve different Schools (or training centers) in the period of the 1960’s, each of which would concentrate on a very specific field of training aimed at modernizing small- and medium-sized local companies. Assisting such companies to modernize their operations was the Institute’s openly stated strategy. Its organ, the Επιμορφωτικόν Βήμα, would consistently publish articles dealing with the importance of developing the Greek small- or medium-sized company. We shall end our discussion of the Institute’s functions by presenting an article published in its organ in 1967, and which shows that the Institute’s overall strategy was fully aligned to that of the Greek Productivity Center. The text is based on the proposals of a foreign expert – the then General Secretary of the International Association of SME’s, Robert Holtz – for the development of Greek endogenous capital. Part of this text reads as follows:

«… οι Έλληνες επαγγελματοβιοτέχναι έχουν καθήκον να μη σκέπτωνται ως φορείς της καταναλώσεως 8 εκατ. ατόμων, αλλά 200 εκατ., διότι αυτή είναι η νέα οικονομική πραγματικότης, εντός της οποίας καλούνται να κινηθούν. Επίσης,… οι Έλληνες επαγγελματοβιοτέχναι, λόγω της μικράς των οικονομικής αντοχής δια να ανταπεξέλθουν εις τον συναγωνισμόν των τιμών εκ μέρους του μεγάλου κεφαλαίου είναι ανάγκη να οργανωθούν εις ομάδας κατά κλάδους και από κοινού να επιδιώξουν αγοράς διαφόρων ειδών. Ούτω, … θα επιτύχουν, δια της μειώσεως του κόστους, αύξησιν των κερδών κατά ποσοστόν 7% και ταυτοχρόνως αύξησιν του τζίρου αυτών κατά 25%. Τέλος,… θα πρέπει οι επαγγελματοβιοτέχναι προς εξυπηρέτησιν της πελατείας των κατά διάφορα τοπικά σημεία των μεγάλων πόλεων να ιδρύσουν Σούπερ-Μάρκετς» (ibid., p. 835 & p. 872).

The Holtz vision of modern Greece constituted a discreet continuum of that inaugurated by the Marshall Plan in the 1940’s. Even as late as 1967, the basic economic project was to help Greek endogenous capital further its internal structural reorganization, and do so right across the multiple hierarchies that had thus far characterized it, be these at the level of employer-employee relations, co-worker (White Collar/Blue Collar) relations, or even familial networks operating on the shop floor (cf. our paper examining the multiplicity of hierarchies typically operating within the structures of the A&M flour mill in the 1960’s-1970’s). The purpose of such reorganization was to help Greek endogenous capital become essentially export-orientated, and become so in a manner that would somehow enable it to survive the competitive onslaught of big international capital. Thus, in the text quoting Holtz above, we see the following specific proposals being underlined:

● Greek local entrepreneurs should orientate themselves towards serving world consumers, not merely the 8 million Greeks in their country;
● To survive the inevitable competition with big capital, Greek endogenous capital should concentrate on reorganizing itself in a manner that would counterbalance its relatively limited economic clout – practically speaking, this would mean that Greek companies would have to amalgamate into “teams” in accordance with the particular sector they happened to operate in («να οργανωθούν εις ομάδας κατά κλάδους»);
● It would be on the basis of such sector-based coordination of enterprises that these would be able to effectively penetrate the various goods markets of the world;
● Such export-orientated activity on the part of Greek endogenous capital would not at all mean that the local consumer market was meant to be undermined or in whatever way be allowed to take second place. In fact, Greek endogenous capital would have to also reorganize itself at the level of the local circulation of commodities by establishing its own supermarkets in various localities around large towns and cities. Thereby, the dominance of foreign commercial capital within Greece would, at least to some extent, be contained. The long-term project of “reconstruction” would therefore also mean that the Greek social formation would have to mutate into a Western-type “consumer society” – ultimately, and by implication, the local coordination of commodity circulation would yield an advertizing industry promoting the products and services of Greek endogenous capital-as-a-whole. It is also within such context that one should view the rise of a new endogenous commercial capital in the period – we had, for instance, the emergence of the family-based Sklavenitis supermarket chain by 1969 (initially at Peristeri, a northwestern suburban municipality of Athens).

The crux of the matter here is that such all-inclusive internal self-organization of Greek endogenous capital presupposed the systematic training of a new, professional elite. It is for this very reason that projects of economic “reconstruction” – as envisaged by the likes of a Robert Holtz – could not possibly be disentangled from the reeducation projects of organs such as the Hellenic American Training Institute.

Now, and generally speaking, the bolstering of Greek local industry (as discussed in sect. 1 of this paper), the attempts at reorganizing the production process (sect. 2), as also the need to reorganize company Headquarters and thus train a new, professional elite (the focus of the present section), were all meant to establish a “balanced” industrial society within the Greek social formation (and which would constitute the context determining the cultural content of Greek advertizing discourse). Such “balance” could not have been achieved without also reorganizing the Greek agricultural sector.

We shall have to deal with this aspect of “reconstruction” very briefly (and thus quite superficially). But before we do so, it is important to dwell on the question of alleged attempts at establishing a “balanced” Greek economy. In some sense, it may be rather atypical to suggest that post-war American “imperialism” would actually be engaged in the “reconstruction” of one of its spheres of influence – viz. Greece – along the lines of an industrial society with a “balanced” economic infrastructure covering the major productive sectors of an essentially undeveloped social formation. With respect to the then so-called “Third World”, 1960’s Marxian “dependency theoreticians” had been arguing that US “imperialism” or “neo-colonialism” would deliberately promote “imbalances” in the countries of the “Third World” precisely so as to ensure their “dependency”. The “imbalances” in the economic formation of such countries would arise from the fact that such economies would be, not only purely export-oriented, but would also be exclusively dependent on export-earnings accruing from low-value, primary products. An economy based on the income of merely one primary agricultural product (such as tobacco) could only but be a distorted, dependent economy (cf., for instance, the highly popular book of a 1960’s radical sociologist such as Andre Gunder Frank, The development of underdevelopment, Boston: New England Free Press, 1966).

Frank’s “model” would definitely not apply to the Greek case at all. In fact, the bolstering and restructuring of local secondary industry would go hand-in-hand with attempts at reforming the Greek agricultural sector. Much more than that, it has even been argued (albeit in a highly problematic manner) that the Greek State had been urged by the urban capitalist class – and especially since the 1960’s – to develop an agricultural sector that would have as its primary aim the “feeding” of the local secondary sector (the growth indices of the latter being 100 for 1961; 217 for 1970; and 240 just one year later – cf. Kostas Vergopoulos, Το αγροτικό ζήτημα στην Οι πολιτικές δυνάμεις στην Ελλάδα Ελλάδα – η κοινωνική ενσωμάτωση της γεωργίας, Εξάντας, 1975, esp. pp. 239-241 et al).

What form would such restructuring of the agricultural sector take? We shall have to limit ourselves here to a few key pointers, and especially as these were being put forward by none other than the organ of the Greek Productivity Center,Παραγωγικότης, in 1958. As in the case of the manufacturing sector, much emphasis would be placed on the need to reorganize the agricultural sector through the establishment of modern agricultural enterprises. This in turn would require the training of professional elite groups specializing in agricultural matters, something more or less unheard of thus far in the country. The April 1958 issue of Παραγωγικότης (issue no. 28, Athens, pp. 171-180), would publish a long, detailed article signed by L.I. Liakatas, technical inspector of the Agricultural Bank of Greece (founded 1929; absorbed by the Piraeus Bank, 2013). Some of the key points that Liakatas would make at the time include the following:

● The effective “reconstruction” of the Greek agricultural sector would require the establishment of modern agricultural enterprises – «Ανάγκη ιδρύσεως γεωργικών βιομηχανιών» (p.171).
● Such agricultural enterprises could also take the form of cooperatives – «συνεταιρικαί γεωργικαί βιομηχανίαι» (p.175).
● The operations of these enterprises would have to concentrate on agro-processing – viz. the converting of primary agricultural products into consumable commodities. Such a food and/or clothes processing industry was meant to bolster both local consumption and the acquisition of new foreign market outlets – «Το τιθέμενον, πράγματι, πρόβλημα δια την χώραν μας δεν είναι η στατική προσπάθεια τοποθετήσεως των παραγομένων νυν προϊόντων. Αποβλέπομεν εις την κατάκτησιν αγορών και αύξησιν της καταναλώσεως. Η βιομηχανική επεξεργασία της γεωργικής παραγωγής θα βοηθήση μεγάλως προς τον σκοπόν τούτον, διότι θα παρουσιάση τα προϊόντα εις μορφάς και είδη, οποία τα επιθυμεί η κατανάλωσις. Με την εκβιομηχάνισιν θ’ αυξήσωμεν τας ικανότητας μεταφοράς του προϊόντος εις μακρυνάς αγοράς, διευρύνοντες ούτω τον κύκλον της τοποθετήσεως αυτών» (p. 172).
● The establishment of agricultural enterprises and cooperatives capable of implementing methods of agro-processing would lead to a need for the economic and technical organization of such units of production – «Οικονομική και τεχνική οργάνωσις των γεωργικών επιχειρήσεων» (p. 171). This would necessarily require the training of new, professional elites for such undertakings. Thus, and in a manner fairly reflective of projects intended for endogenous capital as-a-whole, much emphasis would be placed on the reorganization of the entrepreneurial headquarters of agribusinesses (and which would mean a respective restructuring from the “top”).
● The technical organization of such units could therefore not be disentangled from the need to train administrative and/or managerial staff – «Εκπαίδευσις τεχνική και διοικητική» (p. 173).
● Such technical and administrative/managerial training would have to be undertaken in a manner that met the specific needs of each particular sub-sector of agricultural production. There are special references to the sector of wheat-processing, flour-processing and other related products – «Σίτου, αλεύρων, άρτου κ.λ. προϊόντων» (p. 173). Such reference would, theoretically, have been of much interest to operations such as that of the Aliartian A&M Company.
● As regards technical training, the text speaks of the importance of training scientists in the new fields of biochemistry, chemical engineering, agricultural laboratory research, etc. These professional elites would offer direct guidance and support to the work of the new, private agricultural enterprises – «Πρέπει, λοιπόν, ν’ αυξηθή ο αριθμός και να εκπαιδευθούν πολλοί επιστήμονες εις τους νέους κλάδους της βιοχημείας, του χημικού μηχανικού, εις την τεχνολογίαν των διαφόρων κατηγοριών προϊόντων δια την επάνδρωσιν των εργαστηρίων με καταλλήλους επιστήμονας, και να δοθούν τα υλικά μέσα δια ν’ αφοσιωθούν ούτοι εις την έρευναν, ήτις πρέπει να είναι συνεχής, γινόμενοι ούτω παραστάται και οδηγοί των επιχειρηματιών ιδιωτών, εταιριών ή συνεταιρισμών κ.λ. εις τον τομέα των γεωργικών βιομηχανιών που εξετάζομεν» (p. 174).
● Absolutely central to the organization of agricultural enterprises would also be the development and organization of their management structures – «Ετέρα, εξ ίσου σοβαρά, προϋπόθεσις επιτυχίας του έργου μας είναι η οργάνωσις και η διοίκησις των βιομηχανικών επιχειρήσεων. Το έργον της διοικήσεως μιας επιχειρήσεως ομοιάζει με το έργον του διευθυντού μιας ορχήστρας. Δια του συντονισμού των κατά μέρος ενεργειών, επιδιώκομεν να επιτύχωμεν την αρίστην απόδοσιν, το μεγαλύτερον δυνατόν έργον, δια της μειώσεως εις το ελάχιστον των απωλειών, όπως ακριβώς και εις το έργον της μηχανικής» (p. 174).
● The organization of agricultural enterprises from the “top” would require the adoption of new methods in the grooming of professional elites intended to man the Headquarters of such enterprises. It could not simply be a matter of finding and recruiting new managers. Rather, one had to select and train these with respect to modern methods of agro-processing – «Αι γεωργικαί βιομηχανίαι, λοιπόν, μαζί με την φροντίδα δια την εξεύρεσιν κεφαλαίων, τεχνικού εξοπλισμόυ, πρώτων υλών, πρέπει να μεριμνήσουν ουχί δια την εξεύρεσιν, αλλά δια την επιλογήν των διευθυντών και την εκπαίδευσιν τούτων εις βιομηχανικάς λειτουργίας και συγχρόνους μεθόδους, δια να τους εμπιστευθούν την τύχην των μεγάλων τούτων οικονομικών οργανισμών» (p.174).
● The professional organization of agricultural enterprises from the “top” would, however, also have to be accompanied by the training of the agricultural workforce itself – the text speaks of the need for «εκπαιδευμένου εργατικού προσωπικού» (p. 171). Of course, this is reflective of what was meant to happen in the case of manufacturing industry (i.e. changes in the production and labour process of the Greek workplace – the implementation of the “scientific organization of work”, as discussed in sect. 2 of this paper). The professional organization of an agricultural enterprise would, by definition, include the coordination of a trained workforce in a manner adapted to the new technologies of agro-processing and free of the mere imposition of penalties on employees – «Η ουσία της διοικήσεως είναι η πραγματοποίησις του συντονισμού μεταξύ των ανθρώπων. Ο συντονισμός είναι μια σύνθετος αντίληψις, περικλείουσα αρχάς, βάσει των οποίων η επιχειρηματική δραστηριότης συνδυάζεται, κατ’ αρμονικόν τρόπον, με την τεχνικήν, προς πραγματοποίησιν του μεγίστου… Το μεγαλύτερον πρόβλημα, εις το κεφάλαιον αυτό, είναι το της εκπαιδεύσεως των εργατών. Πολλοί διευθυνταί επιχειρήσεων περιορίζονται εις το να επιβάλλουν κυρώσεις. Άλλοι, εις το να καθοδηγούν και να εξηγούν εις τον εργάτην τί ακριβώς αναμένουν από τούτον να κάμη. Ο δεύτερος είναι ο περισσότερον επιτυγχάνων. Από μίαν καλήν απόδοσιν εργασίας αναμένεται και μια καλή αμοιβή, μια βελτίωσις» (p. 174).

Parenthetically, and here with special reference to the agricultural sector, it should be emphasized that whatever attempts at reorganizing the production process were not meant to be merely a case of so-called “private initiative”. Post-war “reconstruction” projects would necessarily involve the interventions of the central State, as also interventions on the part of local State apparatuses. Regarding the former, one may make reference to the Greek State’s direct intervention in the field of wheat production and its price-control policies (cf., for instance, Jean Meynaud, Οι πολιτικές δυνάμεις στην Ελλάδα, Α’ τόμος: 1946-1965, Εκδόσεις Σαββάλα, Athens, 2002, p. 453). With respect to local State interventions, we could simply point to the case of the Boeotian prefecture in the period of the early 1950’s, which had launched a fruit farming programme in the region («ενός προγράμματος αναπτύξεως της οπωροκαλλιεργείας» – cf. Παραγωγικότης, April-May 1956, issue no. 12, Athens, pp. 49-50).

Still with reference to the sector of agricultural production, it would be interesting to note that Liakatas’ emphasis on the need to establish agricultural enterprises was more or less reminiscent of positions that had already been expressed by Kyriakos Varvaressos in his brilliantΈκθεσις επί του οικονομικού προβλήματος της Ελλάδος (transl. Report on the economic problem of Greece), presented as early as 1952 (Εκδόσεις Σαββάλα, Athens, 2002). Of course, we should point out here that, although Liakatas had spoken of “large” agricultural enterprises («των μεγάλων τούτον οικονομικών οργανισμών», op. cit.), Varvaressos had perhaps been much more realistic in his insistence on the establishment of “small” enterprises and/or cooperatives («ίδρυσις μικρών γεωργικών βιομηχανικών», Έκθεσις, p. 343). Both would nonetheless agree on the absolute importance of reeducating whoever was involved in the farming sector (Varvaressos, for instance, would write of «εκπαίδευσις και διαφώτισις του γεωργού», ibid.). Generally speaking, both would stress the importance of initiating a reorganization of enterprises from the “top”.

Further below, we intend to attempt some kind of assessment of the overall project of post-war “reconstruction”, and how the ensuing social and material conditions would provide the context for the mushrooming of a new type of advertizing industry (here, it would be attempts at reorganizing the industrial sector proper that would – above all – delimit the morphology of advertizing discourse). Rather more modestly at this point, we shall end this section by merely noting two rather contrasting assessments regarding the consequences of post-war attempts at “modernizing” the agricultural sector itself.

On the one hand, writing in 1978 – when Marxian paradigms in sociology had yet to undergo the theoretical crisis that they did – Nicos Mouzelis would note the following with respect to sectors related to Greek agricultural production in the post-war period:

«Οι τομείς αυτοί ούτε καταστράφηκαν ούτε όμως και ωφελήθηκαν από την ανάπτυξη της βιομηχανίας. Παράμειναν στάσιμοι και τεχνολογικά καθυστερημένοι» (cf. Nicos Mouzelis, Νεοελληνική κοινωνία: όψεις υπανάπτυξης, Εξάντας, 1978, pp. 196-197 et al).

Intellectually infatuated by contemporary Marxian theories that had insisted on quite simply dividing the world into “metropolitan” and “peripheral” capitalist formations, Mouzelis would proceed to place Greece into the latter slot, and thereby draw his conclusions regarding the Greek agricultural sector (and which would fall under the rubric of “simple commodity production”). Mouzelis argues that, while Greek agricultural production would not be destroyed by industrial development, it would nonetheless remain “static” and “technologically backward”. In fact, there was some truth in the Marxian models of the period, and definitely much more truth in the empirical conclusions that Mouzelis would draw. It is not for us to disentangle the strengths and weaknesses of Mouzelis’ approach.

Now, and for the sake of interest, we may contrast the above assessments to the findings of a 1988 study undertaken by the IMP (Integrated Mediterranean Programmes) of Crete. The general assessments of this project with respect to the Greek agricultural sector – and for the period which interests us – were the following:

«Γενικά, την περίοδο 1963-1973 στον τομέα της γεωργίας σημειώθηκαν αξιόλογες επιδόσεις, δεδομένης της σημαντικής δραστηριότητας που αναπτύχθηκε σε εγγειοβελτιωτικά έργα και αρδεύσεις. Δεδομένου επίσης του ύψους των ιδιωτικών επενδύσεων, βελτιώθηκε σημαντικά η εκμηχάνιση του τομέα, ενώ οι εξαγωγές γεωργικών προϊόντων αποτέλεσαν σημαντικό παράγοντα προσπόρισης του αναγκαίου συναλλάγματος, συμπληρωματικού της χρηματοδότησης του τομέα της μεταποίησης» (cf. www.ekdd.gr/ekkda/files/ergasies_esdd/12/3/356.pdf, p. 13).

We may end this section by noting that both the Mouzelis approach and that of the IMP project would take it as a given that the post-war Greek social formation would undergo a certain industrial development (whatever be the limits and contradictions of such development).

The post 3. – THE CULTURAL CONTENT OF GREEK ADVERTIZING DISCOURSE: CONTEXT – REORGANIZING COMPANY HEADQUARTERS, 1950’s appeared first on Greek Social & Literary Review - Ελληνική Κοινωνική & Λογοτεχνική Επιθεώρηση.

Apart from the granting of loans and the promotion of Greek products overseas, it was this radical reorganization of the Greek workplace that would constitute the central strategic objective of the Greek Productivity Center. Traditionally, at least, Marxian-inspired industrial sociology has been highly critical of whatever reorganization of the capitalist labour process from “above” (cf., for instance, Harry Braverman, Labor and monopoly capital: the degradation of work in the twentieth century, New York, Monthly Review Press, 1974). We may keep such critiques in mind – on the other hand, we shall need to understand the endeavours of the Greek Productivity Center in the context of the real, material need to reconstruct an economy that had been destroyed by the ravages of war (but cf., as well, our study of the “eros”-workplace interface – esp. Greek advertizing discourse related to “eros” – where we point to the rather precarious application of “Fordist” principles in various workplaces across the Western capitalist world).

The intention of the Greek Productivity Center, we are saying, was to introduce Greek firms to what has been called the “scientific organization of work”. It is well beyond our present project to evaluate the extent to which the intentions of the Center would be successfully applied across the board. Here, we merely wish to briefly examine the emphasis that the Greek Productivity Center would place on such “scientific organization of work” (Braverman, amongst others, has attempted to describe what that would entail for large enterprises generally). We shall also point to the various practical ways in which the Center would try to introduce such “organization” to Greek firms.

Konstandinos Krispis, who in 1958 was the vice-president of the Technical Chamber of Greece as also an executive of the Greek Productivity Center, would try to explain to whomsoever it may have concerned at the time that, above all, Greece had to urgently increase its gross (or net) national income. He would go on to argue that national income could only be increased with the introduction of the “scientific organization of work” at the point of production. In an April 1958 issue of the periodical Παραγωγικότης, Krispis would publish an article entitled as follows:

«ΑΝΑΓΚΗ ΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΟΝΙΚΗΣ ΟΡΓΑΝΩΣΕΩΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΡΓΑΣΙΑΣ – ΑΠΑΙΤΕΙΤΑΙ ΤΑΧΕΙΑ ΑΥΞΗΣΙΣ ΤΟΥ ΕΘΝΙΚΟΥ ΜΑΣ ΕΙΣΟΔΗΜΑΤΟΣ» (cf. Παραγωγικότης, April 1958, issue no. 28, Athens, pp. 189-190).

It is extremely interesting to note that bodies such as the Technical Chamber of Greece and the Greek Productivity Center – both as represented by Krispis in the period under discussion – are highly critical of whichever political formation happened to be in power at the time (and which goes to show that the relationship between the American State, Greek Capital and the Greek political classes was never as simple as the traditional Greek Left would have us believe). All Greek Governments, Krispis states, wrongly assume that national income could be increased through mere investment – he writes:

«Αι εκάστοτε κυβερνήσεις προσπαθούν, δια των έργων επενδύσεως να βελτιώσουν το εθνικόν εισόδημα και υπερηφανεύονται, όταν διακηρύσσουν ότι το εθνικόν εισόδημα ηυξήθη εις εν έτος περίπου 5 έως 6%, απαιτούν δε αναγνώρισιν μεγάλων οφειλών, αν κατορθώσουν να υπερβούν ολίγον αυτό» (ibid.).

Krispis says that Greek Governments usually tend to boast when, via direct investments, the national income comes to somewhat surpass a 5% or 6% rate for a particular year. But what they forget, he further asserts, is that the annual growth rate of the Greek population itself has the effect of actually lowering per capita income to a serious degree. Thus, it is not true that investment per se improves the standard of living of the Greek people – in fact, Krispis argues, we see a perpetuation of the existing levels of poverty. As he puts it:

«Αλλά ξεχνούν, ότι η ετησία αύξησις του πληθυσμού μειώνει σοβαρώς την ετησίαν αύξησιν του εισοδήματος κατά κεφαλήν και, επομένως, τελικώς, εκ των ως άνω επενδύσεων δεν επέρχεται βελτίωσις του βιοτικού επιπέδου των Ελλήνων, αλλά συγκράτησις του υπάρχοντος επιπέδου αθλιότητος» (ibid.).

What, asks Krispis, is to be done so that per capita income is to be increased? He begins by accepting that both investment and external aid – as also foreign loans at low interest rates – are absolutely necessary ingredients for the resolution of the social problem of poverty. He explains:

«Ερωτάται, λοιπόν, τι πρέπει να γίνη; Και η απάντησις είναι η εξής: α’ Βεβαίως, πρέπει να καταβληθή πάσα προσπάθεια, όπως γίνουν όσον το δυνατόν περισσότεραι επενδύσεις εκ του κρατικού προϋπολογισμού. β’ Βεβαίως, πρέπει να επιζητηθή η εξωτερική βοήθεια εις όσον το δυνατόν μεγαλυτέραν κλίμακα, οφειλομένη λόγω των ζημιών, ας υπέστη η Ελλάς, προμαχήσασα υπέρ των συμμάχων της, και η βοήθεια αυτή ν’ αναλωθή εις έργα επενδύσεως. γ’ Βεβαίως, πρέπει να γίνη προσπάθεια δανεισμού από το εξωτερικόν, με μικρόν επιτόκιον, δι’ έργα ανασυγκροτήσεως» (ibid.).

And yet, continues Krispis, all of the above measures are simply not enough – by themselves – to effect an increase in per capita income. There is only one basic manner in which this problem can be resolved, and such manner would not necessarily require any new investments. The missing factor is that of the “scientific organization of work” at the point of production:

«Αλλά όλοι οι ιθύνοντες και λοιποί αρμόδιοι έχουν παραγνωρίσει την αξίαν ενός παράγοντος, ο οποίος ημπορεί να λύση το δύσλυτον πρόβλημα και ο οποίος δεν απαιτεί νέας επενδύσεις, ή απαιτεί ελαχίστας τοιαύτας, είναι δε ταχίστης αποδόσεως… Ο παράγων αυτός είναι: Η επιστημονική οργάνωσις της εργασίας, προς αύξησιν της παραγωγικότητος» (ibid., his emph.).

For Krispis, such “scientific organization of work” would yield an increase in productivity, and it would be this that would resolve the problem of poverty (by implication, and as we shall further see below, resolving the problem of per capita income would allow for an increase in the levels of consumption, and which would itself boost productivity). Of course, Krispis would not have much bothered to entertain critiques of the sort that would be later articulated by social theorists such as Braverman. One may suppose that, for Krispis, Braverman’s emphasis on “the degradation of work” had to simply be ignored – what really mattered was the actual amelioration of living conditions. We know, of course, that such amelioration of material conditions throughout most of Western Europe would become a reality in the post-war years (yielding what we have elsewhere described – following Hobsbawm – “the Golden Years” of the 1960’s). Even as early as 1958, Krispis asserts just such improvement in the material conditions of working people in Europe, and which had increased their consumer capacity. For Krispis, it was the implementation of the “scientific organization of work” in countries such as France that had produced such tangible results. He explains:

«Τελευταίως, αι ευρωπαϊκαί χώραι έχουν εντείνει τας προσπαθείας των επί της επιστημονικής οργανώσεως εργασίας και έχουν επιτύχει καταπληκτικά αποτελέσματα. Δύναμαι να βεβαιώσω, ως εκ της ειδικότητός μου και της κατά το δυνατόν μελέτης του θέματος, ότι γαλλικαί βιομηχανίαι λ.χ., άνευ ουδεμίας δαπάνης, επέτυχον διπλασιασμόν των κερδών, ως και περίπου διπλασιασμόν των απολαβών των υπαλλήλων και εργατών αυτών, εντός συντομωτάτου χρονικού διαστήματος, με σύγχρονον αύξησιν της παραγωγής των, εις την αυτήν περίπου αναλογίαν, και μείωσιν της τιμής των προϊόντων προς όφελος της καταναλώσεως» (ibid.).

In his capacity as a mechanical engineer and having studied matters related to the “scientific organization of work”, Krispis makes the following observations with respect to French firms that had implemented such “organizational” principles on their shop floor: a) the adoption of such principles had been undertaken without any extra expenditure; b) company profits had doubled; c) the remuneration of employees – that of both White Collar and Blue Collar workers – had itself almost doubled within a short period of time, and it had done so in a manner analogous to the rise of employee levels of productivity; d) there had been a decrease in the price of commodities produced; e) the latter had been of benefit to levels of consumption.

Krispis’ observations are hardly original, and we have already noted that his well-known frame of reference has been heavily criticized by Marxian-orientated social theorists. On the other hand, and as also noted, his observation regarding the rising standard of living amongst the working people of Western Europe has never really been a moot point – history has spoken for itself. But what does remain an open question is the extent to which such rising standards of living were mainly or exclusively due to the adoption of methods representative of the “scientific organization of work”. If this constitutes an open question with respect to the highly industrialized countries of Europe – as it does for us – the matter is all the more so open to debate as regards the case of Greece (given the latter’s fragmented industrial infrastructure, and which would have distorted or hampered whatever implementation of the methods of a “scientific organization of work”). But such reservations seem to miss the point in any serious attempt to come to comprehend the real workings of the American Economic Mission and its later organ, the Greek Productivity Center. Krispis’ almost obsessive emphasis on the need for Greek industry to adopt the “scientific organization of work” had both its “ulterior” and its openly socio-political intentions. His intentions may be said to have been “ulterior” in that he simply wished to express the economic interests of Greek capital – viz. to help it increase its profitability margins. In that sense, Krispis was representing the “narrow interests” of capital. On the other hand, his obsessive emphasis on the “scientific organization of work” had much broader, socio-political intentions – viz. to “reconstruct” and bolster a quasi-capitalist economy in the context of a looming Cold War situation. In that very specific sense, Krispis’ intentions were clear-cut and not at all “ulterior” or “narrow”. We may reiterate such intentional project as follows:

1. Raise the productivity of the Greek employee;
2. Thereby, raise his remuneration;
3. Thereby, raise the overall per capita income;
4. Thereby, and which comes down to the same thing, raise the overall national income;
5. Thereby, boost consumption (and which would mean a solid and robust prevalence of the Greek advertizing industry, engaging both local and foreign brand names).

We know that the vast majority of the Greek population at the time – whatever its ideological orientations and whatever its class position – would become as “obsessed” as was Krispis in materializing such intentional project. Such national will for material reconstruction (almost of an existential nature) would be plagued with contradictions, angst and – at least for certain segments of the Greek people – even futility. But, in the last instance, that project would be crowned with an undeniable success (a “success” which, as we shall further see below, would be lamented by skeptical “spiritual leaders” – usually poets of the Left, though not exclusively so).

But that is the exact context in which we need to understand Krispis’ wish to initiate Greek society to the tenets of the “scientific organization of work”. With respect to the Greek case, he writes:

«Δια τας ελληνικάς συνθήκας, ανυπάρκτου σχεδόν βαθμού επιστημονικής οργανώσεως και χαμηλού βαθμού παραγωγικότητος, είναι βέβαιον ότι, εντός διετίας το πολύ, είναι δυνατός ο διπλασιασμός του εθνικού εισοδήματος, άνευ ή δια μικράς επενδύσεως κεφαλαίων»(ibid., his emph., throughout).

Here, Krispis notes the almost total absence of any “scientific organization” in the Greek workplace at the time, and the inevitably low levels of productivity. He assures his readers that adopting such methods would double the Greek national income, and would do so within a two-year period and with limited capital investment. Krispis then goes on to suggest that the philosophy of the “scientific organization of work” should be initiated into the Greek way of life in all of its manifestations. It should – he even seems to be suggesting – literally permeate the Greek psyche, and it was the duty of the Greek State to undertake such a process of reeducation and reorganization. This is what he writes:

«Η επιστημονική οργάνωσις της εργασίας πρέπει να γίνη το πρώτον ιδανικόν των Ελλήνων. Ν’ αρχίση να διδάσκεται εις όλας τας ανωτάτας επιστημονικάς σχολάς, εις την μέσην εκπαίδευσιν, ακόμη δε και εις την στοιχειώδη εκπαίδευσιν, (εκεί βεβαίως εις την απλουστάτην μορφήν της), και ν’ αρχίση εφαρμοζομένη πρώτον υπό του κράτους, το οποίον, ούτως, είναι δυνατόν να ελαττώση τας μη αποδοτικάς δαπάνας του, ν’ αυξήση τας εις παραγωγικά έργα επενδύσεις, αι οποίαι, μάλιστα, λόγω της εφαρμογής της επιστημονικής οργανώσεως, θα είναι πολύ αποδοτικώτεραι, και ν’ αυξήση την απόδοσίν του, ως όργανον κατευθύνσεως της εθνικής οικονομίας και της ζωής και το οποίον να υποβοηθήση την εφαρμογήν ταύτης εις την ιδιωτικήν οικονομίαν, δια παροχής ευνοιών εις τους εφαρμόζοντας ταύτην υπό διαφόρους μορφάς, (ελαττώσεως φορολογικών συντελεστών, δανείων κ.λ.), δια να κατορθώση, τοιουτοτρόπως, ν’ αυξήση τας αποδοχάς των εργαζομένων και ν’ αποκτήση περισσεύματα δια νέας επενδύσεις» (ibid.).

The philosophy of “scientific organization”, Krispis urges, should be adopted as the primary ideal of all Greeks. The implication of course is that he would wish to see a radical change in the very psyche of the Greek population as a whole, with a view to “reconstructing” a devastated economy that had in any case been underdeveloped even prior to the war. Such a radical reorientation would have to be brought about through a reeducation of Greeks, and this had to be done at all levels of formal education. The philosophy of “scientific organization” had to be taught everywhere, from tertiary to secondary education – further, it should even be taught at the level of primary education, albeit in simplified form. The central catalyst of such change would have to be the Greek State itself. The latter would have to begin by first adopting such philosophy for itself – the principles of “scientific management” would have to be applied in the very organizational structures of State organs as such. And these very principles would have to be implemented in the wider terrain of the State sector of the economy. Having adopted such principles for itself, the State would then also have to assist in the implementation of “scientific management” in the private sector of the economy as well. To do that, it would have to offer a variety of incentives to capital so that the latter would accept “scientific management” in the organization of both its managerial structures and at the point of production. Such incentives would include tax reductions and the granting of loans. Above all, then, it need be emphasized that Krispis was clearly speaking of a quasi-“socialist” State intervention in the Greek economy and society so that “scientific management” would become the order of the day.

One might wish to argue that Krispis’ project – reflective of that of the American Economic Mission and especially that of the Greek Productivity Center – was simply intended to Americanize the Greek way of life and chain the Greek economy to American monopoly capital. Such thinking has been especially reflective of the Greek Left through the years. The argument, of course, borders on the ridiculous. Any country in that historical period of time – and whatever be its political regime – would have no choice but adopt some form of “scientific organization” if it planned to rapidly industrialize its economy. Need we mention that, even as early as 1921, Soviet Russia would itself be holding its First Conference on the “Scientific Organization of Labour” – the basic objective of such Conference being to examine methods of maximizing worker productivity. We know that Lenin – as also Soviet economic planners thereafter – was especially interested in Taylorism. Although the case of the USSR and that of countries such as Greece are two completely different kettles of fish, they did share one common objective – viz. to industrialize as swiftly as possible. Both Lenin and Krispis would have fully agreed that the most efficient manner in which that could be achieved was some form of “scientific organization”, at least as applied to the structuring of the production process.

For our purposes, there is little point in carrying such analogies too far – we may merely note here that, for Krispis, such a “scientific organization” of Greek economy and society would increase national income and thus boost consumerism («ν’ αυξήση τας αποδοχάς των εργαζομένων»). Unlike the Soviets, the Greek social formation would thereby yield an advertizing industry that would help forge a socio-cultural milieu alien to the so-called “communist” societies at the time (although it need be mentioned that Dubcek’s Czechoslovakia, by 1968, may be considered at least one exception to the rule).

Krispis would see the philosophy of the “scientific organization of work” as the only road leading to the industrialization of Greece – that was the basic manner in which per capita income would be increased. Further, and perhaps above all, that was the only way in which Greek capital could successfully compete with foreign capital. This is how he concludes his article:

«Χωρίς να θέλωμεν να υπεισέλθωμεν εις τας λεπτομερείας εφαρμογής, διότι το θέμα είναι τεράστιον, νομίζομεν, ότι… πρέπει να επιδιωχθή άμεσως έναρξις της προσπαθείας προς εφαρμογήν της επιστημονικής οργανώσεως εργασίας εις ευρυτάτην κλίμακα, διότι είναι η μόνη οδός ταχείας αυξήσεως του εθνικού εισοδήματος και, επί πλέον, η μόνη οδός, η οποία δύναται να καταστήση την ελληνικήν οικονομίαν ικανήν να συναγωνισθή την ξένην οικονομίαν…» (ibid., my emph.).

Krispis’ ideas were not at all meant to simply provoke intellectual discussion. The Greek Productivity Center (together with various bodies related to it) would undertake a systematic attempt to introduce principles of “scientific organization” to Greek firms. It would do this through the organization of seminars. There would be a variety of experts that would participate in such seminar projects, both foreigners and Greeks. The latter would be company executives of largish Greek companies that had already been experimenting with “scientific organization” in their own workplaces. One has the impression that it was these locals that could best communicate the ideas of “scientific organization” to their compatriots, if only because these all shared mutual experiences and difficulties. With respect to seminars run under the auspices of the Greek Productivity Center and coordinated by foreign lecturers, a December 1957 Bulletin of Activities reports the following events:

«… επραγματοποιήθησαν (δευτέρα σειρά) Φροντιστήρια (Σεμινάρια)… της Μελέτης των Μεθόδων Εργασίας, με συμμετοχήν τεχνικών διευθυντών βιομηχανικών επιχειρήσεων. Εισηγητής ήτο ο Αμερικανός εμπειρογνώμων κ. Λ. Νταίηβις, καθηγητής της Βιομηχανικής Τεχνολογίας εις το Πανεπιστήμιον της Καλιφορνίας, τον οποίον παρουσίασεν ο Σύμβουλος του ΕΛ.ΚΕ.ΠΑ. καθηγητής του Ε.Μ. Πολυτεχνείου κ. Αλ. Παππάς. Κατά την διάρκειαν των Φροντιστηρίων εγίνετο προβολή εικόνων και πινάκων σχετικών με την αύξησιν της Παραγωγικότητος εις τα εργοστάσια» (cf. Παραγωγικότης, December 1957, issue no. 24, Athens, pp. 31-35).

In this case, a series of seminars had been organized around matters pertaining to “work methods” aimed at optimizing efficiency and/or productivity levels on the Greek shop floor. We see that the coordinator of these seminars was a professor of industrial technology from the University of California. He was introduced to seminar participants by a consultant of the Greek Productivity Center, himself a professor of the National Metsovio Polytechnic School, based in Athens. Importantly, the participants were all technical directors of various Greek industrial enterprises.

But what is perhaps of greater interest was the running of similar seminars by locally-based “experts” who belonged to largish Greek enterprises with some experience in the implementation of “scientific management” in their own work contexts. The participation of ΙΖΟΛΑ (IZOLA) consultants is of special interest in this case. The ΙΖΟΛΑ company has been referred to in a variety of instances in the course of this study and its case shall be further examined below, especially with respect to its major advertizing campaigns in the period under discussion. Here, we merely note that this company’s consultants would be playing an important role in the Greek Productivity Center’s project to introduce “scientific management” techniques to the rest of Greek endogenous capital. The December 1957 Bulletin of Activities referred to above reports:

«Εις το Ελληνικόν Κέντρον Παραγωγικότητος συνεχίσθησαν και κατά τον Δεκέμβριον τα Φροντιστήρια (Σεμινάρια) επί του θέματος ‘Διοίκησις Προσωπικού’, με εισηγητήν τον συμπράττοντα Σύμβουλον της Α.Β.Ε. ‘ΙΖΟΛΑ’ κ. Κ. Φιλίππου. Ειδικώς ο ομιλητής ανέπτυξε ζητήματα σχετικά με την απασχόλησιν του προσωπικού» (ibid.).

According to the Bulletin, “experts” of the ΙΖΟΛΑ company – such as K. Filippou mentioned above – would be running a series of long-term seminars on issues related to personnel management and the organization of the shop floor. The Bulletin of Activities goes on to record that the running of such types of seminars was actually being requested by the Greek companies themselves – we read:

«Εις τον Τομέα Βιομηχανίας του Ελληνικού Κέντρου Παραγωγικότητος συνεχίζεται η εκδήλωσις ενδιαφέροντος εκ μέρους διαφόρων επιχειρήσεων, αι οποίαι ζητούν την συμβολήν του ΕΛ.ΚΕ.ΠΑ. δια την αύξησιν της Παραγωγικότητος εις τα εργοστάσιά των. Ιδιαιτέρως ζητείται η οργάνωσις διαλέξεων δια το προσωπικόν, ως και κατάλληλοι υποδείξεις δια την μείωσιν του κόστους παραγωγής» (ibid.).

We have noted above (sect. 1) how the Athens Chamber of Crafts Industries, by way of an example, would itself be calling upon the Greek Productivity Center to assist Greek units of production with the modernization of their installations. Here, we similarly see how members of Greek productive capital would themselves be asking of the Greek Productivity Center to undertake the organization of seminars aimed at increasing levels of productivity on their shop floor. Indicative of such local interest is also the fact that companies such as ΙΖΟΛΑ would invest time and energy to help endogenous enterprises – some of which may theoretically have been their potential competitors – to join this project whereby “scientific organization” would help modernize Greek capital-as-a-whole (the need for national “reconstruction”, one may here argue, would superimpose itself over and above the competing interests of individual capitals, or segments of such capitals).

Seminars aimed at introducing Greek companies to “scientific organization” would also be combined with workshops of a more technical nature. Here too, a company such as ΙΖΟΛΑ would – and again under the auspices of the Greek Productivity Center – participate in workshops or seminars whereby it shared its technical know-how with other Greek enterprises. Such more technically-oriented workshops would constitute an on-going process of company training. The April 1958 issue of Παραγωγικότης presented readers with its regular Bulletin of Activities for the month and therein it would report on how the technical personnel of ΙΖΟΛΑ would coordinate a series of workshops on matters of factory organization pertaining to the local foundry industry. The Bulletin reports:

«Εν τω μεταξύ, εις το Ελληνικόν Κέντρον Παραγωγικότητος, συνεχίσθησαν τα φροντιστήρια δια την πρακτικήν λειτουργίαν των χυτηρίων. Ούτως ο τεχνικός της Α.Β.Ε. ‘ΙΖΟΛΑ’ κ. Β. Αναστασίου ανέπτυξε το θέμα ‘Σιδηρούχα κράματα και τήξις αυτών’, αναπτύσσων δε το θέμα του, ο κ. Αναστασίου παρουσίασε πίνακα σχετικόν με την τήξιν των σιδηρούχων μετάλλων» (cf. Παραγωγικότης, April 1958, issue no. 28, Athens, pp. 207-208).

This report, accompanied by a picture of the proceedings of one of the seminars, informs us that the technical consultant of ΙΖΟΛΑ would be lecturing employees of the Greek foundry industry on issues related to ferrous alloys and iron smelting. The purpose of such seminars was to help Greek foundries improve their practical and organizational functioning on the shop floor. As the report also informs us, such workshops were part of the initiative undertaken by the Greek Productivity Center in the 1950’s to establish an Institute of Greek Foundrymen (Ινστιτούτο Ελλήνων Χυτών). It goes without saying that the development of foundry technology played an important role in the development of whichever national economy, especially in the post-war “modern era” of the foundry industry (advent of mass production of different types of casting, high pressure molding, etc.).

Apart from the foreign, usually university-based “experts” and the various consultants of locally-based firms (such as those of ΙΖΟΛΑ) who were attempting to introduce Greeks to principles of “scientific management”, there were also other agencies that were as much directly involved in such a long-term project. One such agency was the “Training Within Industry” (TWI) organization. This organization would, amongst its other activities, host Greek nationals in various industrial study tours within the USA, especially during the 1950’s. The objectives and methodology of TWI were very specific and they were presented to the readers of Παραγωγικότης in a 1956 article signed by K. Hristakis. This article addresses an issue that was central to the problems of productivity with respect to most local units of production operating in Greece at the time – viz. the critical role of supervisors on the shop floor. Entitled «Θέματα παραγωγικότητος – εκπαίδευσις προϊσταμένων» (transl. “Issues related to productivity – the training of supervisors”), the article begins by defining the usual qualities expected of a supervisor – Hristakis writes:

«Πως προβιβάζεται σήμερον ένας υπάλληλος ή ένας εργάτης εις την θέσιν του προϊσταμένου; Ποία είναι τα προσόντα τα οποία λαμβάνονται υπ’ όψιν; Αυτά συνήθως συνίστανται εις ικανοποιητικήν εκτέλεσιν της εργασίας, την πείραν και ταν [sic] γνώσεις ή, τουλάχιστον την δυνατότητα δια την ταχείαν απόκτησιν των αναγκαίων γνώσεων» (cf. Παραγωγικότης, April-May 1956, issue no. 12, Athens, pp. 37-39).

According to Hristakis, prevailing conceptions regarding the role of supervisors remained debilitatingly traditionalist. He points out that, for any employee to be promoted to the status of a supervisor, all that was heretofore required of such person was some capacity to execute his own duties diligently, based on personal experience and acquired knowledge. Such qualities, although necessary, were definitely not sufficient for any unit of production that aimed at raising its levels of productivity. Parallel to such traditionally expected qualities, a supervisor should also – and above all – function as a trainer of others. Further, his attitude and behaviour towards employees on the shop floor needs to be of a very specific caliber. Hristakis explains:

«Από ένα ικανόν όμως προϊστάμενον απαιτούνται και άλλα προσόντα εκτός της απλής γνώσεως της εργασίας, δια την οποίαν είναι υπεύθυνος. Εάν ο υπάλληλος ή ο εργάτης όστις προήχθη εις προϊστάμενον, δεν είναι ικανός να εκπαιδεύη τους υφισταμένους του και να μεταδίδη εις αυτούς τας γνώσεις του και τας οδηγίας του, κατά τρόπον σαφή, εάν παραλείπη να τους καθοδηγή ώστε να γίνουν και αυτοί ικανοί να αναλάβουν αργότερον υπευθύνους θέσεις, εάν η συμπεριφορά και ο τρόπος με τον οποίον μεταχειρίζεται το προσωπικόν του, δεν είναι αυτός, που πρέπει να είναι και εάν δεν φροντίζη δια την βελτίωσιν των μεθόδων εργασίας του τμήματός του εις τρόπον ώστε η εργασία να γίνεται ταχύτερον, καλύτερον και οικονομικώτερον, τότε, δια του προβιβασμού του εις προϊστάμενον, η επιχείρησις έχασεν ένα ικανόν υπάλληλον ή εργάτην και απέκτησεν ένα ανίκανον προϊστάμενον, ο οποίος, λόγω της θέσεώς του, παρεμποδίζει την αποδοτικότητα μιας ομάδος εργατών ή υπαλλήλων» (ibid.).

Having enumerated the new skills required of a supervisor, Hristakis goes on to ask his readers a very practical question: who is it that undertakes the training of a Greek supervisor in a manner that enables him to fulfill such new duties? He suggests that, generally speaking, there exist no such training structures in Greece. He therefore identifies a vacuum in this field, which – as he points out – is somewhat filled in by Shell Co. (Hellas) Limited (operating in Greece since 1926). This company had been implementing a system within its units of production which it named “Training of Supervisors”, and which was a variation of the already mentioned international programme, Training Within Industry (TWI). The practices of a company such as Shell (Hellas) could potentially function as a paradigm for the rest of local Greek capital (and which would have complemented the industrial study tours of Greek nationals organized by the TWI project mentioned above). Hristakis writes:

«Αλλά ποίος υποδεικνύει εις τον προϊστάμενον αυτόν τα ως άνω καθήκοντά του και τον τρόπον, δια του οποίου θα δυνηθή να τα εκτελέση; Συνήθως κανείς. Το κενόν αυτό έρχεται να συμπληρώση το σύστημα, το οποίον η Εταιρία Shell Co (Hellas) Limited ονομάζει Εκπαίδευσις Προϊσταμένων και το οποίον είναι γνωστόν διεθνώς ως T.W.I. (Training Within Industry). Σκοπός λοιπόν του συστήματος αυτού, το οποίον δύναται να εφαρμοσθή εις εργοστάσια, γραφεία, τραπέζας και εις την ιδιωτικήν ακόμη ζωήν μας, είναι η πρακτική εκπαίδευσις των προϊσταμένων εις τας τρείς βασικάς ικανότητας, αι οποίαι αποτελούν την τέχνην της διοικήσεως…» (ibid., his emph.).

The methods of TWI, according to Hristakis in the quote above, could be implemented in factories, offices, banks and even in people’s private lives (and which is reminiscent of Krispis, op. cit., who had been suggesting that “scientific organization” should permeate the whole of the Greek psyche). But it would be supervisors above all that required the special training – this would encompass the acquisition of three basic skills, all of which would constitute the art (or technique) of management («την τέχνην της διοικήσεως»).

The three basic skills of a supervisor, according to TWI and as presented to us by Hristakis, would be the following:

● «Ικανότης εις την εκπαίδευσιν και καθοδήγησιν του προσωπικού (υπαλλήλων και εργατών) εις τοτρόπον εκτελέσεως της εργασίας των».
● «Ικανότης εις την μεταχείρισιν του προσωπικού, από της απόψεως των ανθρωπίνων σχέσεων…».
● «Ικανότης εις την βελτίωσιν των μεθόδων των διαφόρων εργασιών μέχρι του σημείου εκείνου του οποίου ένας προϊστάμενος έχων γνώσεις και πείραν αυτών δύναται να τας βελτιώση»(ibid., his emph.).

As we can see here, the TWI would be focusing on supervisory skills that were almost unheard of amongst Greek small- or medium-sized firms at the time – these would above all be: (i) that the supervisor should be able to educate/instruct the workforce on how to execute its duties on the shop floor; (ii) that the supervisor should be able to manage problems of industrial (or personnel) relations; and (iii) that the supervisor should be able to improve methods of work pertaining to different jobs being performed.

The TWI method would be introduced to employees via a tripartite programme – with specific reference to the Shell Co. (Hellas) “Training of Supervisors” system, Hristakis writes:

«Η ‘E.Π’ [‘Εκπαίδευσις Προϊσταμένων’] αποτελείται από τρία χωριστά προγράμματα εκπαιδεύσεως δια την ανάπτυξιν εκάστης των τριών ικανοτήτων. Τα προγράμματα αυτά είναι:
● ‘Καθοδήγησις Εργασίας’ δια την εκπαίδευσιν του προσωπικού.
● ‘Σχέσεις Εργασίας’ δια την μεταχείρισιν του προσωπικού.
● ‘Μέθοδοι Εργασίας’ δια την βελτίωσιν των μεθόδων των διαφόρων εργασιών.
Έκαστον πρόγραμμα αποτελεί χωριστόν σύνολον και είναι ανεξάρτητον από τα άλλα προγράμματα» (ibid., his emph.).

According to www.thebilasgroup.com/twi-learning-center, “TWI initially consisted of three main delivery programs (called J-Programs) – Job Relations (JR), Job Instruction (JI), and Job Methods (JM)”.

To end this brief reference to TWI, we may here add a few notes on the long history of this organization. One source for this is the April-May 1956 issue of the periodical Παραγωγικότης itself, and based on the Hristakis article we have been discussing. Hristakis writes:

«Μετά την λήξιν του πολέμου, τον Σεπτέμβριον 1945, η Κυβερνητική Υπηρεσία [i.e. the US Government Service] ‘Training Within Industry’ διελύθη. Την διεδέχθη το Ίδρυμα T.W.I. μια ιδιωτική οργάνωσις…» (ibid.).

Hristakis goes on to explain how the American-inspired philosophy of TWI would spread to many countries around the world in the post-war years. We know that such countries would include Japan and Britain. He focuses on the case of Britain, which he says was the first to adopt TWI principles in its factories and where TWI would achieve its greatest impact (presumably, this would explain why the British-Dutch Shell Co. based in Greece would have itself adopted TWI principles in training its Greek supervisors). Hristakis explains:

«Μετά το τέλος του πολέμου η ‘Ε.Π.’ διεδόθη ταχέως εις πολλάς χώρας. Η μεγαλυτέρα διάδοσις εσημειώθη εις την Μεγάλην Βρεταννίαν, όπου από του τέλους, του 1944 μέχρι του τέλους Ιουνίου 1955, 3780 Επιχειρήσεις εφαρμόζουν το σύστημα» (ibid.).

Other available sources inform us that, with the dissolution of TWI as a US Government Service by 1945, it would be re-established as a private initiative, thereby giving birth to TWI, Inc. The latter would carry on the programs used in the course of WW2 by the “TWI Service”, as commissioned by the War Manpower Commission (WMC). We know further that TWI, Inc. would be headed by Lowell Mellen, a District Representative of TWI Office District # 10 of Northern Ohio. This endeavour would continue for twenty years before being sold to Robert Murphy in 1964. Importantly, it would be Mellen’s group that would be heavily involved in hosting Greek nationals in industrial tours of the USA in the course of the late 1950’s (Japanese nationals would likewise be involved in such industrial tours (Source: Lowell Mellen Collection. #1991-098. Location: Western Reserve Historical Society Library, Cleveland, Ohio – cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3ATraining_Within_Industry).

We have thus far noted what we consider to be some of the more important aspects of the role of the American Economic Mission – as a whole, and including its successors – in post-war Greece. We have seen how attempts at bolstering Greek local capital – whatever its size – would be accompanied by projects aimed at introducing radical changes to processes of production at the level of the shop floor. Both employers and employees would have to be re-educated along the lines of the “scientific organization of work”; supervisory staff would have to undergo re-training within production plants. Our purpose here is not to evaluate the relative success of such projects, though we do know that some sort of an “economic miracle” was to be sustained right through to the early 1970’s – the authoritative study of the Greek case by David H. Close certainly confirms this (although his references to a “long boom” with respect to Greece need be taken with a pinch of salt). Close writes:

“… having become integrated with the western economic world, Greece shared in the rapid and almost uninterrupted process of growth, known as the long boom, which lasted until 1973… the growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was indeed the highest in the capitalist countries of southern Europe and perhaps in the whole western world, averaging 6.5 per cent a year in 1950-73. This of course was a cause of self-congratulation…” (cf. David H. Close, Greece since 1945: politics, economy and society, Routledge, 2014, p. 48).

But what one needs to stress is that what Close elsewhere refers to as “the crutch of American aid” was not simply a matter of economic aid in the form of loans (a quantitative support). As important, at least in terms of strategic intentions, was the qualitative support which came in the form of re-education and re-training which we have tried to present above. Such re-education and re-training, as we shall see, would also be materialized in the field of consumption (via the complex articulation of advertizing discourse, whereby the advertizing industry would engage in a dialectical interaction with the given “psyche” of large segments of the Greek population).

The post 2. – THE CULTURAL CONTENT OF GREEK ADVERTIZING DISCOURSE: CONTEXT – REORGANIZING THE PRODUCTION PROCESS, 1950’s appeared first on Greek Social & Literary Review - Ελληνική Κοινωνική & Λογοτεχνική Επιθεώρηση.

As regards the general socio-historical and economic context, we have little choice but to begin by examining the role of the American State in “reconstructing” Greece following the Greek Civil War, and the implications of such role in the possible development of local Greek industry. It was the relative development of the latter that would set the stage for the different forms of advertizing discourse to be unfolded and which would necessarily interact with one another. It was also within such material context that our “Amalia-type” would herself have to interact.

It is perhaps useful to begin here with a general abstract statement that may be taken as a truism, but which nonetheless needs concrete historical verification. War, it has been said, is necessarily followed by some form or other of positive “reconstruction”. In a rather obscure book narrating the history of the natural sciences, Humphrey Pledge notes:

“The greatest scientific value of war has not lain in research into weapons like explosives, but into remedies for their effects. Rulers indifferent to the fate of their civilian subjects were keenly alive to that of their soldiers, and we shall notice many decisive biological advances made by military surgeons” (cf. H.T. Pledge, Science since 1500, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, 1966, p. 26, my emph.).

Such a general statement, we are suggesting, requires specific verification. It also calls for an examination of the specific forms that these “remedies”, as applied (or to the extent that these were applied), would take. Following the Civil War, of course, the Americans would naturally be issuing proclamations and other propaganda materials that would wish to assert the generous aid – or “remedies” – they would be offering to the Greek people. These are the functions of any State, let alone of an “imperialistic” State asserting itself under conditions of what was turning out to be a Cold War. But we cannot reduce all American political discourse to mere propaganda. We shall be examining a sample of historical documents that may have simply expressed intentions, plans and declarations. We might even come across cases of gross propaganda meant to appease. But, in any case – and as we shall see – local Greek industry would in fact be bolstered and did develop between the 1950’s-1970’s period. It is within such specific context that we need to understand local advertizing discourse – and its interaction with global or European discourse – in the course of that period.

Before we examine the relevant sources available to us, perhaps we should also add that such period of economic “reconstruction” and development needs to be contrasted to what was to happen to the Greek economy by the 1980’s, when Greece would fully enter the EEC. By that time, local manufacturers would be literally struggling to survive the onslaught of free competition with European-based oligopolistic or monopoly capitals in a new context where all forms of “protectionism” would gradually be withdrawn. Consider what the two Greek Associations of Flour Millers at the time (the Σύνδεσμος Αλευροβιομηχάνων της Ελλάδος and the Σύνδεσμος Ελλήνων Αλευροβιομηχάνων) had to say to the then Minister of Trade, G. Moraitis, in 1983:

«ΚΥΡΙΕ ΠΡΟΕΔΡΕ,
ΟΙ ΣΥΝΔΕΣΜΟΙ ΑΛΕΥΡΟΒΙΟΜΗΧΑΝΩΝ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΩΝ ΑΛΕΥΡΟΒΙΟΜΗΧΑΝΩΝ ΔΙΑΜΑΡΤΥΡΟΝΤΑΙ ΓΙΑ ΤΙΣ ΕΞΑΓΓΕΛΘΕΙΣΕΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΟΝ ΥΠΟΥΡΓΟ ΕΜΠΟΡΙΟΥ ΤΙΜΕΣ ΤΩΝ ΑΛΕΥΡΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΥ ΣΙΜΙΓΔΑΛΙΟΥ ΠΟΥ ΑΦΙΣΤΑΝΤΑΙ ΤΗΣ ΑΝΤΙΚΕΙΜΕΝΙΚΗΣ ΚΟΣΤΟΛΟΓΗΣΗΣ ΚΑΙ ΟΔΗΓΟΥΝ ΤΟΝ ΚΛΑΔΟ ΣΕ ΧΡΕΟΚΟΠΙΑ. ΖΗΤΟΥΜΕ ΔΙΑΛΟΓΟ ΜΕ ΑΝΤΙΠΑΡΑΘΕΣΗ ΚΟΣΤΟΛΟΓΙΩΝ ΓΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΕΞΕΥΡΕΣΗ ΛΥΣΙΣ.
ΜΕ ΤΙΜΗ…» (cf. Α&Μ Archives, official document, 2.8.1983, File No. 135).

These two Associations, representing all of the important Flour Mills of Greece (including the Α&Μ Four Mill based at Aliartos), would be protesting about the new price policies – with respect to flour and flour substitutes – adopted by the Greek Government following its entry into the EEC. Very simply, the Associations were saying that their sector was being led to bankruptcy («χρεωκοπία»). Elsewhere, they would openly be speaking of a looming total destruction of the flour manufacturing industry (cf. File No. 135, where numerous such documents are available). We know that such a reality would apply to all the other major sectors of the Greek economy in the course of the 1980’s. Such circumstances – rather tragic for the Greek economy as a whole (and the two Associations of Flour Millers would also point to such reality as well) – need be mentioned here as they do emphasize the short-lived span of real industrial development that the Greek social formation would experience following the immediate post-war period. A reference to the final downward crunch of the 1980’s merely serves to accentuate the significance of the “big bang” that had preceded it. Such “big bang” would go hand-in-hand with an explosion of the advertizing industry, whether locally-based, European or global (the cumulative interaction of these would constitute an ideology which would be expressive of what we have elsewhere described as the rise of the Greek middle class milieu).

Let us now examine US “rehabilitation” and “relief” policy with respect to Greece in the decade of the 1950’s. The periodical Παραγωγικότης (transl. Productivity – much cited in the preamble to our discussion of the “provocative” and “adjustive” type of advertizing discourse, op. cit.) constitutes an excellent source of information regarding the programs and intentions of the American State as regards post-war Greece. In fact, it was the official organ of the Ελληνικό Κέντρο Παραγωγικότης (the Greek Productivity Center), itself a structure which may be traced back to the American Economic Mission, but which was only founded in 1953. An issue of the periodical in question, published in 1957, would present its readers with a long and detailed article entitled «Ο ρόλος και η σημασία της βιοτεχνίας εν τη οικονομία της χώρας μας» (transl. “The role and significance of small crafts industries in the economy of our country”), and which was based on a lecture given by G. Termentzis, the then President of the Athens Chamber of Crafts Industries (an organization closely aligned with the Greek Productivity Center). We consider this text highly important for two basic reasons. Firstly, it gives us a rather lucid picture of how the American Mission and the later Productivity Center viewed the political economy of Greece at the time. Secondly, and most importantly, it can give us as lucid a picture of the USA’s general program and intentions with respect to Greece.

How does Termentzis – as also the Productivity Center et al – present the political economy of the Greek social formation in the period of the 1950’s? Firstly, small crafts industries – seen as constituting a discreet sector – are said to occupy the third most important position in the Greek economy, at least in terms of net proceeds. According to Termentzis:

«Εντός της ελληνικής οικονομίας… η Βιοτεχνία κατέχει, από απόψεως ύψους παραγωγής αγαθών, την τρίτην θέσιν, μετά την Γεωργίαν και Βιομηχανίαν. Κατά το έτος 1955, το εκ της βιοτεχνικής δραστηριότητος πραγματοποιηθέν καθαρόν προϊόν ανήλθεν εις 2.810 εκατομμύρια τρεχουσών δραχμών, αντιπροσωπεύον 30% επί του συνολικού εισοδήματος της μεταποιήσεως. Το εισόδημα της Γεωργίας κατά το αυτό έτος (1955) ανήλθεν εις 19.801 εκατομμύρια δραχμών και της Βιομηχανίας εις 6.536 τοιάυτα» (cf. Παραγωγικότης, December 1957, issue no. 24, Athens, p. 12).

And yet, despite its third position in the Greek economy as a whole, the sector of small crafts industries outdid the formal manufacturing sector in terms of the number of people employed, and did so by far. Termentzis explains:

«Συμαντικήν επίσης θέσιν εις τα πλαίσια της ελληνικής οικονομίας κατέχει η Βιοτεχνία και από απόψεως απασχολήσεως. Ούτως, επί συνόλου πληθυσμού απασχολουμένου εις την μεταποίησιν των αγαθών εν γένει (βιομηχανία, βιοτεχνία) εκ 560.000 ατόμων, 160.000 άτομα απασχολούνται εις την Βιομηχανίαν και 400.000 άτομα έχουν απασχόλησιν εις την Βιοτεχνικήν παραγωγήν. Ο αριθμός ούτος αντιστοιχεί εις 11.4% του συνολικώς απασχολουμένου πληθυσμού της χώρας μας» (ibid.).

The text presents us with comparative figures regarding employment in the various sectors of the Greek economy, and with special reference to 1952. Some of these figures include the following:

Agriculture: 58% - 2.030.000 persons
Small crafts: 11.4% - 400.000 persons
Trade: 10% - 352.000 persons
Different professions: 4.8% - 168.000 persons
Manufacture: 4.6% - 160.000 persons

The conclusions we may draw here – as does Termentzis himself – are the following: (i) taken with the agricultural sector, small crafts constituted the second most important employer in the Greek economy; (ii) apart from the agricultural sector – i.e., if one were to focus exclusively on secondary industry – small crafts clearly constituted the number one source of employment; (iii) the formal manufacturing industry per se – as a discreet sector of small- or medium-sized endogenous capitals – occupied a mere fifth position with respect to percentage employment. Termentzis writes:

«Εκ των στοιχείων τούτων… καταφαίνεται ότι το μεγαλύτερον ποσοστόν (58%) του ενεργώς απασχολουμένου πληθυσμού της χώρας μας απασχολείται εις τα γεωργικά επαγγέλματα, εκ δε των λοιπών κλάδων της παραγωγικής δραστηριότητος η Βιοτεχνία κατέχει την πρώτην θέσιν… Προκύπτει, λοιπόν, ότι η ευρεία βάσις της μεταποιητικής απασχολήσεως εν τη οικονομία της χώρας είναι η Βιοτεχνία» (ibid., my emph.).

We can clearly see here how the erstwhile American Economic Mission and the later Greek Productivity Center would, at least through the eyes of the Athens Chamber of Crafts Industries, “read” the political economy of Greece at the time. For them, Greek crafts industries were priority number one, if only because it was this sector which constituted the central most important employer in Greek manufacturing.

The practical implications of such a “reading” were clear-cut: small crafts industries could only but play a strategic role in the economy of Greece – it was not only that these constituted the most important source of employment in the country (of obvious political importance). More than that, it was recognized that at least certain aspects of material production would, whatever be the technological developments, remain a “monopoly” of small crafts industries. As such, it was absolutely important that the latter sector had to be bolstered in all fields of its productive activity. The text we are here considering is absolutely succinct on this matter:

«Υπάρχουν ωρισμέναι παραγωγικαί ενέργειαι μεταποιήσεως της ύλης, αι οποίαι, υφ’ οιασδήποτε τεχνικάς εξελίξεις και τελειοποιήσεις, θα παραμείνουν, μονοπώλιον της Βιοτεχνίας. Δια τούτο η οικονομική πολιτική οφείλει να ενισχύση την βιοτεχνίαν εις όλους τους τομείς της παραγωγικής της δράσεως» (ibid., my emph.).

Bolstering the sector of small crafts industries – which was itself a segment of endogenous non-monopoly capital – was part and parcel of the strategy of US “intervention” in Greece. The usual “Left-wing” suggestion had always been that American policy was to strangulate local capital and merely establish a haven for multi-national corporations. That needs to be rejected as an over-simplification. Of course, this would mean that we would have to adopt a completely different approach as regards the role of “global” and “local” advertizing discourse, as also the interaction between these. No, it was not simply a matter of the one wishing to annihilate the other. On the other hand, there could be acute competition between advertizing campaigns, especially when companies would vie for a specific market share.

The American Economic Mission and its local allies had always been fully aware that the project of bolstering Greek small crafts industries would be no easy matter. A major obstacle was the very morphology of the sector itself. Both prior to and after the war, small crafts industries were – by definition – characterized by an internally dysfunctional segmentation of the production process. Termentzis described the problem as follows:

«Η Βιοτεχνία, λόγω του έντονου καταμερισμού της εις μικράς μονάδας, εμφανίζει οργανικήν αδυναμίαν έναντι της Βιομηχανίας, τόσον εις την πρόσκτησιν των μέσων, όσον και εις τον συγχρονισμόν της από απόψεως μεθόδων. Και αισθάνεται δια τούτο την ανάγκην, περισσότερον των άλλων βασικών κλάδων της παραγωγής, της συνδρομής του Ελληνικού Κέντρου Παραγωγικότητος» (ibid., p. 14).

We see here that the sector of small crafts industries – as represented by the Athens Chamber of Crafts Industries – itself recognizes the need for the Greek Productivity Center to come to its aid. In fact, it was even asking for a certain preferential treatment vis-à-vis the Greek industrial sector per se. Termentzis further explains:

«Διαισθάνονται οι Έλληνες βιοτέχναι, ως κατασκευασταί, τας προόδους της επιστήμης και της τεχνικής και επιθυμούν ζωηρώς να επωφεληθούν εκ τούτων, δεν έχουν όμως ακριβή αντίληψιν περί αυτών και η εφαρμογή των δια τούτο θα είναι βραδεία…» (ibid.).

Those who operate small crafts industries, we are told, could intuit that much progress was being made in the fields of science and technology. Naturally, they would wish to benefit from such developments. On the other hand, their knowledge of such processes was not precise, and which would mean that whatever implementation of the new technologies would inevitably remain slow. The President of the Athens Chamber would call upon the Greek Productivity Center to directly assist small crafts industries. The idea was to help these increase their productive capacity, and this could only be done by modernizing their installations as also their production methods. This is how Termentzis puts it:

«Πρέπει, συνεπώς, να επιδιώξωμεν εις την Βιοτεχνίαν την αύξησιν των αποδόσεων ή, άλλως, της παραγωγικότητος, δια του συγχρονισμού των εγκαταστάσεων και της εισαγωγής τελειοτέρων μεθόδων παραγωγής. Εις την Βιοτεχνίαν ο τεχνεργάτης είναι άμεσος συνεργάτης του βιοτέχνου. Εργάζεται και αποδίδει όσον επιτρέπουν εις αυτόν αι γνώσεις, η εμπειρία και η ικανότης του προς κατασκευήν. Και τούτο διότι εργαζόμενος δια την επιχείρησιν, εργάζεται και δι’ εαυτόν. Αποκτά καλήν φήμην και είναι τούτο απαραίτητον δια την μέλλουσαν άσκησιν υπ’ αυτού ιδίου βιοτεχνικού επαγγέλματος ήτοι δια την εξέλιξίν του εις επιχειρηματίαν βιοτέχνην» (ibid.).

As is the case throughout this text, Termentzis is calling upon the Greek Productivity Center to help crafts industries modernize and perfect their production process. We have already seen how this sector had been allocated a strategic role in the Greek economy given the number of people it employed, as also given its de facto “monopolization” of certain aspects in the manufacturing of materials. In the quote above, however, Termentzis does go one step further, and which is in fact an argument of primary importance when viewed in the context of the American Economic Mission’s initial and essential project in Greece – viz., “reconstruction”. The gist of the above quote is that the sector of the small crafts industries was least bedevilled by the exigencies of the capital-labour contradiction (be these strike action, animosities between employer and employees, and so forth). Precisely because such contradictions simply did not characterize the shop floor of small crafts industries, such units of production constituted the most solid basis upon which one could secure “reconstruction”. More specifically, Termentzis is here arguing that the technicians working in the sector of crafts industries are essentially co-workers, partners or direct associates of the owner of the unit of production («ο τεχνεργάτης είναι άμεσος συνεργάτης του βιοτέχνου»). Working people in such context would perform according to the technical knowledge they happened to possess, according to their experience in the field, and also according to their personal competence. For this type of technician, working for the company was also working for himself. He would care a great deal about his own “good name” as a technician, he would care for his own personal progress, and he aimed at someday developing into an entrepreneur himself. We know, of course, that the reality described by Termentzis was not at all an ideological distortion of the Greek reality – at least with respect to small units of production, the employer-employee relationship would almost approximate a “family relationship” (and in fact numerous units of production – whatever their relative size – were actually family-based). We know, further, that the vast majority of Greek working people – and especially those with a certain technical knowledge – would all aspire to become independent entrepreneurs (and many did achieve such personal ambition). But we can also clearly see here why the sector of crafts industries would constitute the most “politically” favourable terrain upon which the American Mission – and its successors – could intervene. That, at least, was the intention – and it was an understandable strategy.

It was precisely such given reality that would delimit the field of “intervention” on the part of the Greek Productivity Center – at least with respect to the sector of crafts industries (this would not of course mean that the Center would ignore small- or middle-sized industrial capitals as such). Termentzis verifies this:

«Τα δεδομένα ταύτα διαγράφουν σαφώς τα περιθώρια δράσεως του Ελληνικού Κέντρου Παραγωγικότητος εις τον βιοτεχνικόν τομέα και προσδιορίζουν την σοβαράν έκτασιν,την οποίαν δύναται να προσλάβη η έννοια της παραγωγικότητος εις την βιοτεχνίαν εργαστηριακής μορφής» (ibid., my emph.).

We have already suggested above – in passing – that the strategic focus on the sector of small crafts industries would not at all mean that the American Economic Mission would ignore the as important question of bolstering endogenous capital as a whole. The Mission was well aware that all the sectors of industrial production were in fact a chain of interrelated, communicating vessels and that, if the Greek economy was to be in any way developed, it had to be “protected” in its entirety. What we are noting here is of the utmost importance and needs to be contrasted to what was to ensue following Greece’s later entry into the EEC. Yes, the American Economic Mission would wish to “protect” the Greek economy as a whole – and especially the competitiveness of Greek products – vis-à-vis powerful foreign capitals (which would presumably also include US monopolies), and “protect” it given the cut-throat competition of foreign markets. The representative of the Athens Chamber of Crafts Industries would acknowledge such intentions on the part of the Americans and their local allies, and he would call upon local entrepreneurs – and especially those involved in the crafts industries, which he directly represented – to cooperate with the Greek Productivity Center so as to fulfill such general objectives. We read in the selfsame text:

«Πρέπει όμως να ληφθούν πολλά προληπτικά μέτρα, δια να μην πληγή η οικονομία του τόπου. Τα μέτρα αυτά είναι δύο ειδών: α) Εξωτερικά – και Διεθνή. Δηλαδή προστασίας των μικρών χωρών από τον συναγωνισμόν των μεγάλων και β) Εσωτερικά, δηλαδή αναπτύξεως της εγχωρίου παραγωγής… και προσπαθείας, ώστε τα ελληνικά προϊόντα να γίνουν συναγωνίσιμα στην διεθνή αγοράν… Οι Έλληνες βιοτέχναι καλούνται να παράσχουν όλην αυτών την ενίσχυσιν και συνδρομήν, δια να επιτευχθούν ενωρίτερων και πληρέστερον οι σκοποί και αι επιδιώξεις του Ελληνικού Κέντρου Παραγωγικότητος» (ibid., pp. 14-15, his emph.).

Of course, one may wish to doubt the intentions and/or general objectives of the US Government and the organs of its foreign policy in Greece, as was the American Economic Mission and its local allies in the country. One may wish to reduce all such statements and declarations to mere propaganda, and especially given the onset of the Cold War. Alternatively, one could simply argue that all this was tantamount to mere wishful thinking on the part of the Greek Productivity Center.

Perhaps the best way in which one could answer such questions is to examine the specific manner in which the Greek Productivity Center would or would not assist local Greek capital, and more particularly as regards very small units of production. The best possible approach to the problem is to consider how the Greek Productivity Center related to very specific local companies taken as samples.

A 1958 issue of the Center’s organ, Παραγωγικότης, would present readers with an article entitled as follows:

«ΑΙ ΕΝΙΣΧΥΣΕΙΣ ΤΟΥ ΕΛ.ΚΕ.ΠΑ. ΕΙΣ ΠΑΡΑΓΩΓΙΚΑΣ ΕΠΙΧΕΙΡΗΣΕΙΣ – ΤΟ ΔΑΝΕΙΟΝ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΕΡΓΟΣΤΑΣΙΟΝ Δ. ΦΟΥΡΝΑΡΑΚΗ, ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗΣ…» (cf. Παραγωγικότης, April 1958, issue no. 28, Athens, pp. 197-198).

The contents of this article were first presented in the form of a précis:

«Το εργοστάσιον κατασκευής κιβωτίων εξωπλίσθη με νέα, συγχρονισμένα μηχανήματα, συντελούντα εις την αύξησιν της παραγωγικότητός του και την ποιοτικήν βελτίωσιν των προϊόντων του» (ibid., p. 197).

Two points are apparent at this stage: (i) It is implied that the Greek Productivity Center (herein referred to as «ΕΛ.ΚΕ.ΠΑ.», it being the Greek acronym) is offering economic aid («ΕΝΙΣΧΥΣΕΙΣ») to a variety of local Greek companies that were considered to be “productive” («ΠΑΡΑΓΩΓΙΚΑΣ ΕΠΙΧΕΙΡΗΣΕΙΣ»); (ii) Companies such as that of Δ. Φουρναράκη were being provided with new, modern machines meant to raise productivity and upgrade the quality of their products. Both issues would be taken up again in the body of this article. The Greek Productivity Center, it is said, would be granting loans to a series of local companies, and Δ. Φουρναράκη would be just one such example of productive units – we read:

«Εις την σειράν των μέχρι τούδε χορηγηθέντων υπό του Ελληνικού Κέντρου Παραγωγικότητος δανείων προς ενίσχυσιν της παραγωγικότητος των εγχωρίων βιομηχανιών και επιχειρήσεων, περιλαμβάνεται και το δοθέν προς το εν Θεσσαλονίκη επιχειρηματίαν κ. Διομήδην Φουρναράκην δάνειον, δι’ ανάπτυξιν του εργοστασίου του παραγωγής κιβωτίων συσκευασίας» (ibid.).

The article would proceed to give readers a profile of the Φουρναράκη company, which had been established in the early 1930’s:

«Το εν λόγω εργοστάσιον συνεστήθη το πρώτον εν έτει 1934, κατασκεύαζε δε τότε διάφορα κιβώτια εκ ξύλου δια την συσκευασίαν και την εν τω εσωτερικώ μεταφοράν νωπών καρπών και λαχανικών, κυρίως, κ.ά. ειδών (κονσερβών, σαπώνων, ιχθύων κτλ.)» (ibid.).

According to the above extract, we see that the Φουρναράκη factory had been manufacturing wooden crates for the packaging, storage and transportation of various products, such as fish and fresh vegetables, but also tinned foods and soap. Since 1934, the freighting had been limited exclusively to the local market.

By 1950, Greece would commence to more systematically sell its fruit products to foreign markets. Such export activity would prompt the Φουρναράκη factory to start manufacturing special containers suited to the packaging and freighting of such export products – we read:

«Από του έτους 1950, ότε ήρχισε συστηματικωτέρα η εξαγωγή ελληνικών φρούτων εις τας ξένας αγοράς, το εργοστάσιον Δ. Φουρναράκη ασχολείται ιδίως εις την κατασκευήν κιβωτίων ειδικού τύπου δια την καταλληλοτέραν συσκευασίαν και μεταφοράν των προϊόντων τούτον εις το εξωτερικόν» (ibid.).

Apparently, we here had a local Greek company which the Greek Productivity Center would consider “productive” – the company would have the will and capacity to adjust to new conditions and thereby start manufacturing special containers to meet the needs of the new export activity in fruit products. Its success in the field, bolstered by such up-and-coming export trends, would inevitably mean that the company would need to expand its own productive installations. We read further:

«Η επιτυχία αυτή, υποβοηθούσα την εξαγωγήν, προέβαλε συγχρόνως την ανάγκην περαιτέρω αναπτύξεως του αναφερομένου εργοστασίου Δ. Φουρναράκη, ίνα δυνηθή ν’ανταποκριθή εις την από έτους εις έτους αυξανομένην ζήτησιν των ειδών του» (ibid.).

The company’s need to expand its activities would lead the entrepreneur to lodge an application with the Greek Productivity Center for a loan. The Center ruled favourably on the application and granted Δ. Φουρναράκη a loan amounting to 150.000 drachmas – the article continues:

«Λαμβάνουσα πάντα τ’ ανωτέρω υπ’ όψιν της, η διοίκησις του Ελληνικού Κέντρου Παραγωγικότητος έκρινεν ευνοϊκώς την προς αυτό υποβληθείσαν υπό του εν λόγου επιχειρηματίου αίτησιν δανειοδοτήσεώς του και εχορήγησεν εις αυτόν δάνειον 150.000 δραχμών» (ibid.).

This would be a 5-year loan with an interest rate of 7%. Importantly, the article goes on to explain that such loans were being granted for very specific purposes, and thus the borrower had to meet certain obligations:

«Το δάνειον εχορηγήθη δια διάρκειαν πέντε ετών και με επιτόκιον προς 7%, δοθέντος δε ότι τα δάνεια παραγωγικότητος χορηγούνται υπό του ΕΛ.ΚΕ.ΠΑ. προς ωρισμένον σκοπόν, η επιχείρησις Δ. Φουρναράκη ανέλαβε συμβατικός την υποχρέωσιν όπως:… 1. Αυξήση το υπαλληλικόν και εργατικόν προσωπικόν αυτής, αναλόγως προς την αναπτυχθησομένην πρόοδον των εργασιών της. 2. Αυξήση, κατά ποσοστόν 5%, το μέσον όρον των μισθών και ημερομισθίων του προσωπικού της. Και, 3. Προβή εις μείωσιν της τιμής των προϊόντων της κατά 5%, εν συγκρίσει προς τας τιμάς πωλήσεως των ιδίων προϊόντων της, κατά τον χρόνον της χορηγήσεως του δανείου» (ibid., pp. 197-198).

We can clearly see here the intentions of the Greek Productivity Center: its loan to the company, which is part of a project to increase the productivity of local Greek companies in general, obliges the entrepreneur to fulfill certain specific obligations: (i) it must increase the number of both its White Collar and Blue Collar employees – such increase would be proportionate to the increase of the company’s turnover; (ii) it must raise wages and salaries by 5%; (iii) it must reduce the price of its product by 5% for the duration of the loan-period.

What were the results of such an intervention on the part of the Greek Productivity Center? By 1957, the company in question – which we consider here as a mere sample – would be able to raise its productivity and sales to levels that would be representative of at least segments of endogenous non-monopoly capital in the course of the 1960’s and early 1970’s (we shall definitely have to come back to this, verifying the observation). The article provides us with data indicating such increase in productivity and sales with respect to the Δ. Φουρναράκη firm – it compares data for 1955 vis-à-vis 1957:

«Ούτω το εργοστάσιον, κατά το 1957, παρήγαγεν εν συνόλο 280.000 κιβώτια, έναντι 110.000, αποδόσεως του 1955. Αντιστοίχως, το ύψος πωλήσεων της επιχειρήσεως έφθασεν εις 1.100.000 δραχμών κατά το 1957, έναντι 490.000 κατά το 1955» (ibid., p. 198).

The data show us that, within a period of two years, the Δ. Φουρναράκη company had been able to produce an extra amount of 170.000 containers; its sales had come to an extra 610.000 drachmas.

Data relating to the number of people employed also show a definite increase. But such figures are of special interest from another angle: they give us an idea of the type of local company that the Greek Productivity Center would be focusing on – viz. the classically very small Greek local capital. As the extract below tells us, the Δ. Φουρναράκη company would be able to increase its number of employees from a workforce amounting to 8 people in 1955 to a workforce amounting to 12 in 1957:

«Παραλλήλως, το προσωπικόν του εργοστασίου, εξ οκτώ ατόμων κατά το 1955, ηυξήθη εις 12 κατά το 1957» (ibid., p. 198).

Now, it was not merely via the loans of the Greek Productivity Center that Greek local capital would be bolstered. In 1950, the Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) – a structure set up by the Marshall Plan aimed at the economic recovery of about 17 European countries – would announce that Greek-inspired clothes fashion was being promoted in the USA itself. In the long run, such initiatives were taken with the aim of promoting Greek exports related to the clothing industry. Here, we may consider what yet another periodical – Ανασυγκρότησις (transl. Reconstruction) – had to say with respect to the promotion of Greek clothes fashion in the American market. In 1950, this periodical – which was itself closely linked to the project promoting Greek-American economic cooperation – would publish an article entitled as follows:

«ΜΙΑ ΕΠΙΤΥΧΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΠΑΘΕΙΑ – Η ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΜΟΔΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΑΣ ΗΝΩΜΕΝΑΣ ΠΟΛΙΤΕΙΑΣ – ΕΝΘΟΥΣΙΩΔΗ ΑΡΘΑ ΤΩΝ ΜΕΓΑΛΥΤΕΡΩΝ ΑΜΕΡΙΚΑΝΙΚΩΝ ΕΦΗΜΕΡΙΔΩΝ» (cf. Ανασυγκρότησις, March 1950, issue no. 25, Athens, p. 4).

It would be the Economic Cooperation Administration/Greece (ECA/G) which would first announce that Greek-style fashion was being promoted within the US market, and that such promotion was happening through the pages of some of the most popular American magazines and newspapers. The Ανασυγκρότησις article begins by noting:

«Ανακοινούται από μέρους της εν Ελλάδι Οργανώσεως Οικονομικής Συνεργασίας ότι διαφημίζεται ήδη εις τας Ηνωμένας Πολιτείας Αμερικανική μόδα επηρεασμένη εκ της Ελληνικής» (ibid.).

We note that, at this stage, it was not necessarily Greek products as such that were being introduced to the US market. Initially, at least, it would be the idea of Greek fashion design that would be promoted by the American press. Of course, the importation of Greek products was to ensue as well, as we shall further note below. The article goes on to present us with a list of the various US publications that would undertake the promotion of such idea – we read:

«Τα περιοδικά μόδας ‘Γκλαίημορ’, ‘Βόγκ’ και ‘Μπαζάρ’, εις τας εκδόσεις των του μηνός Ιανουαρίου [1950], αφιέρωσαν ολοκλήρους σελίδας εις τα ελληνικά σχέδια, ως επίσης και τα περιοδικά ‘Μαντεμουαζέλ’ και ‘Γκούντ Χάουσκη-πιγκ’ [sic] τα οπόια έχουν κυκλοφορίαν εκατομμυρίων αντιτύπων. Έγκυροι εφημερίδες, όπως το ‘Χέραλντ-Τριμπιούν’, ‘Ουάσιγκτων Στάρ’ και ‘Ουάσιγκτων Πόστ’, αφιέρωσαν ολοκλήρους στήλας με φωτογραφίας και το ιστορικόν του νέου ελληνικού φορέματος» (ibid.).

As we see from the above quote, new ideas of Greek fashion design would be widely promoted in the USA by two types of publications: Firstly, such ideas would be promoted by popular women’s magazines focusing on the latest new fashion trends and lifestyle of the 1950’s. As is well known, and as the extract itself points out, such publications would reach millions of readers. Publications referred to would include Glamour, Vogue, Bazaar (or Harper’s Bazaar), Mademoiselle and Good Housekeeping. Secondly, new ideas of Greek clothing design would also be promoted by influential or authoritative newspapers of record – the extract mentions papers such as The Herald Tribune, The Washington Star and The Washington Post.

Judging by the sources available to us, it seems that there were quite a number of people and organizations that were behind such types of initiatives. We know that one such personage was Muriel King, of the Economic Cooperation Administration, and who was a textiles design and fashion specialist. King was to introduce Greek fashion design to an American industrialist by the name of William Lord. The periodical Ανασυγκρότησις reports:

«Η κ. Κίγκ, η οποία ενδιαφέρεται ζωηρώς δια την ανάπτυξιν σχεδίων της Ελληνικής υφαντουργίας και βιομηχανίας, παρουσίασε εις τον κ. Λόρντ δείγματα χειροποιήτων βαμβακερών υφασμάτων. Ο κ. Λόρντ τα εξετίμησε τόσον ώστε να γίνη ο ίδιος εισαγωγεύς ελληνικών προϊόντων…» (ibid.).

We observe here that, at least by 1950, American industrialists who were in some way or other related to the Economic Cooperation Administration (or to the American Mission) would themselves undertake to import Greek products for the USA market.

Muriel King, who was in this case functioning as go-between, would note the prospects that lay ahead for Greek clothes manufacturers and fashion designers – we quote her words:

«Το μεγάλο ενδιαφέρον το οποίον επιδεικνύουν τα αμερικανικά καταστήματα και αι γυναίκες δια τας εξ Ελλάδος εμπνεύσεις… δείχνει πόσον μεγάλες είναι οι δυνατότητες επί του πεδίου τούτου δια τους Έλληνας βιομηχάνους και σχεδιαστάς» (ibid., my emph.).

Based on the keen interest that was being demonstrated by American clothes outlets and consumers at the time, King could foresee the potential expansion of the US market for Greek local clothes manufacturers and designers.

We have already seen that small units of production – such as that of the Φουρναράκη firm – would be riding the wave of an increasingly export-oriented economy by manufacturing containers suited for the freighting of fruit products. We have seen how that company would be supported by a loan for such a purpose.

Further, we have seen how the products of the Greek clothes industry would be promoted within the USA with a view to boosting the exportation of new Greek-style fashion trends.

Generally speaking, one may say that by the 1950’s, the Greek economy was definitely set on orientating itself towards export activities (the overall picture regarding Greek exports in the period under discussion will be considered in some detail further below, especially in the context of the 1960’s industrial development).

What is perhaps most symptomatic of such new orientation is the manufacture of the Greek refrigerated shipping container, and which would be a development that would be promoted by the periodical Παραγωγικότης (op. cit.) of the Greek Productivity Center.

An article published in a 1956 issue of this periodical announces that a certain Greek manufacturer – by the name of Κορχανίδης (transl. Korhanides) – had successfully produced just such a shipping container, and which was already in use.

The article goes on to describe in some technical detail the design and functioning of this “automatic container system” – part of the text reads as follows:

«Αυτόματον container συστήματος Κορχανίδη (οπισθία όψις [a picture of the container is published]). Το ψυκτικόν μηχάνημα αυτού, ως φαίνεται εις την εικόνα, εφαρμόζεται έξωθεν… και δύναται να αντικατασταθή αμέσως. Ως γνωστόν, η βιομηχανική εφαρμογή της ψύξεως, εις την συντήρησιν φθαρτών προϊόντων, επέφερεν αληθή επανάστασιν, εις την παγκόσμιον οικονομίαν. Τα containers επολιτογραφήθησαν ήδη, ως μέσα μεταφοράς και ουχί ως μέσα συσκευασίας. Τα αυτόματα τοιαύτα, συστήματος Κορχανίδη, βάσει των νεωτέρων δεδομένων της τεχνικής ψύξεως, αποτελούν εν σύνολον, συγκείμενον από δύο στοιχεία, εντελώς διακεκριμένα: Αφ’ ενός από το κυρίως container, το οποίον είναι χώρος θερμικώς μεμονωμένος και αφ’ ετέρου από ψυκτικόν μηχάνημα, το οποίον εφαρμόζεται επ’ αυτού ως εις την ανωτέρω εικόνα… Αυτονόητος εξ’ άλλου είναι η από εμπορικής απόψεως σημασία του container και δη εις την χώραν μας, η οποία πραγματοποιεί μεγάλας εξαγωγάς νωπών καρπών και εις την οποίαν η αύξησι της δενδροκηπευτικής παραγωγής σημειώνει, κατ’ έτος, αλματώδη άνοδον. Τα containers Κορχανίδη διαγράφουν ήδη νέας αισιοδόξους προοπτικάς δια τας Ελληνικάς εξαγωγάς» (cf. Παραγωγικότης, April-May 1956, issue no. 12, Athens, p. 34).

The article places the Korhanides container in the context of international developments with respect to freighting and containerizing, and especially as regards the development of the refrigerated/insulated container. Further, and as in the case of the article discussing the Φουρναράκη firm, this text also goes on to point to the escalating increase in Greek horticultural production and the concomitantly increasing exportation of fresh fruits. The Korhanides “automatic container system” is said to be already playing an important role in such export activities, with future prospects being especially optimistic («διαγράφουν ήδη νέας αισιοδόξους προοπτικάς δια τας Ελληνικάς εξαγωγάς»).

We may conclude this sub-section focussing on the development of Greek local industry in the immediate post-war period by making the following observation: Both in the food and in the clothing industry (at least), the Greek economy was moving towards the expansion and relative stabilization of export activities. The Greek-manufactured shipping container was, perhaps, one of the most symbolic of industrial developments of the period.

The post 1. – THE CULTURAL CONTENT OF GREEK ADVERTIZING DISCOURSE: CONTEXT – THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL INDUSTRY, 1950’s appeared first on Greek Social & Literary Review - Ελληνική Κοινωνική & Λογοτεχνική Επιθεώρηση.

The tensions and contradictions within advertizing discourse directed especially to women (and most often with respect to issues of “eros”) would not always be resolved. In fact, there were categories of advertizing that would further “provoke” such tensions and contradictions. Alternatively, one could argue that there were categories of advertisements which “intervened” to create an ideological smokescreen whereby the “lifeworld” and the “everydayness” of the “Amalia-type” would be seriously distorted.

“Sexist” discourse would be a major feature of such specifically “provocative-interventionist” type of advertizing discourse. “Sexism” would be reproduced by such type of discourse precisely because this was both “provocative” and “interventionist” in its promotional techniques. But the issue of “sexism” in advertizing discourse is much more complex than it has been made out to be, especially by “Marxist” commentators at the time. We may very briefly point here to a couple of caveats that need to be kept in mind. To begin with, one could be both critical of “sexism” from a retrospective perspective and at the same time try to understand the “sexist” semantics of an ideological conjuncture by examining the “conjunctural normality” of such semantics within that conjuncture. It may be argued, in other words, that “sexism” could be seen as being accurately expressive of the value-systems of categories of a population, and which could include both males and females. This approach would mean that the reality of whatever value-system stands to be recorded by historians and explained by sociologists as an objective phenomenon in itself. Further, and depending on the empirical evidence at hand, one may go on to show that various traces of “sexism” in advertizing discourse (and/or traces of “sexism” in people’s attitude and behaviour) would gradually fade or be co-opted by a new female self-identity that would emerge by the 1980’s. The overall implication of such observations is rather obvious: even the “provocative-interventionist” type of advertizing discourse would at times be merely “adjusting” to the whims, tastes or whatever “perversions” of civil society.

We may here consider a text, entitled “Women in advertisements and body image”, and which refers to “sexist” advertizing discourse of the 1950’s in the USA – part of it reads as follows:

“Sexism towards women in advertising has
always been an issue in the history of American
society. Women have always been expected
to fill specific gender roles as the cleaning,
cooking, or child-bearing sex machine… During
the 1950’s… sexism against women was something
that was normal and expected by both men and
women. Regardless of how insulting or chauvinistic
ads were toward women, people were socialized
to tolerate and accept the female house-wife
stereotype”
(cf. womeninads.weebly.com/history.html).

There is no need for us to critically assess the implications of this rather superficial text – all it does is to simply record the fact of “sexism” in US advertizing, as also that such “sexism” was “normal” and “expected” in the 1950’s. It further presents us with some idea as to the content of such “sexism” – viz. the specifically delineated “gender roles”, the idea of women as “sex machines”, and the “provocative” nature of the discourse (“insulting”). Interestingly, the text also goes on to provide us with some characteristic samples of such “sexist” advertisements in the 1950’s. We may quote the following two cases:

In the first sample, the husband tells his wife:

“Don’t worry darling, you didn’t burn
the beer!”

The second sample reads as follows:

“Christmas morning: she’ll be happier
with a Hoover!”
(ibid.).

Thus, apart from presenting a female “body image” that related to that of a “sex machine”, such discourse would also map out the various “roles” that would be expected of a female to enact. The philosophy of such type of advertizing discourse – which was but one dimension of advertizing discourse as-a-whole, and which may be seen as expressive of a certain “conjunctural normality” – is of course also apparent in numerous cases of Greek advertizing. We do not intend discussing this type of advertizing discourse here – instead, we shall simply present cases of Greek “intellectuals” who clearly expressed traces of “sexism” and which must have been expressive of the specifically Greek “normality” both in the pre- and post-war years.

Rudiments of “sexism” are evident in the work of Petros Haris with respect to the 1930’s-1940’s period. In his collection of short stories entitled Δρόμος 100 μέτρων (Εκδόσεις Γαλαξία), published in 1962 but written in the interwar period, we come across passages which express at least some tinge of “sexism”.

Consider the following sample:

«… μια και μόνη ασχολία μπορεί να ‘χει
κάθε βραδάκι…: να θαυμάζει με πόσο
λίγους δισταγμούς βγαίνουν από δυο
σειρές κάτασπρα και καλοσχεδιασμένα
γυναικεία δόντια οι πιο γνήσιες ανοησίες…»
(ibid., p. 24).

Here, the writer wishes to create a contrast between, on the one hand, a female’s perfect set of teeth and, on the other, the idiocies that so unfalteringly and as naturally emanate from that set of teeth.

Yet another sample taken from this collection of short stories perhaps more clearly approximates the idea of a female as a “sex machine” – we read:

«Σας το ξαναλέω: δεν αγαπώ, αλλά παίζω,
κάνω τη ζωή μου πιο ευχάριστη και της
εξασφαλίζω το πιο πολύτιμο αγαθό: την
ατελείωτη, τη θαυμαστή, την ασύλληπτη
ποικιλία που προσφέρει η γυναίκα από τα
δεκαπέντε της χρόνια ως τα σαρανταπέντε
κι ακόμα πιο πέρα, όταν είναι όμορφη, όταν
είναι κοκέτα,… προπάντων όταν μένει στο
φύλο της»
(ibid., p. 26).

But it is the Karagatsis novel (Ο κίτρινος φάκελλος, op. cit.) that provides us with one of the most representative samples of Greek male-female relations coloured by a strong tinge of “sexism”. The rather longish extract we shall quote is of special interest because it portrays the relationship between a “Clerk-typist/stenographer” of the 1950’s and her employer. The latter seduces the young lady while both are supposedly working, but the young lady is rather thirsty for such a seduction – the passage, which allows us to take a peep at what is happening in an office in the 1950’s – reads as follows:

«Μόλις ο βοηθός έφυγε, ο Μάνος φώναξε
τη στενοδαχτυλογράφο:
̶  Δεσποινίς Σόνια, ελάτε να σας υπαγορεύσω
κάτι γράμματα.
Η δεσποινίς Σόνια κάθησε σε μια καρέκλα,
απέναντι απ’ το γραφείο του, σταύρωσε τις
θαυμάσιες γάμπες της, απόθεσε το μπλοκ
στα σμιλευτά της γόνατα, στριφογύρισε το
στυλό επιχαρίτως στα κοντυλένια δαχτυλάκια
της, τον κοίταξε με ματιά γαλανή κι αθώα, κι
είπε μέσα σε γλυκύτατο αναστεναγμό:
̶  Έτοιμη…
Καθώς ο Μάνος της υπαγόρευε, την εξέταζε
συγχρόνως, με μάτι έμπειρο και κάπως στοχαστικό.
Ήταν νιόφερτη στο γραφείο κι ήταν όμορφη.
Είχε εκείνο το επίπλαστο ύφος βρεφικής
αθωότητας, που συνήθως το υιοθετούν οι
πιο παμπόνηρες παλιοβρώμες. Από την πρώτη
κιόλας μέρα άφησε να εννοηθή, πολύ περίτεχνα,
ότι ο αφεντικός της έκανε μεγάλη εντύπωση.
Τον κοιτούσε με μάτια απλανή, συνεπαρμένα…
του αποκρίνονταν με μονολεχτικούς αναστεναγμούς…
και δεν έχανε ευκαιρία να του επιδείξη τις
καλοφτιαγμένες γάμπες της. Η πεποίθηση του
Μάνου σχηματίστηκε, καθώς κι η απόφασή του να
της βάλη χέρι. Έκρινε όμως σκόπιμο να προσποιηθή
για κάμποσο καιρό τον αδιάφορο, προκαλώντας
έτσι το πείσμα του ανόητου θηλυκού. Όσο για το
σύνδεσμό του με την Νίνα, δεν τον θεωρούσε
εμπόδιο οποιασδήποτε παράλληλης γενετήσιας
περιπέτειας. “Επειδή μια γυναίκα μου αρέσει
περισσότερο απ’ τις άλλες, συνήθιζε να λέη, δεν
σημαίνει πως δεν θα χαϊδεύω και τις άλλες.”… Καθώς
λοιπόν υπαγόρευε τα γράμματα, χάιδευε οπτικώς
τις γάμπες της Σόνιας, εξέταζε τις αρμονικές καμπύλες
των μηρών, επέμενε στον ελαφρό κυματισμό της
κοιλιάς, διεπίστωσε πως η προκλητική προεξοχή του
τζάμπερ γινόταν χωρίς τη βοήθεια σουτιέν, θαύμασε
τη δροσερή σάρκα των μπράτσων… κι όταν επείσθη
πως η τούφα της μασχάλης ήταν πυρόξανθη, κατάλαβε
πως το πράμα δεν έπαιρνε αναβολή… Σηκώθηκε και
συνέχισε την υπαγόρευση βολτάροντας, σε τρόπο που
κάθε τόσο να περνάη δίπλα της και να ρίχνη ματιές
ελέγχου στα γραφόμενά της, αδιάφορο αν δεν είχε ιδέα
από στενογραφία. Κατόπι, πολύ θαρρετά, κάθησε δίπλα
της, στο πλαϊνό στήριγμα της πολυθρόνας, και συνέχισε
από κει την υπαγόρευση. Η Σόνια ταράχτηκε ευχάριστα
και του ‘ριξε ματιά γεμάτη τρυφερές υποσχέσεις. Για
ν’ αποσαφηνίση την κατάσταση, ο Μάνος ακούμπησε το
χέρι του στον ώμο της, και άρχισε να της χαϊδεύη την άκρη
του αυτιού. Καμιά αντίρρηση. Απεναντίας, η κοπέλα
έγειρε το κορμί της αριστερά και το ακούμπησε, τρυφερά
και θετικά, στο μηρό του Μάνου… Εν τάξει, είπε μέσα του.
Πού να της βάλω χέρι; Εδώ; Ή να την πάω σπίτι μου;…»
(op. cit., pp. 148-149).

Finally, it is the social commentary of Theofilaktos Papakonstandinou (cf. his Προβλήματα της εποχής μας, op. cit.) that best captures the de facto “sexism” which characterized Greek civil society of the 1950’s and 1960’s. While he points to the objective “normality” of “sexist” attitudes during this period, he is highly critical of such a reality (and is so despite his so-called “conservative” leanings). Nonetheless, it would be such de facto “sexism”, rooted in the socio-cultural practices of Greek society, which certain elements of “provocative” advertizing discourse would be latching onto. This is what Papakonstandinou has to say (he was writing in 1960):

«Δεν περνά σχεδόν ημέρα χωρίς ν’ αναγγελθή
η σφαγή μιας τουλάχιστον γυναικός εις την
χώραν μας. Δεν περνά ημέρα χωρίς ν’ ανακαλυφθή
μία προαγωγή εις πορνείαν κάποιας φτωχής
κοπέλλας. Δεν περνά ημέρα χωρίς αναρίθμητες
χυδαιότητες εις βάρος του γυναικείου φύλου.
Η γυναίκα εις την Ελλάδα απέκτησε θεωρητικώς
όλα τα δικαιώματα. Ψηφίζει, ψηφίζεται, ημπορεί
ν’ ασκήση όλα σχεδόν τα επαγγέλματα. Το δικαίωμα
όμως να ζή σαν άνθρωπος και να τυγχάνη σεβασμού
σαν αυτόνομη προσωπικότης δεν το κατέκτησε
ακόμη… Η ελληνική κοινωνία εξακολουθεί να διατηρή
έντονα τα χαρακτηριστικά μιας ασφυκτικώς
ανδροκρατικής κοινωνίας. Η ισότης των δύο φύλων
είναι εντελώς επιφανειακή δια το μεγαλύτερον μέρος
του πληθυσμού της χώρας. Είναι αφάνταστα υψηλός
ο αριθμός των ανδρών που εις το βάθος της ψυχής
των επιμένουν να θεωρούν την γυναίκα κατώτερον
όν, περίπου “πράγμα”, ενώ δεν είναι ούτε κατώτερον
ούτε ανώτερον, αλλά διάφορον. Και αυτό αποτελεί
πραγματικόν όνειδος δια τον τόπον μας»
(op. cit., p. 35).

***

Now, it may be argued that by the decade of the 1980’s an altogether new female identity had been established which, having acquired a new relationship to “sexuality” as such, would come to override most of the ethically-based – as also politically-based – objections to “sexism”. This is not to suggest that Greek male chauvinism had completely faded away. But what had definitely faded away was the manner in which both males and females would come to see the female body. Literally speaking, the change that had ensued may be put in a few simple words: henceforth, all and sundry could now openly/publicly see the female body in all of its physical dimensions bar its private parts. This was to become a new “normality” and a new sensual aesthetics that no longer bothered itself with the old objections to the supposedly “sexist”-instigated idea of the “sex machine”. In fact, the latter would be co-opted and adjusted to the new “normalities” of a new cultural conjuncture. Both the conjuncture and the new post-“sexist” ethics had not sprung out of the blue. The idea and practice of “nudity” was already being discussed in the decade of the 1960’s – it being that period of time which would mother (from a “distance”, as it were) the ethical standards and aesthetic tastes of the rest of the 20th century.

By way of an example, we may cite an article published in 1966 in the daily newspaper, Μεσημβρινή, which clearly dwells on the issue of “nudity” although we know that such practice was not, at the time, a socio-cultural practice amongst Greeks of whatever social standing. In some way, it could foresee that what was gradually appearing as a proclivity in the Western world would finally crystallize as a “movement” for “nudism”, and which could also manifest itself amongst segments of the Greek population. This front page article begins as follows:

«ΑΝΟΙΞΙΣ 1966…

Περισσότερη σημασία έχει το τι δεν φοράει
η γυναίκα από το τι φοράει…»
(cf. Μεσημβρινή, 29.1.1966, p. 1, my emph.).

And it goes on to refer to such proclivity towards female bareness as a “revolution” that was taking place in the world of fashion. It speaks of –

«… τις τελευταίες τάσεις της νέας –
επαναστατικής – μόδας…»
(ibid.).

This was a new phenomenon that was raising its head in Europe. Although it had yet to reach the socio-cultural practices of the Greek popular masses in the 1960’s, it was nonetheless manifesting itself via tourism. Given this latter reality, but also given that at least the average Greek had yet to adopt such foreign-based habits, it was the opportune time to try and evaluate this phenomenon as “objectively” as possible. Certain Greek “intellectuals” tried to do just that – their purpose, presumably, was to “educate” the Greek public as to the real (or “deeper”) nature of what it meant to bare one’s flesh in public. It was Papakonstandinou (Προβλήματα της εποχής μας, op. cit. pp. 101-104) that would attempt such an “objective” analysis of the matter. In an important article entitled «Γυμνισμός και γυμνισταί», written as early as 1959, Papakonstandinou makes, inter alia, the following observations:

1. Greece was bound to soon have its own “colony” of “nudists”, these being of German origin: «Ίσως κατά το προσεχές μέλλον ν’ αποκτήση η Ελλάς αποικίαν αυθεντικών γυμνιστών, αν γίνη δεκτή πρόσφατος αίτησις γερμανικών γυμνιστικών οργανώσεων…».
2. Such “nudists” could not simply be rejected as “decadent” – they belonged to an “ideological movement” dating back to the period following the Great War, and with roots in important centers of the Western world: «Ως “ιδεολογικόν” φυσιολατρικόν κίνημα μεταξύ των πολιτισμένων κοινωνιών, ο γυμνισμός αριθμεί βίον τεσσάρων δεκαετηρίδων περίπου… Ενεφανίσθη αμέσως μετά τον πρώτον παγκόσμιον πόλεμον και έλαβε σημαντικήν εξάπλωσιν κυρίως εις Μ. Βρεταννίαν, Ην. Πολιτείας και Γερμανίαν».
3. Although the “nudist movement” cannot be rejected out of hand, it nonetheless raises two questions that trouble public opinion – viz. whether it is “ethical”; and whether it leads to promiscuous sexual behaviour: «Δύο είναι τα βασικά ερωτήματα που γεννά εις την κοινήν γνώμην το γυμνιστικόν κίνημα: Είναι η γυμνότης, αυτή καθ’ εαυτήν, ανήθικος; Και αν δεν είναι, μήπως η συμμετοχή εις μίαν γυμνιστικήν ομάδα προκαλεί περισσότερους ερεθισμούς ή παρέχει αφθονωτέρας ευκαιρίας σεξουαλικής πολυμειξίας;…».
4. Rather surprisingly, Papakonstandinou’s response to such questions is not “dogmatically” conservative – his approach is subtle: «Το πιθανώτερον, πάντως, είναι ότι μεταξύ των μελών μιας γυμνιστικής οργανώσεως λειτουργούν μεικτά ελατήρια. Μερικά πιστεύουν εντίμως ότι η πρακτική των φονεύει την νοσηράν σεξουαλικήν περιέργειαν… Ασφαλώς όμως θα υπάρχουν και μέλη των γυμνιστικών αποικιών, τα οποία κατέχονται από συνειδητοποιημένας ή υποσυνειδήτους τάσεις “επιδεικτισμού”, “ερωτοσκοπισμού”, κλπ.».
5. His openness to the issue of “nudism” allows him to identify three different forms of thinking amongst those who practice it, and he tries to deal with each in turn. He writes: «Αι αντιλήψεις και η συμπεριφορά των γυμνιστών αποκαλύπτουν τρεις μορφάς σκέψεως. Η πρώτη, η φυσική, είναι η πλέον κατανοητή. Ποίος ημπορεί ν’ αμφισβητήση, κατ’ αρχήν, την ωφέλειαν της εκθέσεως ολοκλήρου του σώματος εις το φώς και τον ήλιον…;» But Papakonstandinou critically responds to such logical “common sense” by offering his readers even more “common sense” – as he puts it: «Είναι δύσκολον όμως να πεισθή οιοσδήποτε λογικός άνθρωπος ότι όσα πλεονεκτήματα προσφέρει η φύσις εξαφανίζονται, ως διά μαγείας, αν συμβή να μείνη κεκαλυμμένον το τμήμα εκείνο του σώματος, όπου ευρίσκονται τα όργανα του φύλου…».
6. The second form of thinking, as Papakonstandinou sees it, reveals that “nudist” practices are in fact a response to psychologically repressive attitudes on the part of religious puritans that tend to “suffocate” their victims. He explains: «Δευτέρα πλευρά είναι η ψυχολογική. Πολλοί άνθρωποι αισθάνονται την ανάγκην ν’ αντιδράσουν εις την ασφυκτικήν θρησκευτικήν διδασκαλίαν, κατά την οποίαν η έκθεσις του σώματος, εκ μέρους των παιδιών ακόμη, και δι’ ένα κολύμβημα αποτελεί αμάρτημα έναντι του Θεού, καθώς και εις την νοοτροπίαν ωρισμένων γονέων που υποχρεώνουν, ιδία τα κορίτσια των, να ενδύωνται βαρειά και άγαρμπα. Αναφέρονται όχι ολίγαι περιπτώσεις αγοριών και κοριτσιών, που έζησαν υπό παρομοίας ψυχολογικάς καταπιέσεις και που, όταν τους δίδεται η ευκαιρία, επιδίδονται εις λαθραίας ομαδικάς απογυμνώσεις». In this case, then, “nudist” practices are a mere form of reaction to unwholesome practices on the part of, and especially so, puritan parents. “Nudism” as such is here denied whatever value in itself.
7. As in the case of the second form of thinking, so also in the third, the practice of “nudism” can be logically explained in terms of specific conditions that give birth to it. While in the second case it was the religiously-inspired repression that provoked “nudism”, in the third case it was what was happening in the workplace that caused people to resort to such practice. Papakonstandinou explains: «Υπάρχει, τέλος, και η “κοινωνική” πλευρά, δηλαδή αι παρούσαι συνθήκαι διαβιώσεως και εργασίας ωρισμένων εκ των θιασωτών του γυμνισμού, δια τους οποίους η επιθυμία της απογυμνώσεως είναι απολύτως λογική. Αυτό ισχύει δι’ όλους εκείνους που ασκούν εργασίας καταθλιπτικάς, εις χώρους κλειστούς και περιωρισμένους, μακράν από το φώς της ημέρας…».
8. Papakonstandinou’s analysis of the phenomenon of “nudism” ends by pointing to a generalized “unethicality” apparent in society, implying that “nudism” in itself was neither absolutely offensive – it being explainable – nor the one and only symptom of unethical behaviour in society at large. This is how, inter alia, he puts it: «Από την άποψιν… του υλικού που προσελκύεται υπό της γυμνιστικής “ιδεολογίας”, πρέπει να θεωρήται βέβαιον ότι μεταξύ αυτών υπάρχουν ασφαλώς άνθρωποι ηθικώτεροι από πολλούς μη γυμνιστάς, αλλά και πολλοί τύποι με καθόλου αγίας προθέσεις».

Although Papakonstandinou was writing even before the advent of the 1960’s, it is quite obvious that his own “ethicalist essentialism” was not in any way being rocked by the “nudist ideology” that he could see raising its head in Greece, if only amongst foreign tourists. He feels confident enough in his attempt to contain the problem, simply by explaining it away. And he tries to do this by placing the phenomenon of “nudism” in its historical and logically explainable dimensions – he is willing to examine the practice as “objectively” as possible, and thus tries to explain its pros and cons. But what Papakonstandinou really wishes to do is place “nudism” within the limited confines of a very specific “ideological movement” triggered by as specific conditions. Were such conditions to be avoided, this “movement” would not even have to at all exist. Such an approach to the phenomenon of “nudism” would be perfectly understandable in the 1950’s and 1960’s in Greece.

What Papakonstandinou could not have possibly imagined at the time was that, at least by the late 1970’s and especially the 1980’s, certain cultural elements of that “ideological” grouping called “nudists” would ultimately come to be adopted by the popular masses as a whole. Exposing sensitive and sexually provocative parts of one’s body, especially on the part of females, would become an everyday phenomenon. This new “ethics” celebrating the feminine leg, breast, back, etc., would of course be fully reflected in the new advertizing discourse.

By mid 1979, the periodical Επίκαιρα would publish a 2-page article indirectly promoting certain fashion houses. The article would be accompanied by a number of full-colour pictures depicting young ladies sporting the latest in fashion. In the clearly discernable background, on can see bathers stretched out on the beach, both male and female. The pictures show images such as the following:

● a young lady is busy taking off her bikini bottom – she is
in fact completely naked and is exhibiting her sensuous
buttocks;
● slim, sensuous females are baring their copper-coloured
breasts to the sun – the nipples are clearly discernable; all
are wearing extremely skimpy bottoms; one couple is in a
love-making position;
● a woman is exhibiting her sexually provocative legs – she
is standing over a protruding wooden pole which seems to
disappear under her mini-skirt and into the area of her
vagina.

The text accompanying these rather provocative pictures – completely unimaginable in the 1950’s and 1960’s – is entitled «Η μόδα της πολυτέλειας στις ακτές», and part of it reads as follows:

«Με φόντο τη γαλάζια θάλασσα εξαίσια γυναικεία
κορμιά με μονοκίνι… Από τη μια πλευρά οι γυναίκες
που διάλεξαν την απόλυτη ελευθερία στο ντύσιμο
και από την άλλη “η κυρία” που χρησιμοποιεί το ρούχο,
για να δηλώσει τη δική της διαφορετική υπόσταση… Οι
μοιραίες γυναίκες του Σαίν Λωράν και του Κάρλ
Λάγκερφελντ εκφράζουν τις τελευταίες επιταγές των
δικτατόρων της μόδας. Η πραγματικότητα όμως φαίνεται
να είναι περισσότερο “γυμνή” και ελεύθερη, μοιάζουν
ν’ αντιλέγουν τα γυμνά κορίτσια του ήλιου. Κι
υπογραμμίζουν ότι παρά τη νοσταλγία της αναδρομής
και της πολυτέλειας, έχουν αλλάξει τελικά οι κοινωνικές
δομές και δεν υπάρχει περίπτωση να γίνει στροφή προς
τα πίσω γιατί έτσι αποφάσισαν οι μεγάλοι μόδιστροι.
Τελικά, ακόμη και η Μάρλεν Ντήτριχ και η Γκρέτα
Γκάρμπο σήμερα δεν θα ήθελαν να πάρουν μέρος στο
παιχνίδι αυτό της αναδρομής. Ίσως κι αυτές οι αυθεντικές
βαμπ να ήθελαν να ντυθούν απλά και μόνο σαν
γυναίκες»
(cf. Επίκαιρα, Αρ. Τεύχ. 565, 31.5.1979, pp. 108-109).

The purpose of this highly revealing text is twofold – on the one hand, it certainly wishes to promote major fashion houses such as that of Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld. One may say that it does this by simply naming these fashion houses and by introducing their latest styles. The styles presented here hearken back to a past fashion reminiscent of the grand “vamps” – viz. the so-called “femme fatale” character, it being the female who, while not necessarily attractive, is characterized by a certain allure or sexy glamour. The periodical presents us with pictures of just such style, and which were presumably addressed to women aspiring to present themselves as “vamp”-type “Ladies”. It goes without saying that this aspect of fashion taste would not have appealed to the “Amalia-type” and would not even have been representative of the new proclivity for “nudity”. The periodical is fully aware of that and its text points to a clear conflict between the styles of these fashion houses and the new tastes of the Greek youthful popular masses – commenting on the pictures it publishes, the text further explains: «… σε πρώτο πλάνο η βαμπ του Υβ Σαίν Λωράν ντυμένη στα μαύρα. Η αντίθεση είναι πολύ μεγάλη» (i.e. while the “vamp” style is in the foreground of the pictures, there is a stark contrast between such style and that of the wishes of youth, as is evident in what is portrayed in the background of these pictures).

This text fully encapsulates what was to constitute the new 1980’s “cultural world order” proclaiming “nudity” in its various manifestations both in the sphere of “free time” and in the world of work, and especially so amongst young “White Collar” females – and this, both in the private and the public sectors. According to the text, the Greek female “girl” («τα γυμνά κορίτσια του ήλιου» = the naked girls of the sun) has come to assert its opposition to the dictates of the dominant fashion houses. While fashion houses wish to impose or even dictate the image of the “vamp”-like “Lady” («επιταγές των δικτατόρων της μόδας»), young people would ignore such dictatorial assertiveness. Rather, they would opt for their freedom and their nudity («γυμνή» = nude; «ελεύθερη» = free). Such rejection of fashion houses on the part of youth («ν’ αντιλέγουν» = to object or be opposed to) is presented as symptomatic of the new social structures («έχουν αλλάξει τελικά οι κοινωνικές δομές» = there has, finally, been a change in social structures). In an important sense, “nudity” and “freedom” would themselves come to dominate as a cultural practice, and would do so given the initiative and resistance of grassroots taste as facilitated by the new social structures (as the text itself puts it). The new cultural practices of Greek youth would instate a relative “nudity” as a value, both in its aesthetic and in ethical dimensions – it would be just such dominant value that would forge a mien bridging “free time” and work time activities.

Naturally, all this does not mean to say that each and every Greek female in each and every job would go about baring her flesh with the advent of the 1980’s. As elsewhere in the Western world, the particular workplace – and also depending on its object of work – would delineate the dress code appropriate to its circumstances. We know that such code could vary from anything relating to the “office smart” dress code, to the “casual”, to the “traditional” (in the sense of residual-conservative), and so on. Yet still, and within such given confines, baring one’s flesh was becoming a “norm” devoid of any feelings of shame or guilt (the concrete individual would also, and in the last instance, be allowed the freedom of choice to determine his/her public image). Perhaps it would be interesting to note here that the pictures portraying the “vamp” style – as published in the 1979 Επίκαιρα periodical mentioned above – would themselves not be devoid of elements of rather provocative “nudity”. Images of “Ladies” dressed in “vamp”-style black dresses clearly reveal the female breast in a manner that outdoes whatever “nudism” as shown in the background of these pictures. That much is in itself symptomatic of the new age.

The concept of “nudity” as advertizing discourse – as also the built-in concept of an aesthetic sensuality – would, we are suggesting, become rampant by the decade of the 1980’s. We may here briefly consider just one giant billboard that towered over the heads of pedestrians in 1980 at Omonia Square. The billboard, depicting a semi-nude, lasciviously braless girl, read as follows:

«στον ήλιο…
“φορέστε”
Κόπερτον
Coppertone»
(cf. Γιώργος Ιωάννου, Ομόνοια 1980,
Κέδρος, 2η έκδοση, 1987, p. 71).

We note that the word «φορέστε» (suggesting to people what they should wear) has been placed in inverted commas. The implication is straightforward: one should not wear clothes as such to cover up one’s body – rather, young females should simply “wear” Coppertone, the well-known American sunscreen lotion. That would offer one’s body the skin tone of a highly sensuous “copper” look (or a darkish bronze skin tone). Thereby, of course, nudity and sensuality would be presented as the obvious aesthetic virtue.

Since, by now, aesthetic sensuality would be determined by what one would not wear, it would henceforth be skin pigment that would above all decide one’s degree of “sexiness” – and it would be the dark complexion that would approximate “ideal beauty”. That, at least, was what the “Coppertone” advertisement was attempting to communicate to the public. Its concept, however, was not something imposed on an unsuspecting public. In fact, the question of skin pigment amongst females across the Western world has a long and complex history all of its own, something which is well beyond the purposes of this project. We may nonetheless simply quote here a passage from the text referred to above (cf. “Women in advertisements and body image”, op. cit.), which gives us some idea of the gradual mutations in female aesthetics regarding complexion through the years. This is what the passage has to say on the matter:

“… in the early to mid-twentieth century, women
were considered beautiful if they had fair skin and
a full, curvy figure. Having tan skin simply meant
that you spent too much time outside, which was
further associated with the working class… As the
years passed by, women gradually became slimmer
and darker skinned”
(cf. op. cit.).

The period commencing with the 1980’s, we have argued, was to be characterized by a post-“sexist” ethics. Such new values would come to place an emphasis on what one does not wear («το τι δεν φοράει»), or on the idea that one should not hide one’s body beneath the cover of clothes: the flesh – its complexion as such – would be that which determined the new female image of “beauty”. We have suggested that this constituted a new ethics precisely because such “nudity” would come to be practiced – both in one’s “free time” and (relatively speaking) in one’s work time – in a manner that was absolutely devoid of shame or guilt. We have seen how, still in the 1960’s, Papakonstandinou had tried to contain the problem of “nudism” by placing that phenomenon in its historically explainable dimensions and had thus seen it as something limited to tourists. At the time, the popular masses would themselves view foreign “nudist colonies” as something alien to their own values and therefore as something “shameless”. By the 1980’s, “nudism” was no longer something exclusively practiced by tourists, and it was no longer a practice stigmatized by whatever ignominy. We had, in fact, a real re-evaluation of all values: it would be the female who bared her flesh to the world that would reflect a certain “aesthetic superiority” vis-à-vis whichever female simply had not managed to attain such so-called audacity. Often enough, it would be the female who lacked the “natural qualities” of recognizable “beauty” that would shy away from that so-called audacity. Further, the pressure to meet such aesthetic standards – a pressure mainly stemming from within the ranks of the female population itself – would be such as to “force” even the less “endowed” females to join that almost all-consuming race for “sexiness” (and would do so with often somewhat grotesque results).

It would be the “Amalia-type” as historical subject (and given the objective socio-cultural circumstances in which she had matured) that would veritably – though not fully consciously – “mother” such new ethical values. And yet such “mother” would not be able to well digest the new order of things that had arisen by the mid 1980’s. One wonders how that “Amalia-type” would have honestly reacted to an article published in a daily newspaper in 1986 and which read as follows:

«Υπεύθυνη γι’ αυτό το γυμνό στιγμιότυπο
είναι σίγουρα η ζέστη που μας έζωσε το
Σαββατοκύριακο. Όμως φαίνεται ότι οι δύο…
γυμνίστριες αλλοδαπές ή δικές μας δεν
έδειξαν να ενοχλούνται ιδιαίτερα από το
φακό…»
(cf. Ελεύθερος Τύπος, 11.8.1986, p. 12, my emph.).

This quote is part of a caption that accompanied a picture portraying females walking along the beach: their bare breasts and private parts are fully exposed. We note that the writer of the caption cannot tell whether these nudists are foreigners or “ours” («ή δικές μας»). We further note that the nude females are fully devoid of whatever feeling of shame («δεν έδειξαν να ενοχλούνται» = did not seem to be bothered by the camera).

***

The “Amalia-type”, as that generic type that had laid the foundations for a new ethics that would place an emphasis on both feminine sexuality and on a new work ethos, has been well-recorded by what has been dubbed as the “second generation” of Greek post-war poets (these were born in the 1930’s and early 1940’s – Amalia Eleftheriadou herself, we should remember, was born in 1948). One such “second generation” writer that perhaps best reflects the “lifeworld” of an “Amalia-type” is the poetess Kiki Dimoula. We shall close this section on the question of work vis-à-vis “eros” by making a number of rough observations regarding the work of Dimoula and what this could tell us about the “Amalia-type”:

1. Dimoula, born in 1931, would work as a “Clerk” from 1949 to 1973 (she would therefore be working as a “Clerk” for 25 years). Although seventeen years older than Amalia Eleftheriadou, Dimoula’s life span generally, as also her work span in particular, would more or less overlap with that of Amalia’s. Interestingly, both would commence their working lives more or less at the same age (round about the age of eighteen). Of course, there would nonetheless be a number of important differences as regards their respective work experience. Let us simply note here that Dimoula would work as a “Clerk” for The Bank of Greece, it being the central bank of the country. We therefore need to keep in mind that Dimoula, in contrast to Amalia Eleftheriadou, had been a “Clerk” in the more privileged public sector. Yet still, both Dimoula and Eleftheriadou belonged to that general category of “female Clerk” which, for the period under discussion, had fallen victim to what we have elsewhere described as the “sexual division of labour” (cf. our relative set of papers on this issue).
2. What Dimoula has to say with respect to her work as a “Clerk” (cf., inter alia, her interview in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOEWvuU) certainly verifies much of what we have been arguing in this section examining the relationship between “eros” and work.
3. Similarly, what Dimoula has to say with respect to “eros” again verifies much of what we have been arguing above. But apart from what she has been saying in the various interviews that she has given, her specific understanding of “eros” is also clearly evident in her poetry as such.
4. With respect to work, Dimoula has stated that, throughout her 25-year work experience as a “Clerk”, she had always been a “protesting” employee, and had been especially so when a young “Clerk”.
5. On the other hand, she has declared that her form of dissent was not so much caused by (or aimed at) her job or employer as such, as it was caused by the very fact of simply being young.
6. In fact, and fully reinforcing what we have been arguing all along, Dimoula has stated that her work as a “Clerk” had constituted the most “creative” period of her life.
7. She has further explained that such “creativity” in the course of her working life may also be put down to the fact of her youth at the time.
8. We may therefore imagine a young working Kiki Dimoula as someone who was both a dissenting female youth but also, and at the same time, as someone who lived her working life – and therefore her life generally – “creatively”. A careful reading of her poetry written in the 1950’s records much of what she has been saying in interviews given in later years – for instance, in 1958, she would confirm her then youthful dissent as follows: «Νεότερη… κατασκεύαζα κυρίως διαμαρτυρίες». At the same time, she would be celebrating herself as the “creative ego” – «εγώ, ο λυρικός μικρός πλανήτης» (cf. Kiki Dimoula, Ποιήματα, Ίκαρος, 2007, op. cit., pp. 49; 51).
9. We should note at this point the emphasis she places on the question of youth, and which further verifies the relative primacy of youthful age – and of the “creativity” of such age even in the sphere of work – as a socio-cultural element that was characteristic of the period.
10. But perhaps much more importantly, Dimoula places a central emphasis on the issue of “eros” and/or that of “love”. She has done this throughout her writings as also in her interviews. In fact, one may say that Dimoula has been a poetess whose work has tried to “analyze” the issue of “eros” and of “love” – and of the relationship pertaining between them – in a manner that reflected the existential contradictions of her milieu (in some sense, one could hold that Dimoula constitutes a poetess-“philosopher” critically examining the experience of “eros” and/or “love”). Such existential themes were, in any case, to concern much of the work of the “second generation” post-war poets to which Dimoula belonged. All this certainly verifies the manner in which we have tried to approach the socio-cultural milieu of the 1960’s-1970’s and the aftereffects of such period.
11. The work and thought of Dimoula has not only focused on youth and “eros”. It is as important to note that it has been the Greek female that has much concerned her, not to say fully consumed her. There is an important sense in which Dimoula actually wrote of and for the “Amalia-type”. It would be just such “type” – or at least the immediate offspring of such “type” – that would constitute the vast majority of Dimoula’s readers (there was, therefore, a reciprocity that defined the relationship between the poetess and the “Amalia-type” or the post-“Amalia-type” – this reciprocity was to take on such proportions as to yield Dimoula a near-cult following).

We have commenced this paper by pointing to the stark contrast that Bataille would draw between the world of work and the world of “eros”, “dream”, and so forth. Without wishing to enter into a discussion of the relationship between work and “eros” in the writings of Kiki Dimoula (the relationship can get rather complex and its analysis would constitute a thesis in itself for students of, inter alia, Greek literature), we may here simply present one particular poem which addresses itself to such issue. Written by Dimoula in the early 1960’s (cf. Ποιήματα, op. cit., pp. 105-106), the poem is aptly entitled «Εφτά εργάσιμες μελαγχολίες» (freely translated: “Seven work-hour melancholies”), and it attempts to delve into the relationship between the world of work and that of “eros” by merging an essentially “work discourse” with a discourse of “intoxication”, “dream”, “poeticization” and “love”. In a sense, this poem wishes to demonstrate just how a “Clerk”, while on the job and hour by hour, can engage in “dreams” (or in “dreams” suggesting “eros”). The point is that a “Clerk” can actually do that while she is at work. This poem, important at least from the point of view of sociology, reads as follows:

«Βάσει “των νόμων και περιορισμών”
του υπ’ αριθ. τάδε πεπρωμένου…

Οκτώ η ώρα το πρωί,
έγγραφα, αντίγραφα εις τριπλούν
και εις μάτιν.

Δέκα η ώρα το πρωί
ο ήλιος στο παράθυρο

“υπό τους όρους και λοιπά”,
τους καίει στην περιέργειά του
και στην απροσεξία του
… “κατ’ αύξοντ’ αριθμόν” οι τέφρες.

Ένδεκα η ώρα το πρωί,
ο ήλιος αλλάζει περιέργεια
και παράθυρο,
και τροποποιούνται συνεχώς
“τα ισχύοντα μέχρι της τάδε”
… τι φόρτος παρελθόντων!

Δώδεκα η ώρα,
επίφοβη ώρα,
τα αγαπηθέντα “εκκρεμούν”,
και λέω
τώρα θα μεθύσει αυτός ο νόμος
και θα γίνει στίχος,
τώρα θα επέλθει το πρόσωπό σου
… “κατά τα κεκανονισμένα” πάντοτε.

Μιάμιση η ώρα,
θαύματα δεν γίνονται πια,
μόνο αντίγραφα πολλά της προσδοκίας μας
και “υπό ειδοποίησίν μας”
… συχνά γινόμαστε αφηρημένοι…
“το βραδύτερον εντός δέκα ημερών από σήμερον”
… δαπάναις του μέλλοντός μας
και “κατά παρέκκλισιν” των ονείρων μας.

Δυόμιση η ώρα,
μετά μεσημβρίαν…
Βάσει του υπ’ αριθμ. τάδε πεπρωμένου
τα πρωινά μας
“αποσβέσαμε”…»

We can see here that Dimoula – at this stage as a representative poetess of the 1960’s and 1970’s – wishes to unite the experience of work with that of “eros”. But she does this in her capacity as a “protesting” employee – we can sense this knowing full well that she is in fact describing her “work-hour melancholies”. It is exactly within the “melancholically” structured experience of work, as expressed by her “work discourse”, that Dimoula can at the same time assert her creativity, indulge in daydreaming and yearn for “eros”. The implication is that Dimoula of course never romanticized the world of work as such – in fact, when asked to describe her 25-year desk job many years later, Dimoula would frankly answer, “It was prison” (cf. The New York Times, 11.1.2013 – www.nytimes.com). But it was within such “prison” (reminiscent of Amalia Eleftheriadou’s own experience of “bureaucratic despotism” at the A&M Flour Mill Company) that Dimoula would nonetheless assert herself as a female awaiting or yearning for the experience of “eros”. In a much later poem, written in 1994 (and which we have already quoted above), she would write:

«Φυσικά και ονειρεύομαι.
Ζει κανείς μόνο μ’ ένα ξερό μισθό;»
(cf., op. cit., p. 420).

We are suggesting that the world of work and that of “eros” would somehow combine and interact right within the confines of a “prison”, at least with respect to the period of the 1960’s and 1970’s in Greece. We know, further, that both the material conditions of work and the socio-cultural practices of “eros” at the time were traversing a transitional, embryonic period characterized by what may be described as a relative «στέρησης» (“deprivation”). This term, interestingly, has been used by Anestis Evaggelou to describe the post-war period in his introduction to his anthology of “second generation” poets – cf. Α. Ευαγγέλου & Γ. Αράγης, Δεύτερη μεταπολεμική ποιητική γενιά (1950-2012) – Ανθολογία, Gutenberg, 2017, p. 16. Both the reality of work as a “prison” and the “deprivations” pertaining to the socio-cultural practices of “eros” would yield what Dimoula has called the “protesting” type. We may therefore go on to assume that the “Amalia-type” was in fact that “type” of social agent that may be described as the “protesting” female White-Collar employee of the post-war period.

But, then, in what specific manner was the “Amalia-type” in fact “protesting”? This constitutes a vital question if one is to attain a lucid understanding of the “Amalia-type” as a historical subject, and which would also tell us much as to the manner in which such “type” would be responding to both the sirens of so-called “consumerism” and to the advertizing discourse that would express this. We may say that the “Amalia-type” had not been “protesting” in a manner that has been presented to us by mainstream historiography, which of course has been a myth-infatuated history of the Greek “Left”. No, the “Amalia-type” would not have taken to the streets en masse for whatever “socialist dream” and she would not be rejecting “consumerism” as an alienating process imposed on her by the so-called “mechanisms” of capitalism. Throughout, we have emphasized this reality with respect to the vast majority of the Greek popular masses. And yet, all this is not to deny that the “Amalia-type” was, by and large, a “protesting subject”. It is, again, Dimoula that presents us with an understanding of “protest” that is fully representative of the “Amalia-type”. She does this in a very well-known and highly revealing poem written in 1981 (cf. Ποιήματα, op. cit., pp. 296-298) and entitled «Φωνή σε αδειόδρομους» (freely translated: “A voice along empty streets”). Parts of this poem read as follows:

«Είναι η φωνή μου άγνωστη
στα μεγάλα του πλανήτη μας δράματα…
Και όλα αυτά κυβερνημένα
απ’ το παμπάλαιο, πανίσχυρο Έτσι.
…
Δεν είναι η φωνή μου ακουστή
στα φριχτά του πλανήτη μας δράματα.
…
Είναι η φωνή μου χαμηλή κι είναι παράμερη…
Με τα καθημερινά και τα μικρά περιχύνεται
και αυτοπυρπολείται κάθε μέρα.
…
Όχι, δεν καθρεφτίζεται η φωνή μου
στα μαύρα δεινά.
Σε ηχηρά διαβήματα
μέρος δεν παίρνει, δεν συν-κραυγάζει
να γίνουν λόφοι τα βουνά.
αλλιώς βουνά οι λόφοι.
Κάθεται χαμηλή σαν λόφος.
…
Όχι, δεν είναι η φωνή μου
ελευθερία ή θάνατος.
…
Είναι η φωνή μου ένας αθόρυβος περίπατος
…
σε βροχερούς αδειόδρομους…»
(my emph., throughout).

It would be rather foolish to assume that any one poet could actually “represent” a “generation” of civil society (and, in any case, whatever civil society is never a homogeneous whole, being socially stratified). It would be as foolish to assume that any one poem carries “objective” facts reflective of a socio-cultural conjuncture – in a sense, poems only “carry” themselves and are almost fully open to subjective interpretation. And yet, there are themes recurring in this Dimoula poem which may be said to constitute common experiences or common mindsets vis-à-vis those of the “Amalia-type” qua “protesting subject” – we have chosen to emphasize such elements within this poem and may comment on these as follows:

1. The “Amalia-type” did have a “voice” of her own, but such “voice” remained “unknown” («φωνή… άγνωστη»). The Greek mass media at the time would rather focus on party political conflicts and on various “celebrities” (be these political or other personages). It would be just such manufactured mainstream “truths” that the so-called cultural establishment – dominated by various currents of the “Left” especially following the fall of the Military Dictatorship – would deliberately choose to “select” in its writing of Greek history. We had, as we shall further see below, a wholesale fabrication of history that would stifle the voice of that “unknown” agent, the “Amalia-type”. Such “unknown” voice had to be ignored because it could not be easily streamlined in terms of the stereotypes of “Left” or “Right” dominant narratives.
2. Thus, and as a confirmation of what has been said above, the voice of the “Amalia-type” was neither heard, listened to or accepted («Δεν είναι η φωνή μου ακουστή») by the mainstream cultural establishment (bar advertizing companies that had no choice but do so).
3. As regards social issues, the voice of the “Amalia-type” was low-key («χαμηλή»). This should be contrasted to the highly vocal “Left-wingers” of the early 1960’s.
4. Precisely because the organized mass demonstrations of the “Left” were highly vocal, the voice of the “Amalia-type” was being consistently drowned – as such, the popular sentiments of the “Amalia-type” were peripheralized (Dimoula aptly refers to such voice as «παράμερη», which may be freely translated as “peripheral”).
5. If the “Amalia-type” were to protest, such “type” would do so around issues that were related to the “everyday” and the “small” – it was precisely these types of issues that she truly cared for and experienced («Με τα καθημερινά και τα μικρά»). While the “Amalia-type” was certainly aware of the major issues of the day (such as, for instance, the threat of nuclear war, etc.), she would consider such issues as “abstract” possibilities lying outside of her immediate experience.
6. As such, the “Amalia-type” would adopt a non-participative stance when it came to the “grand issues” that would usually mobilize the organized “Left” («Σε ηχηρά διαβήματα… μέρος δεν παίρνει», writes Dimoula). In free translation, the phrase «ηχηρά διαβήματα» suggests making one’s demands heard in public – it points to practices adopted by political parties and other related political organizations. Such collective action would not have appealed to the essentially individualistic mindset of the “Amalia-type”. Interestingly, in his attempt to describe the mindset of the “second generation” poets, Evaggelou (op. cit., p. 27) suggests that the vast majority of such people would not participate in the so-called “major events” of Greek history («σχεδόν καμιά συμμετοχή στο ιστορικό γίγνεσθαι, σχεδόν καμιά δράση»). This generation, Evaggelou continues, acted in the historical periphery («Γενιά ουσιαστικά στο περιθώριο της ιστορίας»). Of course, we should point out here that, for us, there is no need to differentiate between “grand events” and “minor” or “peripheral events” – in fact, one may argue that the sheer act of working as a “Clerk”, or the sheer act of falling in love, etc., are actions that constitute a specific socio-cultural milieu to the extent that they take on particular historical forms. As such, these are actions that constitute a de facto history. Therein, the “Amalia-type” certainly did “participate”, and did so as a primary agent of history.
7.  The Dimoula poem under consideration is highly consistent in its understanding of the “Amalia-type” and as to how such “type” chooses to “protest”. Adopting, as we have seen, a non-participative stance, the “Amalia-type” also refuses to “scream” her demands in unison with others. Dimoula asserts: «δεν συν-κραυγάζει» (the prefix «συν» suggesting “together with”; the word «κραυγάζει» suggesting crying out or complaining loudly). The implication is lucid: the “Amalia-type” would not participate in mass marches and collective sloganeering.
8. Since the mindset of the “Amalia-type” would consistently focus on the “everyday” and the “small”, and as she would not participate in collective marches voicing demands over “grand issues”, this “type” was characterized by the absence of whatever fanaticism, or of whatever utopian millenarianism/messianism so characteristic of the “Left” especially at that time. Unless the “Amalia-type” was religiously inclined (something which could apply to a certain percentage of youngsters – cf. our paper on Aikaterini D., Chemist at the A&M Company Laboratory), such “type” would be devoid of any grand worldviews. Dimoula expresses this very succinctly in the poem under discussion – as she puts it: «Όχι, δεν είναι η φωνή μου… ελευθερία ή θάνατος». This verse line (which may be freely translated as follows: “No, my voice is not all about freedom or death”), fully verifies the point we are making here.
9. Just before closing, the poem underlines the overall perspective of the “Amalia-type” which it so accurately expresses – Dimoula writes: «Είναι η φωνή μου ένας αθόρυβος περίπατος… σε… αδειόδρομους». Freely translated, these verse lines suggest that the voice of the “Amalia-type” is a silent walk (or stroll) along empty streets – we note the absence of whatever militant mass march or demonstration; we note that, for the “Amalia-type”, the streets are in fact empty.

Generally speaking, at least some of the work of Kiki Dimoula (as also that of some of the “second generation” poets – though definitely not all of these) has captured the quiet, non-participative, unknown voice of the “Amalia-type” – a mindset, we have been suggesting, that was well beyond whatever party political sloganeering. The “everyday” or “small” concerns of the “Amalia-type” have not been recorded in history in any serious manner and have not been analyzed objectively from some systematic sociological perspective. In fact, the dominant cultural-ideological establishment (of the Liberal-Left paradigm) has deliberately stifled the history of the “Amalia-type”, even to the point of fabricating her “alienation”, and thereby even to the point of making her vanish as a historical subject. This is no exaggeration. The exact same approach has been applied to the work and presence of the “second generation” poets themselves referred to above. We note that Evaggelou (op. cit., p. 18), in the prologue to his anthology of the “second generation” poets, writes:

«… αν επιχειρούσε κανείς να καταγράψει τις
περιπτώσεις που η κατεστημένη κριτική (που
ασκήθηκε κυρίως όλα αυτά τα χρόνια, όπως είναι
γνωστό, από εκπροσώπους της προηγούμενης και
της επόμενης γενιάς, στα μέσα μαζικής ενημέρωσης,
σε συνέδρια, συμπόσια, κλπ.) εσίγησε περίεργα
και εξακολουθητικά ή υποβάθμισε ανεξήγητα, με
συνοπτικές αναφορές, σημαντικότατα βιβλία των
ποιητών της γενιάς αυτής, θα έπρεπε να γράψει μια
ιδιαίτερη, πολυσέλιδη μελέτη…»

Evaggelou has here come up with an extremely heavy allegation, and which concerns the very history of modern Greek historiography in general. As he sees it, the intellectuals of the “establishment” («η κατεστημένη κριτική» = establishment literary critique), operating through the mass media and other public forums, had decided to silence («εσίγησε») or at least to underrate («υποβάθμισε») – and did so continuously («εξακολουθητικά») and therefore systematically – the work of such “second generation” poets. Evaggelou finds such suppression rather strange («περίεργα»), and yet we know why this had to necessarily happen (the necessity of it is evident in the fact that such suppression was persistent). It was precisely the apparently “apolitical”, non-participative stance of such generation of intellectuals – and which would of course also apply to the “Amalia-type”, though not exactly for the same reasons – that had to be peripheralized, if not silenced. Especially with respect to the cultural establishment of the post-Military Dictatorship period (what Evaggelou calls the «επόμενη γενιά» – viz. that which followed the “second generation” by the 1970’s), it was the conventional wisdom of the day that if one was not politically aligned or “progressive”, one was out of fashion, if not “reactionary”.

We observe here that the Greek cultural establishment had suppressed the very important books («σημαντικότατα βιβλία») of a variety of poets. For reasons that one may say were similar – though not necessarily exactly the same – that same cultural establishment had either ignored or distorted the history of the “Amalia-type. It would do so by literally abnegating that “type’s” right as a historical subject, and it would annihilate its historical hypostasis by very simply applying to it the stigma of “false consciousness” (the latter being that most inglorious of Marxist “sociological” concepts used to stigmatize whoever failed to align himself/herself with the “mission” of the working class). Given such “false consciousness”, the “Amalia-type” was purportedly a shamelessly submissive individual in the face of her boss and thus her work experience was the “world of profanity” (Bataille); further, and again given such “false consciousness”, that “type’s” erotic practices were cheap and debased (Bataille). That being the case, the history of the “Amalia-type” had to be silenced or underrated. Alternatively, the history of Greek working people as a whole had to be fabricated – interestingly, Evaggelou himself speaks of historical fabrication with respect to Greek literary history. He writes:

«… η ζημιά που γινόταν – η πλαστογράφηση της
λογοτεχνικής μας ιστορίας, με την καταδίκη μιας
ολόκληρης γενιάς ποιητών στη σιωπή και την
αφάνεια – έβλεπα πια ότι ήταν τόσο μεγάλη και
τόσο απτή, ώστε άξιζε τον κόπο να προσπαθήσει
κανείς να την εξουδετερώσει ή έστω να περιορίσει
την έκτασή της…»
(ibid., p. 24).

Evaggelou, observing such fabrication or falsification of literary history («πλαστογράφηση»), is prepared to nullify («εξουδετερώσει») the damage caused or at least contain («περιορίσει») the extent of such damage. He would undertake such project by compiling his Ανθολογία. Our own project, of course, has not been to re-write the history of the “Amalia-type” but to rather re-examine her case from the point of view of historical sociology and, here, with a special focus on the work-“eros” interface as expressed in advertizing discourse. Such re-examination has allowed us to pinpoint exactly which elements of the “Amalia-type” have been suppressed by the Liberal-Left intellectual establishment – and it was precisely such suppressed elements that some of the work of Kiki Dimoula has brought to light. Generally speaking, her work has focused on elements of the Greek female which we too have identified (in this paper, as elsewhere) and which may be summarized as follows:

1. A “celebration” – albeit at times deeply satirical and always as deeply critical – of the quotidian element in history, it being the history of the “Amalia-type”;
2. A similar type of “celebration” of the female in love, the working female, the housewife at home or as consumer;
3. Thus, we see the poetess often examining the advertizing discourse of the day;
4. Throughout her work and in all of her interviews we see a deep pessimism secreting an even deeper optimism with respect to a quotidian existence composed of work, “play” and “eros”.

To understand both the “Amalia-type” and her interaction with advertizing discourse related to the work-“eros” interface, one needs to interpret the quotidian element of life as the very material of real history. This suggests that the private life of the “Amalia-type” is the dominant form of the historical process in the post-war period of the Western world. Thus, when Hobsbawm – in his autobiography – comes to write of the “historical turning point” in his own life as a citizen and in that of his peers generally, he has no choice but turn to the private life of the individual in the 1960’s. We consider this approach to history – the focus on the private, quotidian element – as the quintessential nexus constituting the “lifeworld” of the period commencing in the 1960’s. This is how Hobsbawm puts it:

«… η ιδιωτική ζωή συνιστά μέρος ευρύτερων
ιστορικών περιστάσεων. Οι πλέον σημαντικές
από αυτές ήταν η απρόσμενα καλή εξέλιξη των
γεγονότων της εποχής. Βέβαια η γενιά μου αντιλήφθηκε
βαθμιαία αυτή την εξέλιξη, χωρίς να την
πολυσυνειδητοποιεί, και ειδικά οι σοσιαλιστές που
ήταν ανέτοιμοι στο να υποδεχτούν την εποχή του
εντυπωσιακού καπιταλιστικού θριάμβου. Στις αρχές
όμως της δεκαετίας του ’60 αυτός έγινε αντιληπτός
σε όλους…»
(cf. Eric Hobsbawm, Συναρπαστικά χρόνια – μια ζωή στον
20ο αιώνα, Θεμέλιο, 2010, p. 267).

For Hobsbawm, it was a set of particular historical circumstances that were to put the private individual in the forefront of history. As a sincere historian, Hobsbawm tells us that the socialists of his time had difficulty in admitting the reality of such circumstances in the 1960’s. What was such new reality? Quite simply, people would gradually come to realize that capitalism had “triumphed” and it had done so all too “impressively” («εντυπωσιακού καπιταλιστικού θριάμβου»). It was because of such “triumph” that the private individual would be able to assert his dominance as a historical subject. Henceforth, the individual – and especially the young individual – was able to exploit the new material conditions of the epoch and to pick and choose the manner in which he/she would make use of his/her free time (cf. Hobsbawm, ibid., pp. 267-269).

Having said this, we may end this paper on the work-“eros” interface by somehow stretching its central thesis to its extremes, and which would allow us to make the following radical observation as regards the post-“Amalia-type”: on the one hand, in the public sphere of work, the individual would be able to assert his “private” hypostasis (especially as a successful, independent “careerist”); on the other hand, in the private sphere of “eros”, the individual would be able to assert his “public” hypostasis (the erotic dimension would no longer be enacted “in the shadows” – as Dimoula has so often observed in discussing the 1960’s). Stretched even further, we may end here with an even more radical postulate: from a distance, the period of the 1960’s would yield a post-“Amalian-type” epoch wherein the public would become private and the private would become public. There just might be a grain of truth in such rather pompous observation. Advertizing discourse of the period could allude to such utopia.

APPENDIX

● As regards the issue of “erotic relationships” and how these could be forged within a factory shop floor in 1950’s Greece, cf. the very representative – albeit rather obscure – short story by Alekos Draganis, “Νίκη”, in Διηγήματα εργατών, Βιβλιοθήκη Εργατικής Εστίας, Athens, 1953, pp. 1-12.
● As regards the issue of the sexual revolution in Greece, and with special reference to brothels and schoolgirl prostitution in the 1950’s-1960’s period, cf. Giannis Kairofilas, Θυμήσου εκείνα τα χρόνια…, Εκδόσεις Φιλιππότη, Athens, 2009, pp. 176-193.

The post “SEXISM” IN IDEOLOGICAL DISCOURSE, AND THE NEW FEMALE IDENTITY OF THE 1980’s: POST-“SEXIST” ETHICS appeared first on Greek Social & Literary Review - Ελληνική Κοινωνική & Λογοτεχνική Επιθεώρηση.

[Work in progress – The text below constitutes a sub-section of our study entitled Amalia Eleftheriadou, and the question of advertizing, 1950’s – 1970’s > The “adjustive” type of advertizing discourse: the issue of “eros” and work. It follows the sub-section: Advertizing discourse related to work and/or the “work ethic”. It may also be read as an independent text].

Advertisements related to the “erotic” would promote “standards of beauty” that would often have to adjust to local tastes – alternatively, they would have to reflect continental or international “standards” that suited local tastes (cf. our discussion of the “LUX” soap above, and especially our references to the excellent work of Geoffrey Jones dealing with the relation between “globalization” and the more flexible “standards of beauty”).

One such “standard of beauty” in 1960’s Greece was, of course, the size of the female breast. Young Greek females would especially identify with large-breasted sex-symbols that appeared on the silver screen. Two main examples of such film stars were the Italian Sophia Loren and the French Brigitte Bardot. Although both were international stars, they symbolized a sexuality that was closer to home, both originating from Europe, where they began their film careers in the 1950’s. Bardot’s large-breasted image was especially promoted via her role in popularizing the bikini in the 1950’s. While the time would come when at least a segment of women would wish to undergo breast reduction surgery, one major fashion trend in the 1960’s would be to stick to the provocative sexuality of the large female breast. On the other hand, of course, we would also have the “Twiggy look” in that same period, which seemed to reject the image of the large-breasted female (as in the 1920’s and 1930’s, large breasts were in this case seen as being more expressive of the so-called “breeding class”). In Greece, in any case, most young Greek females would wish to meet “standards of beauty” reminiscent of a Loren or a Bardot. In 1964, the periodical Ρομάντσο would carry the following advertisement:

«LAIDABEILLE… φυσικόν προϊόν
Βασιλικού Πολτού… ηγγυημένον
παρά των Γαλλικών Αρχών…
ενδείκνυται δε και δια την ταχείαν
ανάπτυξιν του στήθους δια τας
καθυστερημένας…»
(cf. Ρομάντσο, Αριθ. Τεύχ. 1125, 29.9.1964,
my emph.).

This type of advertizing discourse captures one essential aspect of the as real needs of the “Amalia-type” of the 1960’s, and such needs were the other side of the coin which encompassed the “work ethic”. The “New Type” was as much work-conscious as she was sex-conscious. Further, the discourse blurs the distinction, so emphatically presented by J.K. Galbraith in 1967, between advertisements serving “physical” needs and those serving “psychological” needs (cf. his The new industrial state, op. cit., p. 206). It is quite obvious that the “LAIDABEILLE” advertisement does exactly what Galbraith had identified as characterizing discourse serving such “psychological” needs – it is certainly meant to “serve sexual aspiration”, “promise social acceptability” and “contribute by conventional canons to personal beauty” (ibid.). But we know that in the context of the sexual revolution, and given the re-evaluation of past “ethicalist” values, all such so-called “psychological” needs were as real as wanting to eat a slice of bread or thirsting for a glass of water. In fact, one of the reasons that the female “New Type” would choose to work was to enable her to fulfill certain – by now necessary – “psychological” needs pertaining to the consumption of personal toiletries requisite for meeting certain “standards of beauty”. Even her ultimate wish to pursue a “career” would itself be of a “psychological” nature, at least in the sense that it related to “equality” between the sexes. The rise of the middle class milieu would blur, not only the difference between work and “eros”, but also the difference between “physical” and “psychological” need – in the last instance, the middle class milieu was a psycho-cultural phenomenon materialized by hard work in the economic terrain.

Thus, the “economic Darwinism” we have been referring to above would be accompanied by a “socio-cultural Darwinism” whereby females would compete with one another around issues related to personal sexuality and beauty. Physically speaking, this could also take the form of competing over breast-size. It was in just such social context that the “LAIDABEILLE” advertisement needs to be understood: its promise to rapidly increase breast-size was simply reflecting the “psycho-physical” needs of females at the time. We know that even since the late 1950’s, there was an increasing popular demand for this “Royal Jelly” produced by French-based laboratories (cf., for instance, https://archive.org/stream... “The chemist and druggist [electronic resource]”). The product was in fact meant “to regenerate the body” (ibid.) and the particular discourse promoting “LAIDABEILLE” in the 1960’s would be going just a bit too far in suggesting that it could also “generate” breast-size as such. In that sense, the advertizing discourse was provocatively misleading – on the other hand, the young female of the 1960’s would perhaps have felt some such need for “psychological” games-playing relating to the placebo response: consuming the “Royal Jelly” would boost her confidence with respect to “sexual aspiration” and “social acceptability” (and we need again remember the psychological dimension of the middle class milieu).

If it is true that the “LAIDABEILLE” advertisement was overstating the potentialities of its “Royal Jelly”, it was – we are implying – doing so in a manner which actually adjusted to the needs and fantasies of the “Amalia-type”: it would be the “natural” drives of young females belonging to such “type” that could force advertizing discourse on issues of physical beauty to make such overstatements. Were the discourse itself not to make exaggerated promises, the cultural practices of the “Amalia-type” would find their own ways in which such promises could be fulfilled. It is difficult to imagine what young ladies could resort to in their attempts to augment breast-size – the following quote, taken from the 1966 advice columns of the daily newspaper, Απογευματινή, allows us to suspect the extreme forms such practices could take:

«Η κ. Αριέτ απαντά εις επιστολάς…

κ. ΖΩΗ ΔΕΣΠΟΙΝΑ:
Πρέπει να ξέρετε πως οι μαστοί είναι
το πιο ευαίσθητο μέρος του γυναικείου
οργανισμού. Δεν είναι λοιπόν φρόνιμον
να κάνετε πάνω στο στήθος σας αυτό που
σκέπτεσθε διότι όταν τα στήθη είναι πολύ
μικρά καμμιά αποτελεσματική θεραπεία
δεν υπάρχει που να τα μεγαλώνη»
(cf. Απογευματινή, 29.1.1966, p. 6).

By 1980, the variety of breast shape and size would be a matter of discussion amongst females belonging to the matured and by now solidly developed “Amalia-type” – even the more highbrow periodicals like Επίκαιρα would carry texts such as the following:

«ΔΙΑΛΕΞΕ κι εσύ ένα στήθος, μπορείς.
Και γιατί όχι; Η τεχνολογία του καιρού μας
προσφέρει τις δυνατότητες να αποκτήσουμε
όποιες αναλογίες θέλουμε και κυρίως ένα
στήθος τροφαντό, προκλητικό. Ένα όπλο
γοητείας, που το μέγεθός του ακολουθεί τα
γούστα της εποχής, αλλά κυρίως τα γούστα
των ανδρών. Το καουτσούκ, η σιλικόνη, οι
ορμόνες, οι ενέσεις νερού δημιουργούν
στήθος πλούσιο και προκλητικό. Οι στρίπ-τηζέζ,
οι διάφορες σταρ τύπου σεξοβόμβας και
εκείνοι του τρίτου φύλου σπεύδουν σε κάποιο
χειρούργο που φροντίζει να διορθώσει όσα
ξέφυγαν από τη σμίλη του Πανάγαθου.
Συχνές βέβαια οι μολύνσεις και οι επιπλοκές,
η λαχτάρα όμως για ένα ωραίο στήθος, έστω
από σιλικόνη, είναι τόσο επιτακτική ώστε
σπεύδουν να το αποκτήσουν με κίνδυνο της
ζωής τους»
(cf. Επίκαιρα, Αρ. Τεύχ. 601, 7.2.1980, p. 87).

Thus far, in this sub-section, we have considered texts which focused exclusively on physical beauty (and therefore the “erotic lifeworld”) of the “Amalia-type”. Taken in conjunction with discourse pertaining to work and “careerism”, one can already see that the recipient of such discourse-as-a-whole would already be initiated to a wider “lifeworld” that presented work and “eros” as part of a single, albeit contradictory and tension-filled, experience. What we shall now do is examine a number of texts, especially direct advertizing discourse as such, which somehow linked the world of work to that of “eros”. Precisely given the contradictions and tensions that objectively operated between these two terrains, the linkage would be materialized in various subtle forms symptomatic of an ideological discourse that was in the process of developing in various gradations of sophistication.

One such advertisement appeared in a 1967 issue of the popular periodical, Συλλογή – it yet again concerned itself with the female breast and read as follows:

«Triumph INTERNATIONAL…

Χαρήστε στον εαυτό σας ένα σουτιέν DOREEN.
Χαρήστε του χάρι, κομψότητα, άνεσι, σιγουριά.
Το DOREEN είναι σχεδιασμένο από την TRIUMPH
για όλα τα σώματα, μελετημένο για όλες τις
περιστάσεις. Το DOREEN με τις φίνες δαντέλλες
και την τέλεια εφαρμογή κοστίζει δρχ. 195.
LYCRA®»
(cf. Συλλογή, Έτος 1, Τεύχ. 1, December 1967, p. 4).

Before discussing the discourse of this advertisement, we could perhaps make a few observations with respect to the well-known company, “Triumph International”. By 1902, the company was to reach the position of the leading lingerie manufacturer in Europe. In 1953, it begins trading under the name “Triumph International”. Between the years 1954 and 1959, it expands throughout most of the continent. By 1960, its European business is expanded into France, Spain, Portugal and Greece.

It would be in 1966 that “Triumph” would launch the “DOREEN” lingerie range, promoted – inter alia – via the Συλλογή advertisement one year later. The company would also begin its production of bikinis in the early 1960’s.

As regards the general advertizing discourse used by the company, we may observe that, starting from the 1960’s and through to the 1970’s, it would adopt what has been referred to as “a new direction” (cf. www.triumph.com/uk/en/7774.html, for most of the data presented here). Such “new direction” would mean that advertizing discourse would be directed at “the self-assured woman”, suggesting that the woman of the period would be expected to be a winner both in the world of work and in that of “play” – since what was being promoted was lingerie, there would be a strong emphasis on sexuality).

The advertizing discourse of a company such as “Triumph” was set to the rhythms of the “Swinging Sixties” and then to those of the “Wild Seventies”. Naturally, “Triumph” discourse expressed a latent opposition to the “bra-burning” trend of the 1960’s, and in that it would fully reflect the psychology and cultural orientation of the “Amalia-type”.

The source cited above encapsulates the semantics of “Triumph International” advertizing discourse, with its emphasis on body culture and female sexuality, as follows:

“Youth and sexual freedom become
important advertising themes: beauty,
sexuality and sensuality are depicted
realistically. A fully transparent bra is
advertised in Germany with the slogan
‘So what? – The body is in fashion’…”
(cf. www.triumph.com..., ibid.).

The “Triumph” bra was presented as, above all, a sensual product for women – it was meant, not only to catch the eye of the other (that of the male or, given the competition over breast shape and size, that of the female as well), but to also boost the self-confidence of a female whether in the neighbourhood or in the workplace. In 1960’s Greece, with the dominant cultural trend opting for the large-breasted female, “Triumph” would offer and promote the so-called “underwire” bra, specifically designed to provide “additional lift”, so to speak. The “underwire push-up bra” was specifically designed so as to augment breast-size and increase cleavage – its 1950’s precursor being the so-called “bullet bra”. We know that even since the 1950’s, many young Greek females would choose to wear bras that gave their breasts a “pointy”, conical-shaped appearance (the Lana Turner and later Sophia Loren look), but the stiffness of this brassiere would give way to the softer materials used by companies such as “Triumph” in the 1960’s (“Triumph” bras, by the way, could also be un-wired).

We may now examine the discourse of the 1967 advertisement in some greater detail, and draw certain conclusions pertaining to the terrains of work and “eros”. One may make the following observations:

1. The discourse, firstly, urges the female to endow herself with grace and elegance («Χαρήστε του χάρι, κομψότητα»). Judging by the picture that accompanies the discourse – a beautiful young lady exhibiting her bosom as it is cupped by a sexy-looking “Triumph” bra – one can see that the emphasis is on femininity and sensuality. Here, grace and elegance are not neutral terms – the endowment of one’s self with such attributes is aimed at the arousal of the bodily appetite (and thus accurately expresses James Joyce’s understanding of the so-called “pornographic advertisement”). This clearly constitutes the overtly “erotic moment” of the discourse.
2. Secondly, the discourse further urges the female to endow herself with the attributes of comfort/ease and self-certitude («άνεσι, σιγουριά»). Both such attributes would enable the female to face the world around her with a practical comfort or ease and with a practical self-assuredness (remember the “new direction” of the company’s 1960’s-1970’s discourse referred to above). These attributes would be her pragmatic mental instruments in dealing with the “economic” and the “extra-economic lifeworlds”, and these would be materialized through the manner in which she presented her bosom both to herself and to the others. This aspect of the advertisement as clearly constitutes the overtly “practical moment” of its discourse.
3. The “erotic moment” and the “practical moment” of the discourse are brought together and united into one single continuum of “lifeworld moments” – the “DOREEN” bra is presented as having been specifically designed for all circumstances of a woman’s life: «μελετημένο για όλες τις περιστάσεις». Thus, this essentially sensual and practical product is meant for all the “moments” that a woman could possibly live in her everyday life – from work to free time, from free time to the potentially “erotic” experience. Thereby, the discourse traverses the two terrains of life that, for a Bataille, remained irreconcilable: the contradiction between the “world of profanity” (the “economic” sphere) and the “ecstasy of eros” (the “extra-economic” sphere) are discreetly brought together. This, as we have already suggested above, was a bringing together of contradictory “binaries” through an ideological “myth-making” which was the privileged terrain of advertizing discourse, but which would glue together the “Amalia-type” as a sexually-conscious individual and as a professionally-conscious “career woman”. Now, since any attempt to marry the worlds of work and of “play” is no easy matter – they stand objectively opposed to one another – the discourse retains its subtle respect for the “Amalia-type”: nowhere is work as such openly mentioned. It would only be by the 1980’s and especially 1990’s, when “careerism” would fully attain a status at least relatively autonomous of economic need (remember Margaret Jones’ advice to Miss B. Th.: “don’t spoil this beauty of service”), that advertizing discourse could openly relate the “bliss” of work + play in one package. Here, the objective friction between work and “play” would have been smoothened out (this would especially apply to people who would come to do jobs in the upper middle class bracket, and we shall examine advertizing discourse related to such cases below).
4. The unity between work, play and the “erotic” field is further articulated by the manner in which the discourse deals with the human body – the “DOREEN” bra, it says, has been designed for all the female bodies («για όλα τα σώματα»). Naturally, one may read this as an invitation to all female bodies – tall, short, fat, thin, etc. – to actually buy the “DOREEN” bra, as it would beautify all varieties of female body. Such a reading would not be inaccurate. But the discourse also does something more: it directly relates “all the bodies” to “all the occasions” («σχεδιασμένο… για όλα τα σώματα, μελετημένο για όλες τις περιστάσεις»). Thus, when it speaks of “all the bodies” it gently implies that one may wear the bra as a “working body” (a body at work, it being one occasion), as a “social body” (a body in society, it being another occasion) or as an “erotic body” (a body in love, it being yet another occasion). Certainly, the “Amalia-type” was itself a living combinatory of all such “occasions” put together.
5. Of course, the reference to «όλα τα σώματα» is fully open to yet another reading, and which would be an interpretation accurately reflective of the era we are examining: that all women could or should wear such a “DOREEN” bra was symptomatic of the “democratization” of all “standards of beauty” in the post-war period, and which would yield a “democratic averageness” in sensual aesthetics. This, of course, is fully reminiscent of Horkheimer’s «ηρωοποίηση των ανθρώπων του μέσου όρου», something which he chose to reject in terms of his own value-judgments – an “Amalia-type”, however, sporting a “DOREEN” bra and feeling the way she did as a consequence of it, would be valuing her own life as such, and that self-valuation is what constitutes the socio-historical fact of the period.
6. We have said that this type of advertizing discourse unites the different “moments” constituting the multi-dimensional life of a young female, and that it thereby reflects the living combinatory that was the “Amalia-type” – as such a combinatory of cultural and economic practices, this “type” would gradually mutate into a self-conscious individual, typical of any middle class milieu. This “Triumph” advertisement is yet another example of how advertizing discourse at the time was sociologically informed – it captures the trend towards “individuation” with the key words: «Χαρίστε στον εαυτό σας…».

In May 1968, the same periodical referred to above, Συλλογή, published an article entitled «Ανοιξιάτικες παραλλαγές», which was meant to indirectly promote fashion houses such as Dior – it thus constituted what we have elsewhere described as indirect advertizing discourse. The purpose of this four-page text was to introduce young females to “the latest” in 1968 springtime fashion. The text is accompanied by photographs depicting young, “sexy” models exhibiting various outfits and initiates its readers – the vast majority being youth – to fashion designs that are at times just a bit too “extreme”, too “sophisticated” or too “exotic” (though one knows that much of what was being depicted would soon become the order of the day, at least with respect to the middle-middle and upper-middle classes).

Consider the following sample-captions accompanying the photographs – firstly:

«Απλό μονοκόμματο φόρεμα, με λευκές
γαρνιτούρες στο γιακά, στις τσέπες και
στα μανίκια. Αντιπροσωπεύει το στυλ
‘κολεζιέν’»
(cf. Συλλογή, Έτος 1, Τεύχ. 6, May 1968, p. 164).

The second sample-caption reads as follows:

«Επιμελημένη ατημελησία σε αμέρικαν-λουκ.
Ένα σύνολο για την πλάζ ή τις εκδρομές, που
επιτρέπει δυό διαφορετικές εμφανίσεις. Η
λευκή φόρμα σε στυλ βερμούδες, με την
προσθήκη μιάς τυνίκ διαφορετικού χρώματος,
μεταβάλλεται σε πρωϊνό σύνολο για την
πόλη»
(ibid.).

The third sample is even more “extreme” and apparently completely out of touch with the reality of an “Amalia-type”:

«Η εκδοχή του 1968 για το κλασικό αμπιγιέ
φόρεμα. Είναι μεταξωτό, σε τυρκουάζ, μωβ
και ροζ τόνους, με μακριά μανίκια και γιακά
που δένει γραβάτα. Οι πολύ κομψές θα το
φορέσουν με μια μεγάλη ρομαντική καπελίνα
που γεμίζει το πρόσωπο ανάγλυφες φωτοσκιάσεις»
(ibid., p. 165).

The fourth sample-caption, which accompanies a picture depicting a young lady sporting the “Twiggy look”, reads as follows:

«Ο συνδυασμός-βεντέττα του 1968: Άσπρο και
μπλε σε μια πολύ χαριτωμένη εκδοχή για
‘την-έϊτζερς’. Οι λευκές βαμβακερές κάλτσες
ως το γόνατο, ολοκληρώνουν την νεανική
εντύπωσι»
(ibid., p. 166).

The fifth sample explicitly points to the “eccentric” in 1968 female fashion:

«Και μια νότα εκκεντρικότητος που προτείνει
ο Μάρκ Μποάν του Ντιόρ: Σορτς για το βράδυ
από λαμέ ματλασέ υφάσματα, κεντημένα με
στρας, και ανάλαφρες ρομαντικές μπλούζες
από μουσελίνα. Φοριούνται με μακριά καλσόν
και ασορτί χρυσά ή ασημένια παπούτσια»
(ibid.).

The “geometric motif” in fashion design is presented in the sixth sample:

«Η γοητεία του λευκού, συγκεντρωμένη σ’ ένα
αμπιγιέ παλτό του Βενέ. Είναι από δαντέλλα, που
τόσο ευνοείται από την εφετινή μόδα, με μεγάλα
γεωμετρικά μοτίβα»
(ibid.).

And, finally, the “aristocratic look” is presented:

«Μια ‘Μπόννι’, με αριστοκρατική εμφάνισι για
το βράδυ. Μακρύ παντελόνι και εξ ίσου μακρύ
παλτό, που φθάνει ως τον αστράγαλο. Μπλούζα
ολοκέντητη από μαύρες παγιέττες και ασορτί
μπονέ»
(ibid., p. 167).

It would be rather unrealistic to assume that any of these outfits (bar, perhaps, the one presented in the first sample) would be worn by the “Amalia-type” in 1968 at Aliartos. If that be the case, we would have here a discourse that does not “speak” to the “Amalia-type” at all – it seems to hover over and above an Amalia Eleftheriadou in a provocatively imperious manner that doubts rather than reinforces her “modernity”. Whatever element of the “romantic”, as expressed in female outfit, apparently excludes her. Further, all sample-captions are worded in a manner that completely ignores the world of work – it seems as if all that a young lady did in 1968 was to attire herself in her “exotic” clothes (or, more appropriately, “doll” herself up) and walk around the streets enchanting whoever. Before we examine what actually happens in the pages of a popular periodical such as Συλλογή, we need to dwell on a discourse that truly seems to ignore all “adjustive” semantics – we shall need to isolate the central motifs of the fashions that are being presented.

As already mentioned, the first sample-caption, as also the photograph that accompanies it, would be well within the experiential limits of an Amalia Eleftheriadou – the “simplicity” of the outfit («Απλό μονοκόμματο φόρεμα») would mean that it could even be worn at the A&M Headquarters on a fine spring day. But the discourse of the caption itself makes no mention, at least in some indirect manner, of the reality of work as an everyday practice of young females at the time.

The second sample is definitely beyond what an Amalia Eleftheriadou would dare – or even care – to wear, either at work or anywhere else. An American-style “disheveled” look, which is here being promoted, would have been far too “extreme” for any Aliartian female of the 1960’s. More importantly, while the discourse promotes a multi-purpose outfit, all such “purposes” are limited to activities well outside the workplace: young females are presented as spending their lives either at the beach or picnicking. The reference to a «πρωϊνό σύνολο για την πόλη» further reinforces the idea that a young female would never need to clock-in at work (Marxists here would justifiably point to the “ideological content” of the particular discourse – Bataille’s “profane” and “redundant” world of the “economy” is here simply swept under the carpet).

While the third caption speaks of the “classic” style in female outfit, the accompanying photograph depicts a young lady suffused with a “glamour” and “elegance” that could only but have alienated the “Amalia-type”. Of course, the “classic” style per se was in many ways expressive of the “Amalia-type” in the 1960’s: the simple cut in clothes combining “traditionality” with “modernity”, the usually neutral colours, the dress falling to the knee, and so on, would be the type of clothes that the “Amalia-type” would have opted for either at the workplace or when going out. But economic constraints would have meant that females such as Amalia Eleftheriadou would have to gradually come to learn the techniques of “how to only look expensive” – the type of “glamour” and “elegance” depicted in this third sample could only have been mimicked. One may assume that some degree of alienation would set in when the “Amalia-type” would come to discover that she could only achieve a somewhat weak approximation of the original sophistication depicted in a discourse such as sample three. Given such possible alienation, the sample’s references to the «πολύ κομψές» and the “romantic” element (with special reference to the «καπελίνα») would have excluded the “Amalia-type”. On the other hand, it should be mentioned that such circumstances would change fairly radically by the 1970’s and especially the 1980’s and thereafter – at least working females would gradually come to be able to invest a sizeable proportion of their income in clothes and accessories that allowed them to attain an “elegant sexuality”. Interestingly, the fashion industry was itself very much aware of the potentialities of such a process in the world of female aesthetics – when, it is said, Christian Dior had been asked to reveal what the “key” to good dressing was, he had responded as follows: “There is no key. If there were it would be too easy, rich women could buy the key and all their fashion worries would be over! But simplicity, grooming and good taste – the three fundamentals of fashion – cannot be bought. But they can be learnt, by rich and poor alike” (cf. www.elegantwoman.org/timeless.html). Dior’s observation suggests that female aesthetics can cut right across class lines and are not necessarily reflective of objective class position or economic capacity. An “Amalia-type” that could master the techniques of “looking expensive” could also discover the “key” to looking “elegant” or “sexy”. In this 1968 discourse, however, such “key” was being obfuscated by the sheer opulence that is being suggested. Again, the reality of work – or of whatever “practical domain” in a woman’s “lifeworld” – is completely missing. In response to such other-worldly-extravagance as expressed in this sample, young, so-called “Left-wing” writers would write “protest literature” in the 1970’s that was deeply cynical of whatever opulence in female fashion:

«Μα κυττάξτε την, αυτήν την καπελλίνα
την φοράει μαζί με τα μπιζού των 5.000.000,
κυττάξτε την, πληθωρική σαν την ίδια την
αστική τάξη, χαρίζει τα ύφη της πέρα δώθε»
(cf. Stavros Antoniou, «Μοντιλιάνι»,
in G.A. Panagiotou (ed.), Γενιά του ‘70,
Σίσυφος, 1979, p. 38).

The fourth caption presents us with a different type of problem, though not unrelated to what characterizes the whole of this discourse presented in the Συλλογή periodical. Its reference to the “teenage look” and the «νεανική εντύπωσι» were definitely expressive of the age – the “Twiggy look” mentioned above was itself one important dimension of the cultural practices at the time, and the accompanying photograph in Συλλογή depicts a rather “sexy-looking” teenager reminiscent of “Twiggy” (she dares stick her tongue out, licking her upper lip). The caption and photograph, therefore, present us with a cultural phenomenon that placed an emphasis on teenagehood and the sexually provocative attributes of the young female. Such trend would have caught on amongst certain segments of female school goers in late 1960’s Greece, and there is no reason why we should rule out the possibility that Amalia Eleftheriadou as a high school pupil could have in some way been influenced by such trend. In fact, Greek films of the 1960’s would often depict the “school-girl” image in its prepubescent sexuality (as in «Το Ξύλο Βγήκε Απ’ Τον Παράδεισο», filmed in 1959, and thus prefiguring the image of a “Twiggy”). But, then, if that be the case, why speak of a problematic discourse? The point here is that the discourse of the fourth caption isolates the age factor as the single most prevalent reality of young females in Greece at the time – but we well know that, while dominant, the age factor (and the concomitant question of teenage sexuality) was not the only determining factor for the reality of a working “Amalia-type”. For the real Amalia Eleftheriadou of the 1960’s, it would have been extremely difficult (not to say painful) to join the dots between a “sexy” little «βεντέττα» as depicted in the photograph and her everyday life as a “Clerk”. At the same time, this would not at all mean that the “Amalia-type” would have remained indifferent to the contours of her own figure – even since the very early 1960’s, young women would be fully conscious of their body-shape. Consider the following extract from a book written in 1961:

«Αν τυχόν… συναντήση κανένα θηλυκό, που
ξέρει ότι θέλει ν’ αδυνατίση, του λέει: “Πώς
τα καταφέρατε και παχύνατε Δεσποινίς; Εγίνατε
σα φούσκα. Να μην τρώτε πολύ. Τι κρίμα,
εχάσατε τελείως την ωραία σιλουέττα σας. Να
κάνετε αυστηρή δίαιτα.” Και την χαιρετάει
γελαστός, και φεύγει ευχαριστημένος, γιατί
έβαλε ο αθεόφοβος, άλλους καϋμούς, βάσανα
και “ντέρτια” στο κοκκορόμυαλο Δεσποινίδιον»
(cf. Vasilis Attikos, Ψώνια και τύποι της σημερινής
Αθήνας, 1961, p. 65).

The fifth sample may be said to be guilty of “provocative-interventionism”: in the context of a sexual revolution that was still in the process of discovering a certain delicate balance between “conservative traditionalism” and “modernity” in female aesthetics, whatever emphasis on some «νότα εκκεντρικότητος» would not have been easily digested by the “Amalia-type”. This would have been especially so when the “eccentric” would be combined with an untimely re-evaluation of “ethical” values that went beyond the cultural capacities of the 1960’s “Amalia-type” (the latter would only “mother” what was to fix and crystallize as a new orrery of moral values in the period of the 1970’s and thereafter). The sample-caption – promoting Dior products – refers to «Σορτς για το βράδυ» and the accompanying photograph depicts two young models sporting what almost amounts to a pair of “hot pants”. The latter would definitely be adopted by a section of the female population, but only in the 1970’s. In the period of the Military Dictatorship, the Minister of the Interior, Stylianos Pattakos, had tried to ban the mini skirt, but had very soon realized that whatever such attempts would be in vain. By the 1970’s, segments of the young female population would be sporting either the mini skirt or a pair of “hot pants”, or would alternate between the one or the other. Symptomatically, it would be in the decade of the 1970’s that a theatrical show would be staged entitled «Καυτά Σορτσάκια» (1971) at the Alsos Pagkratiou. Apparently, the 1968 Dior discourse still remained ahead of its time with respect to “sexual” provocation via the “hot look” (the particular design of the outfits, however, would ultimately wither and die, as we shall see in discussing the sixth sample) . As such, its reference to the romantic element («ρομαντικές μπλούζες») would have somewhat escaped the “worldview” of the “Amalia-type”. As in all of the samples discussed thus far, the terrain of work is completely by-passed.

The motif of the sixth sample must be of special interest to the social historian: it represents an excellent case of that type of fashion design of the 1960’s that would be rather assiduously promoted by certain fashion houses of the day, but would finally have to be withdrawn because female youth in Europe (let alone the “Amalia-type” in Greece) so decided. In many ways similar to the type of design also presented in the fifth sample (the element of “eccentricity”), this sixth sample presents the reader with outfits based on the “geometric motif” («γεωμετρικά μοτίβα»). The photograph accompanying the sixth caption presents us with a lady wearing a coat distinctly expressive of such motif. One sees bold, sharp lines that do not at all “cling” to the wearer – the coat fails to follow the body-shape of the woman who wears it (our observations here are based on the photograph itself but also, inter alia, on: vintagefashionsguild.org/fashion-history/trends-of-the-mid-1960’s – interestingly, the latter site presents us with a picture which is a near-facsimile of the one in the fifth sample of Συλλογή). The point here is that the aim of “geometric fashions” was, for once, to draw attention away from the wearer and focus onto the fashion as such – the bold, sharp geometrical lines would create entirely their own shape and look. As the site (ibid.) puts it: “When you wear a geometric dress you almost become the dress, adopting its shape, its boldness”. What we had here, therefore, was fashion for the sake of fashion – something which females of the 1960’s, and especially so in the case of the “Amalia-type”, would come to completely ignore (we shall come back to the question of fashion for its own sake). As the “geometric look” progressed through the decade, it would never manage to improve or even match the initial success of the look (for a small segment of the young female population in Europe) when it was launched in the mid 1960’s. By 1969, the bold, strong geometric shapes had become all too extreme and had thereby, as the site puts it, “wiped out the femininity of the wearer” (my emph.). By hiding the body-shape of a woman, and by more or less obliterating her femininity or “sexuality”, this type of fashion was basically moving against the current of the sexual revolution. An “Amalia-type” cared for fashion as such – but cared much more for her own body, and would never sacrifice the latter for the former. This, it seems, would also apply to most young females in the Western world, for it was these females that were the vanguard subjects of the sexual revolution (it would be this popular, grassroots revolution that would mostly determine the fashion revolution, and not vice versa). But this type of “geometric” fashion – and the discourse that would accompany it – not only ignored the body, it also ignored the “working body” (as is obvious in the Συλλογή caption). While the caption’s reference to “appeal” («γοητεία») would be lost, given the dysfunctionality of the design, the reality of work would be concealed by a simple omission of such reality.

The final sample-caption – referring to «Μια ‘Μπόννι’ με αριστοκρατική εμφάνισι» – obviously expresses the fashion style which emerged following the 1967 motion picture, “Bonnie and Clyde”, starring Faye Dunaway. The latter’s style of dress – and the ensuing fashion trend – evoked a sense of 1930’s “elegance” and “glamour” that was in some way reminiscent of the “elegance” and “glamour” of the “classic” style (cf. the third sample). The “Bonnie look”, and as is evident in the photograph of Συλλογή, went against the fashionable mini skirt of the 1960’s – it placed emphasis on the so-called “aristocratic look” (as the caption itself also states). It would not be unrealistic to assume that, by 1968, the “Amalia-type” could adopt elements of this trend, but only in the sense that an Amalia Eleftheriadou had been gradually developing techniques whereby she could make herself “look expensive”. The implication is that the authentic “Bonnie look” could only have been adopted by the middle-middle and upper-middle classes at the time (though it goes without saying that the “Amalia-type” would have “eyed” females belonging to such strata and sporting such a “look”). Finally, one may here make an observation regarding the question of the relationship between the “economic” and the “extra-economic” fields in the discourse of this seventh sample-discourse: while the designer of the “Bonnie look”, Theadora Van Runkle, had intended such style for both work and “play”, the caption makes no attempt to conjoin these two fields of life. The intentions of the designer were to create clothes that “people could wear to work and wear in their real lives” (cf. classiq.me/style-faye-dunaway-in-bonnie-and-clyde). The caption, in contrast, simply speaks of an «εμφάνισι για το βράδυ» (and is thereby consistent with the fifth sample-caption, which also refers to «Σορτς για το βράδυ»).

On considering these sample-captions, one would immediately conclude that all of their discourse clearly does not fall within the ambit of the “adjustive” type of discourse – even more importantly for our purposes here, all such discourse obviously obliterates whatever continuum between work and “eros”. The latter element – whether presented in the form of a seductive “Twiggy” or in the form of a softly “romantic” young lady wearing a “classic” style of outfit – is isolated as the one and only “moment” in the life of a 1960’s young female. But while all this is true, we should also examine the specific manner in which such “non-adjustive” discourse (coming from global fashion houses such as Dior) is presented to the Greek reader of the 1960’s via the pages of a periodical such as Συλλογή. Our examination of such presentation will reveal that the periodical in question turns all the tables upside down.

The seven captions/photographs discussed above are accompanied by a Συλλογή editorial which attempts to “correct” the global discourse of all such captions. What it does is to essentially re-adjust such global discourse to the Greek reality. At the same time, it very subtly attempts to re-join the field of “beauty” (or of “eros”, or of “their real lives”, as Theadora Van Runkle had put it) with that of the field of the “practical” (or of “everydayness”). Here, “beauty” becomes part of a continuum which also includes “everydayness”. Alternatively, “personal taste” is itself part of a continuum which also includes “everyday practical need”. Such “re-adjustment” can only but reject all so-called “high fashion”. Further, it can only but reject the idea of “fashion for the sake of fashion”. This very important little text reads as follows:

«ΔΕΝ ΕΙΝΑΙ ίσως η “υψηλή μόδα” των μεγάλων
μαιτρ, με τις “παρνασιακές” αντιλήψεις της
“μόδας για τη μόδα” ή τις αξιώσεις μιας μοναδικής
κι’ ανεπανάληπτης δημιουργίας, εκείνη που
ενδιαφέρει τις πολλές γυναίκες. Αλλά η μόδα η
καθημερινή, η ευκολοφόρετη κι’ απλή. Με λίγα
λόγια, η μόδα στην πιο εκλαϊκευμένη της έκφραση,
εκείνη που θα κυκλοφορήση στους δρόμους,
εκείνη που θα συγκεντρώση αμέτρητα βλέμματα
θαυμασμού στο πέρασμά της, ανάλαφρη, γοητευτική,
προσωπική… Είναι η μόδα που θα προσαρμόσετε
σεις στον τύπο σας, με μιάν απόλυτη ελευθερία
εκλογής στα μοντέλα, στα αξεσουάρ, στα χρώματα»
(cf. Συλλογή, ibid., p. 164, my emph.).

This is a text that intricately and very discretely attempts to combine “moments” in the life of a 1960’s young female in a manner which would fully express the “psyche” of the “New Type” – the combinatory which is constructed is made up of the following component parts:

1. Everydayness/practicality/simplicity («η μόδα η καθημερινή, η ευκολοφόρετη κι’ η απλή») +
2. Popularized or democratized fashion («στην πιο εκλαϊκευμένη της έκφραση») +
3. Sensual attraction implicitly suggesting “beauty” («που θα συγκεντρώση αμέτρητα βλέμματα θαυμασμού») +
4. A personalized aesthetic taste («γοητευτική, προσωπική») +
5. Adjustive free choice («που θα προσαρμόσετε σεις στον τύπο σας, με μιαν απόλυτη ελευθερία εκλογής»).

Elsewhere in this same issue of Συλλογή, the editors provide their young readers with pieces of advice that rather coherently complement their general understanding of fashion practices as presented above. They emphasize the importance of the development of personal techniques whereby, as individuals, youngsters should be able to cultivate and celebrate the “small joys” of life – viz.:

«… τις μικρές ευτυχίες της καθημερινότητος.
Αυτές που δίνουν ένα νόημα στην ζωή, χωρίς
ποτέ να φθάνουν στ’ άκρα. Η ζωή δεν είναι
ποτέ ούτε ανυπόφορα “μαύρη” ούτε συνεχώς
ρόδινη…»
(cf. Συλλογή, ibid., p. 168, my emph.).

This emphasis on the so-called “small joys” of “everydayness” – and which is also an admonition to steer clear of “extremities” – would have more or less expressed the aggregate of individuals composing the “Amalia-type” of the 1960’s: her essentially “transitional” nature would have urged her to both experiment with the “new” and to “protect” herself from the “extremities” of such “new” (both as regards fashion trends and “ethical” behaviour generally). The working “Amalia-type” would see and experience her life as a “blessing + curse in-one” (and which is precisely what this Συλλογή text wishes to imply). One “blessing” would be the fact that she had a job and therefore brought in some income to support herself and her family. Yet another much more important “blessing” would be her “free time” and the potentialities of “gamesplaying ” (in the sense used by Eric Berne, in his Games people play, Grove Press, 1964). Such “gamesplaying”, of course, could become an overdetermining factor in her life when it entered the “erotic” field. Here, both work and “play” could constitute a “blessing”. On the other hand, were the “erotic” to become obsessively overdetermining in a manner which exacerbated the so-called “miserable passions”, “gamesplaying” could possibly have mutated into a “curse”. At the same time, the very fact of having to work could be a “curse” in itself (and especially so when as a “Clerk” one had to do tasks as one’s boss would be breathing down one’s neck). In this case, both work and “play” would be experienced as a “curse”.

Of course, the idea that the “Amalia-type’s” life was a “blessing + curse in-one” could all too simply be reduced to the equation: work = survival = “curse”, while “play” = life per se = “blessing”. Alternatively, one could argue that since work was an alienating “curse”, all of a working person’s life would itself be a “curse”. But we know that such latter reductionism is completely unrealistic, simply reproducing a dogmatic Marxism that assumes work to be the single most important experience in a person’s life (the bedroom could provide an even more intense cluster of experiences, but which lies well beyond the reach of most historiography). The strength of the Συλλογή text is that it refuses to identify which “moments” in a person’s life are a “curse” and which a “blessing” – rather, it sees a continuum between such “moments”. Both the “Amalia-type” as a young person and the advertizing discourse which expressed her would often assert just such (albeit it contradictory and tension-filled) continuity. As already mentioned, this “blessing” + “curse” continuum – which was a continuum united by the “small moments” of “everydayness” – must be understood as a “myth-making” ideological discourse trying to present a specific interpretation of a “lifeworld”. As such, it may be directly contrasted to Bataille’s approach which, as we have seen, had posited the “erotic” sphere as a form of life irreconcilably opposed to the “economic”. While Bataille’s thought was essentially a theoretical utopianism, the Συλλογή text was basically describing the somewhat uneasy “psyche” of the “Amalia-type”.

The 1970’s would produce advertizing discourse that would further assert this continuum between the “economic” and the “extra-economic”. Some advertisements would stick to the subtleties of the 1960’s and thus avoid referring to the sphere of work per se. For instance, in 1979, the weekly periodical, Επίκαιρα, would present its readers with a photograph of a smartly dressed lady and which would be accompanied with the following caption:

«ΤΑ ΜΑΚΩ είναι ρούχα που ιδιαίτερα
θα φορεθούν το καλοκαίρι ’79.
Σε λευκό, με ζώνη κόκκινη και πουά λευκά,
το μοντέλο της Anna Club είναι πρακτικό
και όμορφο…»
(cf. Επίκαιρα, Αρ. Τεύχ. 565, 31.5.1979,
p. 111, my emph.).

But such subtle conjoining of the “practical” with the “beautiful” would gradually give way to an open assertion that a woman’s life could only but be a holistic experience that combined work per se with “erotic play”. Such new and open discourse would take a number of things for granted:

1. The question of “modernity”: there was no longer any need to place much emphasis on the “modern woman”, or to wish to differentiate her from the rest;
2. The question of sensuality or “sexuality”: there was no longer any need to present the new “ethics” pertaining to the female body in whatever sublimated or genteel form – for instance, the periodical Επίκαιρα could, in 1979, speak of «εξαίσια γυναικεία κορμιά με μονοκίνι… γυναίκες που διάλεξαν την απόλυτη ελευθερία στο ντύσιμο…» (ibid., pp. 108-109). This issue of the periodical would publish full-colour photographs of bare-breasted women stretched out on the beach;
3. The question pertaining to the status of work: as discussed in examining the case of Miss B. Th. above, work would no longer be a mere means to economic survival – it would attain a value in-itself as a self-fulfilling “career”.

The fact that all three such variables could finally be taken for granted would have a direct impact on advertizing discourse – the latter could now freely and openly present work and “play” as constituting the “game of life” itself (interestingly, Berne’s 1964 study of human relations, op. cit., would see both work and “play” as part and parcel of the “games” people played).

But having said all that with respect to post 1960’s advertizing discourse, we need to add an extremely important caveat. At least as regards the 1970’s, such open references to work + “play” would really only be addressed to the middle-middle and upper-middle classes. Perhaps this observation may be put otherwise as follows: the work + “play” (or “eros”) paradigm becomes more emphatic in advertizing discourse as one goes up the ladder of social classes addressed to in the period of the 1970’s. Such discourse was initially addressed to those segments of Greek civil society that had “jumped” (or were in the process of “jumping”) objective class position – and we here need to keep in mind the fluidity of Greek social stratification and the mobility that could allow one to move to the upper strata of the middle classes, and which would give birth to a variety of cases belonging to the “professional classes” (both in the private but especially so in the public sector). By the 1980’s, of course, the status of work as “careerism” would apply to increasingly larger segments of the female population, and what was an embryonic discourse in the 1960’s and an exclusivist discourse in the 1970’s would be consummated as a dominant popular discourse fully expressive of the condition or potentialities of Greek working women thereafter.

Advertizing discourse addressed to the new “professional classes” in the 1970’s would take a variety of forms – one excellent example is advertizing that promoted the Diners Club of Greece. Such advertizing discourse would clearly bring together the personal life and the professional life of an individual: this coming together would be materialized via the “DINERS CLUB INTERNATIONAL – Greece Credit Bank”. The May 1979 issue of Επίκαιρα referred to above would carry a full-colour two-page advertisement promoting the Diners Club credit card amongst the “professional” classes – parts of its discourse read as follows:

«Χαρείτε
το γοητευτικό τρόπο ζωής
των μελών του
DinersClub

Με την Κάρτα Diners Club ανήκετε σε μια
διεθνή κοινωνία που τα μέλη της αναγνωρίζονται
σε 150 χώρες και έχουν το προνόμιο να κάνουν
αγορές, να ταξιδεύουν, να διασκεδάζουν, να
περιποιούνται τους φίλους τους, να χαίρονται
και να απολαμβάνουν τη ζωή χρησιμοποιώντας
αντί χρήμα την Κάρτα Diners Club… Περισσότερες
από 400.000 επιχειρήσεις στην Ελλάδα και σε όλο
τον κόσμο, θεωρούν τα μέλη Diners Club εκλεκτούς
πελάτες τους!

Με την Κάρτα Diners Club έχετε το γοητευτικό
τρόπο ζωής κυριολεκτικά στα χέρια σας! Να πώς:

Αγοράζετε από τα καλύτερα καταστήματα

Μεγάλα καταστήματα, καταστήματα ανδρικών
και γυναικείων ειδών, μπουτίκ, κοσμηματοπωλεία…
καταστήματα… για γούνες, ανθοπωλεία,
κομμωτήρια… σας προσφέρουν τα είδη και τις
υπηρεσίες τους χωρίς χρήμα και στις ίδιες τιμές –
μόνο με την Κάρτα σας Diners Club.

Ταξιδεύετε με το DinersWorldTravel

To Diners World Travel είναι το ταξιδιωτικό γραφείο
που εξυπηρετεί αποκλειστικά τα μέλη του Diners Club.
Οργανώνει για σας εκδρομές και κρουαζιέρες,
φροντίζει για το συνάλλαγμά σας, κλείνει δωμάτια σε
ξενοδοχεία και παρέχει κάθε ταξιδιωτική εξυπηρέτηση
σε σας και σε όσα άτομα θέλετε, χρεώνοντας την Κάρτα
σας…

Απολαμβάνετε τα καλύτερα ξενοδοχεία, εστιατόρια
και κέντρα διασκεδάσεως

Ζείτε στο περιβάλλον των πιο σύγχρονων ξενοδοχείων,
στην Ελλάδα και στο εξωτερικό, και στην ατμόσφαιρα των
πιο ονομαστών κέντρων διασκεδάσεως, των πιο πολυτελών
εστιατορίων, των πιο γραφικών ταβερνών. Περιποιείστε
τους καλεσμένους σας και τακτοποιείτε το λογαριασμό με
τον πιο διακριτικό τρόπο: με την Κάρτα σας Diners Club…

Ξεχωρίζετε τα επαγγελματικά σας έξοδα

Εκτός από την προσωπική σας Κάρτα Diners Club που
χρησιμοποιείτε στην Ελλάδα και στο εξωτερικό, το Diners
Club σας δίνει τη δυνατότητα να αποκτήσετε και μια άλλη
Κάρτα, την επαγγελματική. Την χρησιμοποιείτε στην Ελλάδα
όταν τα έξοδά σας αφορούν την επιχείρησή σας. Έτσι – και
για πρώτη φορά στην Ελλάδα – ένα σύστημα πιστωτικών
καρτών ξεχωρίζει τα προσωπικά από τα επαγγελματικά
έξοδα και ο σχετικός λογαριασμός του Diners Club
ισοδυναμεί επίσημα με τιμολόγιο…

Ελάτε στο γοητευτικό τρόπο ζωής

Ο σημερινός τρόπος ζωής έχει αλλάξει. Είναι πιο γρήγορος,
πιο δυναμικός και πιο πρακτικός. Η Κάρτα Diners Club
κάνει για σας αυτόν τον τρόπο ζωής γοητευτικό. Γίνετε
κι εσείς μέλος του Diners Club. Χαρείτε το γοητευτικό
τρόπο ζωής…»
(cf. Επίκαιρα, ibid., pp. 4-5).

Before we examine the discourse of this advertisement, it is important to say a few words about Diners Club as a services company and very briefly point to certain more general or possibly theoretical implications related to the type of services it has offered. This is what the company, which was founded in 1950, has to say of itself:

“Diners Club International Ltd. Is a direct
banking and payment services company
owned by Discover Financial Services
(NYSE: DFS), one of the most recognized
brands in US financial services… Diners Club
membership is for the select global citizen
who wants to experience the best the world
has to offer”
(cf. https://www.dinersclub.com/about-us/overview,
my emph.).

The same source continues, this time addressing itself to its clients:

“Experience distinction in dining and travel.
Diners Club supports global dining and
entertainment partnerships, so that all its
Clubmembers have access to unique benefits
and Privileges around the world”
(ibid., my emph.).

The first and quite obvious point one should note here is that the very purpose of this services company is to enable its clients (all of these being “professionals” in the world of business) to combine work with entertainment (“dining and entertainment partnerships”). As importantly, services companies such as Diners Club may be related to the context of so-called “globalization” (“global citizens”). The role of the credit card, and especially given the function of “Diners World Travel” (which automatically renders the credit card a global means of exchange) definitely raises questions as to the role of companies such as Diners Club in the processes of “globalization” in the 1970’s and thereafter. Much has been written on this, and specifically with respect to “processes of consumption” and how these may relate to so-called “globalization theory” (perhaps the best known work in this field is that of George Ritzer, Explorations in the sociology of consumption, SAGE, 2001). Ritzer examines the function of credit cards in consumer behaviour and relates such behaviour to globalization (he has also spoken of the “McDonaldization” of societies).

Diners Club would be launched in Greece in 1959. We know that its strategy of combining work with entertainment would only be targeting the up-and-coming “professional” classes, and these would only make their presence felt as a social stratum by the 1970’s. This combination of work + “play”, of course, would also have to be related to “cultural globalization”. Throughout this project, we have tried to deal with the impact of whatever “global” by examining advertizing discourse in its various stages of “adjustment” to local conditions. The extent to which a services company such as Diners Club would actually “standardize” socio-cultural behaviour amongst the middle-middle and upper-middle classes remains an open and rather complex question – and it is complex because one cannot seriously address it unless one also takes into consideration the relatively dependent development of a social formation such as Greece. We shall come back to this further below, and with special reference to the case of Amalia Eleftheriadou’s employer, Marakis.

We may now examine the content of the discourse of the 1979 Επίκαιρα advertisement. The basic points to make, albeit all of them quite self-evident, are the following:

1. The discourse wishes to introduce the Greek “professional” to the international community of his/her corresponding counterparts, and thus verifies Ritzer’s attempt (op. cit.) to relate the operation of a services company such as Diners Club to the processes of “globalization” (note, for instance, phrases such as «ανήκετε σε μια διεθνή κοινωνία», or the reference to “Diners World Travel”, as also the idea that the credit card is meant for various services «στην Ελλάδα και στο εξωτερικό»).
2. The discourse is addressed exclusively to those select few who are aware of their social exclusivity and wish to confirm it through their style of life. We have seen how the global discourse of Diners Club International Ltd. had emphatically spoken of “unique benefits and Privileges” (and note the capital “P”). Similarly, the Diners Club discourse aimed at Greek “professionals” itself speaks of «προνόμιο» and «εκλεκτούς πελάτες».
3. That which is being promulgated is a new mode of life – viz. «το γοητευτικό τρόπο ζωής». We may mention here that, with respect to what the discourse refers to as «γοητευτικό» (in the sense of charming, delighting, or enchanting), Ritzer has himself spoken of “enchantment” – via “spectacle” – as a means of luring consumers to a product or service (cf. his Enchanting a disenchanted world – continuity and change in the cathedrals of consumption, SAGE, 2010).
4. This new mode of life revolves around a variety of new, very closely interrelated practices, be these related to consumption (including the consumption of beauty products for females) and/or travel. But all such practices are circumscribed by socializing – the Επίκαιρα advertisement makes frequent references to entertaining «φίλους» and «καλεσμένους» (clearly echoing the global discourse of Diners Club International Ltd., which speaks of “entertainment partnerships”).
5. The implications are lucid: a crystal-clear continuum has been established between personal pleasure and the tasks of business.
6. It is true that the Επίκαιρα discourse draws a distinction between business expenses and personal expenses, as each of these are catered for by separate credit cards. But this constitutes a purely technical matter – in fact, all expenses are seen as dimensions of one’s personal pleasure («χαρείτε», «απολαμβάνετε»). Put otherwise, the equilibrium of work + “play”, wherein both practices take place at equal rates, is a condition covered by one, single system – viz. «ένα σύστημα πιστωτικών καρτών».

The Επίκαιρα advertisement is accompanied by a number of full-colour photographs that reinforce the written discourse in their own way. They depict, inter alia, beauty products for females as also well-dressed male and female “professionals” busy socializing. One photograph shows a sexy young lady embracing a smartly-dressed executive; yet another shows a couple possibly exchanging gifts; yet a third shows a young lady hugging a well-dressed male at a hotel reception area as they are preparing to go up to their room. The hint is apparent: “professionals” know how to combine work with sex. At least as regards certain sections of 1970’s Greek youth who were either students or university graduates, the sex act between friends and acquaintances was often treated as a matter of mere routine – consider how a writer of the “1970’s Generation” writes about sex in his days (and which is an attitude fully verified by Velica Vozini, op. cit.):

«Εκείνος προσφέρει γενναιόδωρα, στέγη
σε όλους και το κρεβάτι του σε όλους, δεν
έχει αντίρρηση για καμιά και για κανέναν,
το γαμίσι έμεινε ο μόνος τρόπος κοσμικής
συναναστροφής στις μέρες μας – “ας
αρχίσουμε έτσι, για φιλίες και έρωτες βλέπουμε
ύστερα”… [M]ια τις προάλλες στεκόταν με τις
βαλίτσες της μες στη μέση, εκείνος βαρέθηκε,
ξάπλωσε, ύστερα άνοιξε την κουβέρτα –
ούτε που του άρεσε, μα για να δείξει κοινωνικός:
“έλα”, της είπε…»
(cf. Katerina Plassara, «Αίτηση για την είσοδο στην Ε.Ο.Κ.»,
in Γενιά του ‘70, op. cit, p. 187).

The “Amalia-type” of the 1960’s had no inkling as to what was a credit card. She had, most probably, seen advertisements promoting Diners Club (or American Express), but these would really have made little sense to her. Her descendants would definitely catch up with the practices of using a credit card by the 1980’s. Yet still, the Diners Club discourse of the late 1970’s – whereby work and “play” would be presented as a natural duality of “modern” life – would be prefigured in advertizing discourse of the 1960’s that spoke of the “aesthetic” and the “practical” as co-existing “lifeworlds”.

Specifically as regards all the practices involved in using a Diners Club, one should here contrast the case of the “Amalia-type” to that of her employer, Marakis. File No. 71 of the Marakis Archives provides us with two pieces of evidence which verify that the Marakis family – or some member/s of that family – had joined Diners Club.

First, the File contains two Diners Club envelopes addressed to: a) «Μ.Α., ΧΑΛΚΟΚΟΝΔΥΛΗ 19, ΑΘΗΝΑΙ…»; and b) «Μ.Ι., ΧΑΛΚΟΚΟΝΔΥΛΗ 19, ΑΘΗΝΑΙ…». Both are dated 28.11.1975. Μ.Α. was one of Marakis’ three daughters, who was 27 years old in 1975. The street address on the envelopes is that of the Athens Headquarters of the A&M Mill.

A second item contained in the File is an invoice from the “DINERS CLUB OF GREECE S.A.”, dated 30.06.1979, and concerns another of Marakis’ daughter, M. (the year/month happens to be the exact same as when Επίκαιρα published its Diners Club advertisement). If only for the sake of interest, we shall quote part of this document as it gives us a sample picture of the amount of drachmas a Marakis daughter could spend via her Diners Club card (and one may contrast this to the remuneration of various categories of A&M employees at the time – cf. our analysis of A&M wage scales in the 1960’s-early 1980’s period). The invoice reads as follows (we should keep in mind that the inflation rate had reached 19% at the time):

“DINERS CLUB OF GREECE S.A.
30.06.79…
Μ.Μ.
ΗΑΛΚΟΚΟΝΔΥΛΗ 19
ΑΘΗΝΑΙ…

Dear Member,
Indicated below is computation of your account.
Balance due is payable within seven (7) days from
receipt of this statement.

MONTHLY STATEMENT

CODE 52 [PAST DUE BALANCE] – DEBIT: 6.124, 00
CODE 78 [LATE FEE] – DEBIT: 56, 00
CODE 01 [BILLING] – DEBIT: 1.700, 40
CODE 01 [BILLING] – DEBIT: 1.626, 00
CODE 01 [BILLING] – DEBIT: 1.638, 00

BALANCE DUE: 11.144, 40”
(cf. Marakis Archives, File No. 17).

We have said that the descendants of the “Amalia-type” would, by the 1980’s, themselves have been initiated to the use of a credit card (naturally, this could also have included a now matured Amalia Eleftheriadou herself, who would be in her ‘30’s). We may note that a “Cashier-Clerk” working for the A&M Company in late 1983 would be earning a daily wage amounting to 920 drachmas, and which would mean a monthly income of 23.000 drachmas (cf. the A&M «Μισθολόγιο» for 1983 – the inflation rate stood at 20.9% at the time). To the extent that such a “Cashier-Clerk” could afford to be a Diners Club member by the 1980’s, that category of 1979 Επίκαιρα discourse promoting Diners Club – which would be updated and reproduced to address itself to larger masses of people – would now also have attracted the attention of such “Cashier-Clerk”. The original “exclusivity” would gradually give way to a dominant popular discourse. By now, it would be no provocation to openly and lucidly relate work with entertainment and the sexual “games” that went with the latter.

It has been said that Diners Club, as a “professional” practice, both symbolized and practically materialized what Ritzer refers to as “globalization”. This should mean, by implication, that “professionals” across the globe would presumably relate to work and entertainment in a manner that expressed certain “globalized standards”. And yet, we know that such an idea remains problematic. That Diners Club membership would necessarily mean an adjustment to whatever “standards” cannot simply be taken for granted. For one thing, the very term “globalization” is too vague and unqualified to allow us to consider it a “concept” of any serious socio-historical usage. But much more specifically, the term forces us to posit the following concrete question: to what extent could one say that the Marakis family in 1979 or the “Cashier-Clerk” of 1983 had mutated into “global citizens”? To be able to accurately answer that type of question one needs to have already settled a number of issues – here, we can only point to these: a) it may be argued that processes of so-called “globalization” manifested themselves unevenly and always in accordance with the material and ideological/cultural conditions of the social formation wherein such processes would penetrate; b) as such, processes and standards of “globalization” would have to adjust to such conditions; c) this would mean that such processes and standards would ultimately manifest themselves in a distorted manner; d) such distortion would nonetheless maintain the essential elements of a discourse that wished to present work and “play” as a continuum of modern-day life; e) the unevenness, adjustment, distortion and maintenance would all be variables dependant on the social stratums wherein they would manifest themselves: “globalization standards” could become increasingly distorted as one moved down the ladder of social stratification and vice-versa. Of course, it would not only be social stratification as such that would determine the specific manifestations of “globalization” – one would also have to examine the realities of a geographical region, the sex and age of the subject, and so on. For instance, we know that Marakis’ daughters would be infinitely more “modern” and experimental than was their father. We also know that a “Cashier-Clerk” working in Athens would herself be more “modern” and experimental than would her counterpart in a region such as Aliartos. All along however, at least the rudiments of such continuum would be heralded by 1960’s advertizing discourse and would become distinct and integral characteristics of much of 1980’s discourse.

In 1980, the periodical Επίκαιρα would publish the following advertisement:

«Μάρσα Μάννινγκ

ΒΙΠΕΡ – ΝΟΡΑ…
Πικραμένη καρδιά

Στα είκοσι δύο της, η Κάρολ ήταν
μια επιτυχημένη διαφημίστρια.
Ήταν σίγουρη για τον εαυτό της,
κομψή, όμορφη και δυναμική.
Η μόνη αδυναμία της ήταν
Ο Τζιλ – ο Τζιλ, ο μόνος άντρας
που είχε σημασία στη ζωή της.
Μόνο ο Τζιλ έκανε τον σφυγμό της
να χτυπάει ξέφρενα και την
καρδιά της να μεθάει από έκσταση.
Μόνο ο Τζιλ την έκανε να βάζει
σε δεύτερη μοίρα
τις επαγγελματικές της φιλοδοξίες.
Και τώρα κάποιος της είπε
πως ο Τζιλ ήταν παντρεμένος…

ΕΚΥΚΛΟΦΟΡΗΣΕ…
ΒΙΠΕΡ»
(cf. Επίκαιρα, Αρ. Τεύχ. 601, 7.2.1980,
p. 3).

Before we examine this 1980 advertizing discourse, we shall have to say a few things about the type of book that was being promoted here – viz. the «Βίπερ – Νόρα» pocketbook series circulated by the Πάπυρος publishing company (which, by the way, also issued Επίκαιρα).

It would be in 1970 that the first «Βίπερ» pocketbook would circulate. Its price was relatively cheap, selling at 14 drachmas at the time (a newspaper would cost 2 drachmas). By 1975, Πάπυρος bought the serial rights for branded “lines” of category romance from the UK publishing company, Mills & Boon Ltd. (the latter being the UK’s market leader in romance stories and with a history that dated back to the 1930’s). Thus, the highly popular «Βίπερ – Νόρα» romantic series was to be launched in Greece in the mid 1970’s. It would be a lady by the name of Athina Kakouri that would be translating the «Βίπερ – Νόρα» romantic series. Perhaps we should also mention at this point that, by 1979, the «Βίπερ – Νόρα» pocketbooks would be challenged by their major competitor, «Άρλεκιν». The latter romantic series would be introduced to Greece by «Χάρλενικ [sic] Ελλάς Εκδοτική ΑΒΕΕ», and which would be related to the Canadian-based Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. The romantic discourse of the «Άρλεκιν» series would gradually mutate from a “soft” discourse to one that was more sexually provocative – book covers would often come to depict half-nude couples. Ultimately, it would be the «Άρλεκιν» series that would prevail over «Βίπερ – Νόρα».

It has been said that the zenith of the «Βίπερ – Νόρα» pocketbook would be between 1970 and 1976 (although, as we see in the Επίκαιρα advertisement above, the series would still be in circulation in the early 1980’s). Certain sources have suggested that the «Βίπερ» pocketbooks would come to constitute an «επανάσταση του βιβλίου στην Ελλάδα» (cf., inter alia, www.andro.gr/apopsi/viper-h-epanastash-tou-vivliou-sthn-ellada/ – most of the data cited herein have been retrieved from this source). Thus, the same source asserts:

«Η μεγάλη απήχηση των βιβλίων τσέπης
που κυκλοφόρησε η εκδοτική εταιρεία
Πάπυρος στη δεκαετία του ’70 ήταν ένα
εκδοτικό φαινόμενο που δύσκολα μπορεί
να επαναληφθεί…»
(ibid.).

And further, with respect to such pocketbooks, the same source continues:

«… έφερναν έναν αέρα μοντέρνας ζωής στο
ελληνικό περίπτερο»
(ibid.).

In an important sense, the «Βίπερ» pocketbooks – and especially the «Βίπερ – Νόρα» romantic novels read by young females – would play a role in the “Amalia-type’s” coming-of-age: the discourse of such novels would have an effect on the maturation of youth, and especially as regards a “modernistic” maturation both in the field of romance/sexuality and in the field of work.

We may now consider the Επίκαιρα advertisement promoting the romantic novel, Πικραμένη καρδιά. Its advertizing discourse, necessarily referring to both the field of work and to that of “eros”, takes the following form:

1. The advertisement speaks of a young lady, «Κάρολ», who is just 22 years old: the discourse is mainly addressed to young females around that age.
2. Although just 22 years of age, «Κάρολ» has managed to firmly establish herself in the business world – she is a successful executive in the advertizing industry («μια επιτυχημένη διαφημίστρια»). It is not incidental that she is a successful “career woman” in the advertizing industry in particular – working for an advertizing agency would gradually come to be considered “smart” and “glossy”, especially by the 1980’s. This was especially so in the UK, but being employed in the advertizing industry would become a “culture cute” practice throughout the Western world (as also in Greece). We may add here that although the so-called “adland” in the decade of the 1980’s remained relatively small, it was nonetheless perfectly formed and well-established. Alternatively, it has also been suggested that the 1980’s would be a time when advertizing would be “absolutely at the centre of things” – and, further, that this would be so for the first and last time (cf. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/may/18/advertising-1980’s). For the “New Amalia-type” of the early 1980’s, working for an advertizing agency – and doing so even as a typist or secretary – would be especially prestigious.
3. «Κάρολ» was the generic “type” of female that had gradually emerged in the post-war period and which would take different forms in accordance with the material conditions within which such “type” sprouted. Working as a professional both pre-supposed and reinforced a specific state of mind – viz. that “type” of female that was sure of herself and thus, at least as regards her relations with the outside world, she would be brimming with “self-confidence” («Ήταν σίγουρη για τον εαυτό της»).
4. This ambitious “careerist” would be both a “dynamic” woman and a “dynamic professional” («δυναμική», «επαγγελματικές… φιλοδοξίες»).
5. Now, all this would have to be contrasted to a «Κάρολ» that carried another dimension of herself – viz. that of a sexually-conscious female who related to the world in terms of her physical beauty as a woman («κομψή, όμορφη»). We note that this (as “dynamic”) dimension of herself, and that of being a “dynamic professional”, are the double stigmata of a combinatory forming an uneasy continuum. Both stigmata are part and parcel of one, single discourse in the advertisement.
6. It is necessarily an uneasy continuum because, although «Κάρολ» was in full possession of herself as a “careerist” brimming with “self-confidence”, she was at the same time hopelessly in love, revealing her irrepressible “weakness” («Η μόνη αδυναμία της»).
7. But this tension-filled relationship between a “dynamic professional” and a woman “in-eros” would definitely not rule out the possibility that someone like «Κάρολ» could actually be “in love” both with her “career” and with «Τζιλ», and be so right at the same time. Both experiences would be as real and as deeply felt – the very contradiction between them could render them all the more intense as an interrelated experience. We may here contrast such real “myth-making” to an unreal, idealistic critique of the relationship between work and “play” – in his Minima moralia (Εκδόσεις Αλεξάνδρεια, 2000, p. 217), Theodor Adorno writes: «Ενώ ως προς τη δομή τους η εργασία και η διασκέδαση αλληλοεξομοιώνονται ολοένα περισσότερο, χωρίζονται ταυτόχρονα όλο και πιο αυστηρά με αόρατες συνοριακές γραμμές. Η ηδονή και το πνεύμα έχουν εκδιωχθεί εξίσου και από τις δύο. Τόσο στη μία όσο και στην άλλη κυριαρχούν η ζωώδης σοβαρότητα και η ψευτοδραστηριότητα». Adorno’s use of the term «εκδιωχθεί» suggests that both «Κάρολ» and «Τζιλ» have been expelled (by capital) from their paradisal garden – he does not bother to explain if such “garden” had ever existed or could exist in real history. Further, terms such as «ζωώδης σοβαρότητα» or «ψευτοδραστηριότητα» are neither measurable nor, more importantly, verifiable (for thinkers such as Rudolf Carnap, inter alia, such observations would be meaningless).
8. We are saying that the hedonic passions had not been “expelled” from the “lifeworld” of a «Κάρολ», and these had not been “expelled” whether one sees her as a “dynamic professional” or as a woman per se. In fact, it was precisely in her capacity as a “dynamic professional” that «Κάρολ» experiences such hedonic passions – were it not in just such capacity, she would not have comprehended such passions as a contrasting “weakness” («αδυναμία»). Although the advertizing discourse expresses a reality that falsifies the metaphysics of thinkers such as Bataille (or Adorno for that matter), it nonetheless presents the hedonic passions of a “career woman” in a manner very much reminiscent of Bataille’s thought. While the latter would speak of the “ecstasy of eros” (op. cit.), the advertizing discourse presents as intense a picture of emotional experiences lived by a “dynamic professional”: «Μόνο ο Τζιλ έκανε τον σφυγμό της να χτυπάει ξέφρενα και την καρδιά της να μεθάει από έκσταση». The depth of such “ecstatic intoxication” could, potentially, have been shared by whatever member of the working “Amalia-type” throughout the historic period we are examining, and it could have been experienced either as she clocked in or out of her workplace.
9. The advertizing discourse is realistic enough to point to the two basic types of conflict that such “ecstatic intoxication” could possibly generate: conflict or crisis within a family unit; and a possible crisis vis-à-vis one’s work.
10. As regards the possibility of crisis within a family unit, the discourse hits the nail on the head: «Και τώρα κάποιος της είπε πως ο Τζιλ ήταν παντρεμένος…».
11. With respect to the work eros contradiction, the advertizing discourse does something very simple but which was nonetheless beyond the dogmatic thinking of a Bataille: while it accepts the necessary realities of both work and “play”, it allows the latter to dominate over the former. The “ecstatic intoxication” of a «Κάρολ» does not eliminate the “economic” sphere (as does, theoretically, Bataille) – instead, it simply undermines such sphere: «Μόνο ο Τζιλ την έκανε να βάζει σε δεύτερη μοίρα τις επαγγελματικές της φιλοδοξίες». Obviously, it would be silly to assume that love relations would “triumph” over labour relations in the period we are examining – but what we are suggesting is that it would be the subject, placed within that arena which interrelated work and “erotic play”, that would decide on which sphere of life came first (were there to be a conflictual relationship between the two). Most often, we may assume, the “Amalia-type” would opt for some sort of compromise between her duties as an employee and whatever “ecstatic intoxication” would overwhelm her.

It is of some interest to note that, in the 1970’s, the main female character in a «Βίπερ – Νόρα» romantic novel would usually be in her twenties and she would be a virgin. Importantly, this type of character would be either a secretary, a teacher, a nurse or even a doctor. She would, in other words, be either a “White-Collar” employee or a “professional”. By the 1980’s, the main female character would now be in her thirties, perhaps suggesting that the time span in which one could continue playing “love games” was extendible (the question of virginity would now, symptomatic of reality, be dropped). Further, the main female character was now a tough professional, perhaps a lawyer, a company executive, a geologist or, again, a medical doctor. Both in the 1970’s and in the 1980’s, there would often be an attempt to either implicitly or explicitly negotiate the work “eros” spheres of a woman’s life. Essentially, the theme of “office romance” would dominate.

Such a theme would, naturally, come to permeate much of Greek literature, and would do so well beyond (and even before) the «Βίπερ – Νόρα» type of pocketbook. In fact, the “office romance” theme could raise its head even in novels or short stories written by Greek “Left-wingers”. A good example of this is the rather bad writing of a female “Left-wing” writer such as Kostoula Mitropoulou. In her collection of short stories, entitled Άρθρο nο. 22 – διηγήματα (Μίνωας, 1975), we come across a number of cases presenting “office romance” as an everyday phenomenon and pertaining to the 1960’s and 1970’s (all stories were written sporadically between 1967 and 1975). We shall here simply quote three samples:

Sample No. 1:

«Την είχε δει στο ασσανσέρ πρώτη φορά – “στο
πέμπτο” του είχε πει και κοιτάχτηκε στον καθρέφτη.
Τα μαλλιά της είχαν το χρώμα του χαλκού… Την
ξαναείδε το ίδιο βράδυ, την ώρα που σχόλαγαν
όλα μαζί τα γραφεία που ήταν στο ίδιο μέγαρο.
“Kαι σεις εδώ;” Κι όταν εκείνη τον βεβαίωσε πως ναι,
ήταν καινούργια υπάλληλος στις “Ασφάλειες” στο
πέμπτο, τότε της μίλησε για το γραφείο του, στο
έκτο… Όλη τη νύχτα είχε στο κορμί του αυτή την
παράξενη τρέμουλα, σα να τον είχαν χτυπήσει
δυνατά στις κλειδώσεις. Και το πρωί, άγρυπνος,
αξύριστος, πήγε στο γραφείο της να τη βρεί… Την
βρήκε σιωπηλή και χλωμή, “είσαι άρρωστη;”
τρόμαξε και της άρπαξε τα χέρια στα δικά του.
Τράβηξε κείνη τα χέρια της απότομα, “πως τολμούσε
εδώ μέσα, από στιγμή σε στιγμή μπορούσε ν’ ανοίξει
η πόρτα, και τότε όλοι θάλεγαν ότι…” Τα μάτια της
είχαν δακρύσει και κείνος την παρακαλούσε να μην
κλαίει, “δεν μπορώ να ζήσω μόνος μου πια”, της
είπε στο τέλος»
(cf. pp. 81-83).

Sample 2:

«… δεχόταν συγκινημένος τα συγχαρητήρια των
συναδέλφων του. Πιο πολύ απ’ όλους είχε
συγκινηθεί η Μαρία, μια συνάδελφος με χοντρά
γυαλιά μυωπίας και ελαφρό χνούδι στο πάνω χείλος.
Δεν ήταν άσχημη η Μαρία, κάθε άλλο, το χνούδι
τόβαφε με οξυζενέ και δεν φαινόταν καθόλου κι
όσο για τα γυαλιά, της έδιναν μια τρομαγμένη όψη
που θύμιζε παιδί ή πουλί ή και τα δύο. Φορούσε
συνήθως μπλούζα και φούστα στο γραφείο, και το
στήθος της ήταν πολύ νεανικό, του άρεσε να το βλέπει
με την άκρη του ματιού, καθώς έσκυβε πλάι του για
τα “προς διεκπεραίωσιν” εις τριπλούν αντίγραφα.
“Καλημέρα σας κύριε Νίκο. Ωραίο καιρό μας κάνει
σήμερα”. Και κείνος της χαμογελούσε “δεσποινίς
Μαίρη, η άνοιξις είναι μια εποχή με πολλές χαρές για
τα μάτια των ανθρώπων…” Εκείνη ήταν ενθουσιώδης
όπως όλες οι γυναίκες όταν νομίζουν ότι είναι
ερωτευμένες… Από την άλλη μέρα ερχόταν στο
γραφείο με χαμηλά παπούτσια [Nikos himself being
short] και φορούσε και κραγιόν τώρα, ένα χρώμα ροζ
σκοτωμένο που του θύμιζε πληγή σε ανάρρωση. Δεν
της είπε τίποτα γι’ αυτό, “το άρωμά σας είναι Γαλλικό;”
ρώτησε και κείνη έσκυψε πολύ κοντά του για να τη
μυρίσει καλύτερα, “δεν το αναγνωρίζετε;” Δικό του
δώρο ήταν, “μια κολώνια για νέα κοπέλα”, έτσι την
είχε ζητήσει και η πωλήτρια του είχε δώσει αυτήν.
“Πολύ έντονη είναι”, είπε. Πήγαν στο διαμέρισμά του
και κείνος δανείστηκε για την περίσταση και το
πικ-απ από την διπλανή – “μόνο γι’ απόψε, είναι μια
ιδιαίτερη βραδιά” και χαμογελούσε συνεπαρμένος…»
(ibid., pp. 118-120).

Sample 3:

«Είχανε πάρει την άδειά τους μέσα στην άνοιξη.
“Κανένα ευχάριστο γεγονός;” και την κοίταζαν με
νόημα στο γραφείο. Κοκκίνιζε ελαφρά και γύριζε
το βλέμμα της σε κείνον – “όχι ακόμα, είναι πολύ
νωρίς” και χαμογελούσε ευτυχισμένη… Είχανε
παντρευτεί τον Αύγουστο – το δέρμα της ήταν ζεστό
και είχε σκουρήνει. Με κείνο το άσπρο φόρεμα του
είχε φανεί όμορφη, πολύ όμορφη»
(ibid., p. 125).

The social phenomenon of “office romance” – whereby work and “erotic play” could be rather routinely (though not always unproblematically) combined – was definitely not a figment of some literary imagination and it was not merely a product of so-called “manipulative” semantics churned out by the advertizing industry. At least as regards “White-Collar” employees – as was the “Amalia-type” in Greece – it was a real social practice. Such practice was of course clearly evident around the Western world. A 1986 report surveying the behaviour of female “White-Collar” employees in New York had this to say:

“More and more people find romance in the
workplace… romances that start in the office
last four times longer than those that begin in
the singles bar or the health cub… In a survey
this year of 1.800 professional women between
the ages of 21 and 45, 56 percent reported having
had an affair with a co-worker, customer or
client…”
(cf. The Evening News, 25.3.1986).

On the other hand, when one speaks of “office romance”, one is immediately confronted with a major sociological question: could one argue that such type of workplace behaviour applied to both “White-Collar” and “Blue-Collar” workers? All along in this section of our project, we have been focusing on the “Amalia-type”, who was of course a “White-Collar” employee working as a “Cashier-Clerk” at the A&M Company: she belonged, therefore, to that category of employee that could potentially become involved in some “office romance”. But this does not really help us to escape the problem, if only because, and specifically as regards the Greek case, the dividing lines between job descriptions delineating “White-Collar” and “Blue-Collar” duties were often blurred. If only for that reason, we shall need to dwell on this question.

It has been argued, by a wide variety of 20th century “Marxist” thinkers – ranging from Gramsci through to Marcuse and various schools of industrial sociology – that the assembly line on the factory floor constitutes a regimentalized “total system” that does not allow the worker any “space” for free movement and thought, let alone whatever “erotic gamesplaying” (here, even the metaphysical thought of a Bataille would seem to be confirmed). More specifically, “Fordism” has been presented as a “total system” attempting to organize all the movements of a worker in relation to the assembly line of which he is an organic part. But even outside the factory gates, it has further been argued, the diets and drinking habits of workers would come under scrutiny, as would their sexual and emotional lives. Thus, both within the factory floor and outside of it, authentic “erotic practices” would be obliterated. Crudely extrapolating from such theories, Greek “Left-wing” writers such as Kostoula Mitropoulou could easily go ahead and speak of people as «Ζώα νεκρά» (op. cit., p. 95) or of a «χαμένη… ζωή» (op. cit., p. 97), and thus her stories revolving around “office romance” would usually go up in a smoke of existential disaster. Bataille’s suggestion that working people would suffer a loss of real self-respect (op. cit.), Adorno’s reference to the «ζωώδης», as also the alienating consequences of a regime such as “Fordism” on assembly line workers, are all clearly echoed in Mitropoulou’s admonitions:

«Η παρένθεση αυτή αφορά εσάς και τη
χαμένη σας ζωή – όταν λέω “χαμένη” εννοώ
ότι δεν υπήρξε ποτέ, καμιά ζωή σε σχέση με
σας. Εσείς βέβαια είχατε, η μάλλον θέλατε
να πιστεύετε ότι είχατε, μια κάποια προσωπική
ζωή»
(op. cit., p. 97).

There is of course some truth in the work of a brilliant thinker as was Gramsci, and especially with respect to his observations regarding “Fordism” – yet still, such observations are necessarily delimited by a specific historical context and therefore only reflect such historical period (and, in fact, do so only partly). But there is absolutely no truth at all in the ridiculous extrapolations of a writer such as Mitropoulou. Our basic position on this issue of “total systems” of control in the workplace may be summarized as follows:

1. Generally speaking, and quite obviously so, the organizational structures and practices of “Fordism” have never been applied to the “economic” sphere across the board in Western societies. Such structures and practices were primarily evident in the automobile industry – or, in any case, they came to characterize the production line and its concomitant mass production of goods in certain particular sectors of industry. Further, “Fordist” practices in the strict sense would rarely be applied to “White-Collar” work processes. Debates around such issues have been on-going and highly controversial, but there is at least one fact that is rather obvious: “Fordist” practices could not possibly be applied to the office-work that the Greek “Amalia-type” would have to do, and that is why the approach of a writer such as Mitropoulou can very easily be rejected out of hand (for a taste of the controversies that have characterized debates around “Fordism”, cf., for instance, Bob Jessop, “Fordism and Post-Fordism: a critical reformulation”, in A.J. Scott & M.J. Storper (eds.), Pathways to regionalism and industrial development, London, Routledge, 1992).
2. But much more importantly, and in keeping with the general thrust of this research project, we need to emphasize one central reality, at least with respect to the period we are examining: “Fordist” ethics would be ravaged by the “hedonistic popular culture” that was to surface by the 1960’s. The ethics of hard work and strict discipline presupposed by “Fordism” as a social ideology would have to succumb to and be overwhelmed by the socio-cultural and sexual revolution of the period (perhaps the best analysis of this phenomenon is Daniel Bell’s aptly entitled book, The cultural contradictions of capitalism, Basic Books, 1976). There is no way in which the working youth of the 1960’s and 1970’s – and including the Greek “Amalia-type” – could possibly be described as “cheerful robots” (à la C. Wright Mills, and which is what “Fordist” ideology was purported to be aiming at).
3. Thus, at least outside the possible limitations that a working person could experience on certain shop floors, one would also experience the impact of a socio-cultural revolution that celebrated the individual and that individual’s sexual identity. Further, the “Fordist” understanding of work would be replaced by the celebration of work as a “career”, especially as regards “White-Collar” employees, but also as regards various categories of artisans. It is in such context that one would also have to consider the rise of the middle classes in the Western world and the relative peripheralization of the industrial working class (the bibliography on this is of course vast – cf., inter alia, Lawrence R. Samuel, The American middle class: a cultural history, Routledge, 2014).
4. There are general conclusions that one may draw from all this: first and perhaps above all, one need remember that not all forms of capital are necessarily “Fordist” in their structural and practical organization (and that has been so even within the USA).
5. A second conclusion, closely related to the first, is that capitalist forms of production have spread and crystallized in uneven ways across the Western world.
6. Thirdly, such unevenness has especially been the case within Greece – here, it has been small scale capital that has been the dominant form of capital within the social formation. A perfectly representative case, of course, is that of the A&M Company.
7. It is such unevenness and diversity of capitalist or quasi-capitalist production that allowed for a highly flexible division of labour and a “porosity” of structures (cf. our papers on the structural organization of the A&M Company and the behaviour of employees on the shop floor and Headquarters). These specific structures and practices in turn allowed for “free zones” exploited by employees in ways that could circumvent the dictates of employers. An examination of the structures and practices of a small-scale factory such as that of the A&M Company reveals various instances of “indiscipline” on the part of both “White-Collar” and “Blue-Collar” employees, and which usually led to the imposition of “fines”. It was just that very “porosity” of structures that enabled elements of the socio-cultural/sexual revolution to seep into the factory gates. But by saying this we do not mean to underplay the relative effectivity of the “bureaucratic despotism” of a boss such as Marakis; nor do we mean to say that “erotic gamesplaying” would threaten the productive process, whether in the factory proper or at Headquarters. But we do mean to emphasize that the “Fordist” type of discipline – attempting to control the behaviour of workers in some “scientific” manner – was simply not feasible in the vast majority of workplaces in Greece at the time.

What we have said above with respect to the “flexibility” and “porosity” of shop floor organization in Greek companies would basically apply to small-scale companies such as A&M. And yet, even in the case of companies such as that of the Douridas textile factory (op. cit.), which in 1977 would employ 323 workers, the relatively much tighter organizational structures therein would nonetheless in no way approximate the “Fordist” model. Thus, even within Douridas, there would definitely be “free zones” which were exploited by employees in ways which at times brought work and “play” much closer together. To the extent that the “Amalia-type”, as a “White-Collar” employee at the A&M Company, could find herself relegated to a “Blue-Collar” (or semi-Blue-Collar) employee at another production unit such as that of Douridas (given the perennial social mobility in Greece), it would be interesting to consider in what precise ways she or her colleagues could “beat” the factory system. While the mobility of the “Amalia-type” is here purely hypothetical, the cases we shall present below are absolutely factual. They express “moments” of “free zone practices” in the 1970’s – it was such “free zone activity”, creating a continuum between work and “play”, that was being consistently presented in “mythological” terms by advertizing discourse itself.

File No. 110 of the Douridas Company Archives contains, inter alia, an endless series of “penalties” meted out to employees between 1976 and 1979. We shall here only consider a small sample of such “penalties” and other related company announcements:

1. Penalty to male worker, 1976 – «διότι κατ’ επανάληψιν έρχετε εις το εργοστάσιον μεθυσμένος». Such regular “intoxication” would inevitably blur the dividing line between work and “play”. The Douridas company code of conduct booklet (entitled «ΚΑΝΟΝΙΣΜΟΣ», dated February 1976, and covering both “White-Collar” and “Blue-Collar” employees – cf. File No. 16 of the Douridas Archives) would be very specific as regards drunkenness on the shop floor – it decreed: «Απαγορευτικαί διατάξεις… Η εισαγωγή και χρήσις οινοπνευματωδών ποτών. Προσέλευσις εν μέθη εις την εργασίαν απαγορεύεται. Ο εν μέθη προσερχόμενος απομακρύνεται αμέσως εκ του εργοστασίου χωρίς να δικαιούται εκ τούτου να ζητήση το ημερομίσθιον της ημέρας εκείνης, θεωρούμενος αντιθέτως ότι απουσίασεν αδικαιολογήτως…» (ΑΡΘΡΟΝ 13ον, 3).
2. Penalty to the factory watchman, 1977 – «… ο θυρωρός… τιμωρείτε… διότι άνευ άδειας του προϊσταμένου του έκανε αλλαγή βάρδιας με συναδέλφον του… Επίσης τιμωρείτε… διότι επέτρεψε εις εργαζόμενον να εξέλθη του εργοστασίου…» The Douridas factory watchman, whose job description called on him, inter alia, to control the movement of employees entering and exiting the shop floor, violates the factory code in a double manner. First, he takes it upon himself to decide when he and his counterpart shall work their shift; secondly, he decides, obviously in response to some request of a particular employee, when the latter shall exit the factory and enter the world of “free time”. Here, the regimentalized practice of clocking in and out – presumably the prerogative of the employer and his factory system – has been turned upside down.
3. Announcement to the workforce as a whole, 1977 – «Διά τους άνδρες που καπνίζουν επιτρέπονται τρία τσιγάρα εις το οκτάωρον και θα ζητούν άδεια από τον προϊστάμενόν τους». This company announcement – pertaining to the regularity of smoking and the need to ask for permission to smoke – can be viewed from two different angles: on the one hand, one may here definitely speak of a rigorously despotic factory system aimed at preempting the erosion of shop floor discipline and thereby guaranteeing productive efficiency. On the other hand, the sheer fact that workers were being granted an official smoke break means that they would have “moments” of real “free time” at their disposal and at a spot away from the point of production. Further, one may suppose that the Douridas management was simply trying to regulate a pre-existing situation whereby workers would be “breaking” factory discipline at their own will so as to smoke – which suggests that some “free zone activity” was already in operation. The company’s «ΚΑΝΟΝΙΣΜΟΣ» had already stipulated in 1976: «Απαγορευτικαί διατάξεις… Το κάπνισμα κατά την ώραν εργασίας» (ΑΡΘΡΟΝ 13ον, 2). Such absolute decree – prohibiting smoking as such – would simply not apply one year later.
4. Penalty to two workers, 1977 – «διότι… ευρίσκοντο εις τα αποδυτήρια χωρίς άδεια…». These two employees had decided to escape work by simply walking away from the point of production and hiding in the factory’s changing rooms. What it was that they did in the “free space” which they had created for themselves – the particular form of “gamesplaying” – can be left to the imagination of the sociologist (or, perhaps, the industrial psychologist).
5. Penalty to male worker, 1977 – «διότι έφυγε από την εργασίαν του και βρέθηκε να κουβεντιάζη με εργάτριες». Here we had an open violation of factory discipline whereby the male worker simply abandons his work post and walks over to another department of the shop floor manned by women. This would be an openly “illegal” interaction between members of the opposite sex (factory records suggest that the women themselves escaped being penalized in this particular case). The exact intentions of this male worker remain unknown, although a certain “pursuit of pleasure” (if only through mere social contact) cannot be ruled out. It is interesting to note here that certain schools of sociology, focusing on sexuality in the workplace, have researched the interaction between males and females on the shop floor and come up with conclusions which suggest that such interaction may result in either “sexual harassment” or in a “pursuit of pleasure” or in a subtle combination of both such practices (cf. C.L. Williams, P.A. Giuffre & K. Dellinger, “Sexuality in the workplace: organizational control, sexual harassment, and the pursuit of pleasure”, in Annual review of sociology, vol. 25, 1999, pp. 73-93; also cf. South African labour bulletin, volume 14, number 4, October 1989, which includes a special feature entitled “Women workers in the unions” and which examines sexual relations between male and female workers). With respect to the Greek case, we may note that many women would often find themselves on a shop floor where they would have to interact with males other than their husbands. At least for certain segments of Greek society, such circumstances could often be interpreted as some type of “promiscuity” between men and women in the workplace, and which could yield accusations of “loose morals” amongst female employees (all these are mere observations which remain to be verified by the Greek social historian, though they are phenomena noted by many non-Greek social historians in examining worker history – cf., especially, E.P. Thompson, op. cit., p. 452 et al). We may also note here that the Douridas company «ΚΑΝΟΝΙΣΜΟΣ» would specifically forbid whatever “social interaction” between employees while working («να μη συζητούν μεταξύ των» – ΑΡΘΡΟΝ 10ον, 12).
6. Announcement to the workforce as a whole, 1977 – «Ανακοινούμεν ότι, η συγκέντρωσις δια την εκδρομήν θα γίνη εις την εκκλησίαν του Αγίου Γεωργίου. Ώρα αναχωρήσεως 07.00… Η εταιρεία θα χορηγήση εις τους εργαζομένους φαγητόν…». Here, the Douridas management announces that all of its workforce, presumably both “White-Collar” and “Blue-Collar” employees, shall be going on an excursion. Certain schools of industrial sociology have seen company-organized excursions or picnics as part of a “team-building” process – management, it is argued, aims at building “company loyalty” or a “company culture” among its employees. Such an approach definitely makes sense: one can imagine the Douridas management struggling to maintain some cohesion within a workforce which, in the 1970’s, would be ravaged by party-political differences, the interventions of trade unions and a shop floor organizational “politicization” amongst at least certain segments of its employees. Industrial sociologists have gone even further: rightly so, they have examined company-organized excursions and picnics as managerial practices aimed at the “co-optation” of the workforce so as to secure industrial “peace”, thereby pre-empting shop floor activities that could hamper production and the desired levels of productivity. Yet other industrial sociologists have gone even further – for them, company-organized excursions and picnics aim at a monitoring of worker leisure-time pursuits. There is much truth in all such approaches – and yet, they are all rather one-sided in that they focus exclusively on the intentions of management. They fail to distinguish between the intentions of a particular strategy and the final consequences of such strategy. But to understand the final consequences, one should also examine the intentions of the employees themselves. Consider, for instance, what one research study came up with on examining company-organized picnics amongst workers in Chicago – this is what was noted: “Workers eagerly anticipated the outings and creatively transformed company picnics into personal holidays” (cf. Colin Fisher, Urban green: nature, recreation, and the working class in industrial Chicago, The University of North Carolina Press, 2015, p. 128). One can see that this “creative” redefinition of company intentions would yield a “free zone” amounting to “personal holidays”, with an emphasis on the “personal”. Such emphasis on the “personal” would mean “gamesplaying” amongst working people and, naturally, such “playing” could extend into fields of the very “personal” – viz. the “erotic”. Thus, one clearly sees here a combinatory continuum between activities related to work and activities related to “spare time” (or “play”). In a 1970’s Greek context ravaged not only by politics but by a sexual revolution that would explode following the fall of the Military Dictatorship, one can only imagine what truly happened in the course of the Douridas-organized picnics. Here, we could perhaps mention the cases of two Athens-based company excursions organized in the 1980’s – case 1: a female member of the excursion group made overt sexual approaches to a younger male participating in the excursion – on realizing that her approaches were leading to a dead-end, she gradually turned her attention to the driver of the tour bus. When the excursion was over, the female was invited by the driver to stay on the bus, and they copulated therein; case 2: in the course of a weekend excursion, two females were behaving licentiously towards various males – ultimately, they both spent the night taking turns to copulate with one member of the excursion. We are not at all suggesting that such overt licentiousness was the general pattern of company excursions in the 1970’s or the 1980’s – the point we wish to emphasize is that company excursions offered yet more “free zones” for employees to relate work with “play” as such, whatever forms such “play” would take.
7. Warning to the workforce as a whole, 1977 – «Τον τελευταίο καιρό η διακοπή του φαγητού [i.e., meal breaks] δεν γίνεται δεκάλεπτος αλλά διαρκεί περισσότερον… εάν συνεχισθή η κατάστασις θα επιβάλη [i.e., the company would impose] τας προβλεπομένας ποινάς». While management would be trying to regulate meal breaks by limiting them to a ten minute period, employees would use the opportunity offered by such breaks to create more free time for themselves, thereby establishing yet another “free zone” during work hours. We may assume that this violation of company regulations would be provoked by the need to avoid work and/or the need to socialize. We may further assume that such socializing would also take the form of contact between male and female employees. In fact, it is probable that it was especially this male-female socializing that had provoked the infringement of rules – we may say this because by 1978, when management would decide to establish new canteen installations, it would also decide to impose a sex-based segregation within such installations. Industrial sociologists have often explored the phenomenon of segregating factory lunchrooms by gender, and much research work has shown that the factory canteen, where males and females would mingle, could function as a “zone” for “erotic” or quasi-“erotic” practices. For instance, Angélique Janssens, in her book entitled Family and social change: the household as a process in an industrializing community (Cambridge University Press, 1993, p. 42), makes the following observation with respect to Dutch working people in the early 20th century: “Especially during lunch breaks it was considered almost impossible to keep the girls from losing their innocence”.
8. Penalty to male worker, 1977 – «διότι… επισκεύαζε το μηχανάκι του την ώρα της εργασίας». This kind of behaviour need not necessarily be seen as some sort of conscious attempt at “sabotaging” the labour process. It is true to say that certain schools of industrial sociology – usually those of a “Marxian” persuasion – would see such type of behaviour as a form of “resisting” capital. They would, in other words, interpret such worker action in terms of the more general context of “worker sabotage”, “go-slows”, and so-called “empty labour” (for a discussion of the latter from a non-“Marxian” position, cf. Roland Paulsen, Empty labour – idleness and workplace resistance, Cambridge University Press, 2014). For our purposes, we need not consider whether the male worker at the Douridas factory was in fact engaged in some form of “resistance” – but what we can definitely assert is that he had established his own “private space” within the factory gates and during formal work hours. His action may be interpreted as an “individualistic” private activity, but it in any case verifies the idea that the Douridas plant came nowhere near approximating the regimentalized discipline of “Fordist” labour practices.
9. Announcement to the workforce as a whole, 1978 – «… απαγορεύεται αυστηρώς η μεταξύ σας τηλεφωνική επικοινωνία». This announcement does not of course imply that “Blue-Collar” workers within the Thiva-based Douridas factory were actually engaged in telephonic communication amongst one another or across departments. Rather, it seems that such telephonic communications were taking place amongst the “White-Collar” employees and especially between those based in the various branches of the company (Thiva, Patra and Agrinio). Evidence further suggests that the Douridas “White-collar” employees based in the local headquarters of each of the three plants had also been engaging in telephonic conversations with their counterparts in the Athens-based central offices of the company. The ruling that all telephonic communication between employees was to be henceforth strictly forbidden suggests that there must have been a heavy abuse of the telephone for purposes not related to work. Thus, one may speak of the “telephone game” as just another form of “gamesplaying” within the workplace. With respect to American office workers in 1981, it has been observed that the “telephone game” in the workplace had constituted a usual practice amongst “White-Collar” employees. According to telecommunications consultants interviewed in 1981, “As much as 40% of a company’s long-distance telephone expense may result from phone abuse by employees”. And further: “… the average American office worker makes four to six personal calls in a working day” (cf. Sara Delano, “Curbing phone abuse at work”, www.inc.com/magazine/19810601/2828.html). The “telephone game” amongst Greek “White-Collar” employees must have been much more excessive in relation to American office workers given the relative scarcity of telephones in 1970’s Greece – we simply note that, as late as 1975, the overall number of telephone calls per capita in the USA was four times that of Greece (cf. Richard W. Bulliet, ed., The Columbia history of the 20th century, Columbia University Press, N.Y., 1998, p. 388). This relative scarcity of telephones would mean that those privileged few who did have access to the phone – such as the Greek “White-Collar” employee – would tend to overuse (or abuse) the phone.
10. Penalties to various workers, both male and female, 1978 – for what management deemed to be «ανάρμοστον συμπεριφοράν». The Douridas File documents do not always indicate the exact nature of such “misconduct” or “disorderly behaviour” on the shop floor. Generally speaking, “misconduct” or “disorderly behaviour” can include a wide variety of violations as defined by either Labour Law or a company’s code of conduct – empirical research undertaken by industrial sociologists has shown that such behaviour could take at least four forms: a) sexual harassment; b) sexually oriented behaviour (ranging from a particular body language to, even, the use of a suggestive voice); c) insubordination directed at one’s supervisor, whereby the employee shows an unwillingness to carry out a directive from his/her supervisor; d) insolence directed at one’s supervisor, constituting some kind of disrespectful behaviour towards his/her supervisor. Obviously, the first two cases of behaviour relate to the “erotic zone” while the cases of insubordination and insolence relate to some type of “resistance” to authority (be that individual-based or collective-based). The Douridas “penalties” meted out to employees due to «ανάρμοστον συμπεριφοράν» must have related to such types of “infringements”. One can tell what forms of “misconduct” were taking place on the Douridas shop floor or in its offices by examining the rules laid out in the company’s code of conduct (op. cit.). With respect to problems of insubordination and insolence, the code stipulates the duties of employees as follows: «Να σέβονται τους ανωτέρους των και να υπακούουν εις τας υποδείξεις και εντολάς των άνευ αντιρρήσεων ή σχολίων» (ΑΡΘΡΟΝ 10ον, 4). Further: «Να επιδεικνύουν έναντι των προϊσταμένων των προθυμίαν δια την εκτέλεσιν των δεδομένων εντολών και υποδείξεων, να συμπεριφέρωνται κοσμίως και μετά του προσήκοντος σεβασμού, να αποφεύγουν τας μεταξύ των αντεγκλήσεις και χειροδικίας και να μη βλασφημούν…» (ΑΡΘΡΟ 10ον, 14). Much more importantly for our purposes, the code also points to potential problems related to the “erotic zone” – it stipulates the type of behaviour which is strictly forbidden: «Οι αστεϊσμοί, τα πειράγματα και οι ανήθικοι χαρακτηρισμοί και προτάσεις απαγορεύονται αυστηρώς επιφέρουσαι βαρυτάτας ποινάς» (ΑΡΘΡΟΝ 13ον, 18). This ruling clearly suggests that employees could potentially indulge in behaviour constituting either sexual harassment or in some sort of sexually oriented practices between males and females. The “erotic”, therefore, could be a “free zone” practice within the factory gates, whether in the company offices or on the shop floor.
11. Penalty to male worker, 1978 – «διότι απεμακρύνθη επί ημίωρον περίπου εκ της θέσεως εργασίας του περιφερόμενος στα διάφορα τμήματα, άνευ εγκρίσεως του προϊσταμένου του». This case is similar to that of case 5 above. The worker’s intentions may or may not have been sexually oriented, but the fact that he was merely wandering around the factory from one department to another could suggest that he was “socializing”. We may add here that the company’s «ΚΑΝΟΝΙΣΜΟΣ» would specifically forbid such type of behaviour: «Απαγορεύεται εις τους εργαζομένους… η άνευ αδείας του προϊσταμένου απομάκρυνσις οιουδήποτε εκ της εργασίας του και η άσκοπος περιφορά του από τμήματος εις τμήμα» (ΑΡΘΡΟΝ 13ον, 1).
12. Penalty to female worker, 1978 – «επεβλήθη αργία 2 ημερών διότι εις γενομένην παρατήρησιν του μηχ/κου… διατί εγκαταλείπει την εργασίαν της τον εξύβρισε». Of course, the abandonment of one’s work post was not behaviour exclusively limited to that of male employees. And here we have the case of a female worker who seems to have been systematically or regularly abandoning her work post. Further, although the female worker must have been fully aware that she was infringing company rules, she nonetheless had the “audacity” to verbally counter-attack a superior (and who also happened to be male).
13. Penalty to four female employees, 1978 – «διότι συνομιλούσαν εν ώρα εργασίας». Here we had the imposition of a collective penalty. The fact that all four female employees were busy talking with one another constitutes a clear case of collective “socializing” on the shop floor. As already mentioned above, the «ΚΑΝΟΝΙΣΜΟΣ» anticipates and forbids such behaviour: «Άπαντες οι εργαζόμενοι υποχρεούνται… να μη συζητούν μεταξύ των…» (ΑΡΘΡΟΝ 10ον, 12).
14. Penalty to male worker, 1978 – «δι’ απρεπή συμπεριφοράν προς προϊσταμένην». This type of behaviour would most probably come under the rubric discussed in case 10 above. It is of special interest because it involves male-female relations on the shop floor – the term «απρεπή» could suggest any behaviour ranging from that of simply being rude to doing something indecent or obscene.
15. Dismissal of female worker due to continual absenteeism, 1978 – the company’s decision to dismiss the employee reads as follows: «Ανακοινούμεν ότι, την 25/9/78 απελύθη η εργάτρια του τμήματος ΚΑΡΝΤΕ Παπαχαραλάμπους Αικατερίνη λόγω συνεχών απουσιών άλλοτε αδικαιολογήτων και άλλοτε με το αιτιολογικόν της ασθενείας». The phenomenon of absenteeism, amongst both male and female employees, was perhaps the most common cause for either the dismissal or the penalization of an employee, at least as regards the Douridas factory. The case presented here, therefore, is just one sample amongst many others. Much has been written about the role of absenteeism in employment relations. According to Steve Williams and Derek Adam-Smith, “It often reflects workers’ dissatisfaction with the conditions of their labour, and can thus constitute a form of withdrawal from work…” And further: “The frustrations, pressures, and tensions that confront individuals in the working environment are relieved through the taking of an occasional ‘sickie’. In this way, absenteeism may be viewed as the archetypal form of unorganized industrial conflict” (cf. their study, Contemporary employment relations: a critical introduction, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 348, my emph.). To the extent that employee absenteeism is not caused by genuine health problems or other inescapable practical circumstances – to the extent, that is, that it is a consciously selected act of “relief” on the part of the employee – one may say that it constitutes the conscious creation of “free time”, which may be described as yet another form of “gamesplaying”. The Douridas company «ΚΑΝΟΝΙΣΜΟΣ» devotes a special section meant to deal with the problem of absenteeism – inter alia, it stipulates: «Αδικαιολόγητοι απουσίαι. Πάσα απουσία μη δικαιολογημένη, αποδεδειγμένως θεωρείται αυθαίρετος. Αυθαίρετος επίσης θεωρείται η απουσία και εις την περίπτωσιν που ο απουσιάζων δικαιολογημένως δεν ειδοποιήση εγκαίρως περί τούτου… Εις περίπτωσιν επανειλημμένων αυθαιρέτων απουσιών, η Διεύθυνσις δύναται κατά τας περιστάσεις να θεωρήση αυτάς ως βούλησιν του απουσιάζοντος να λύση την υφισταμένην σύμβασιν εργασίας, οπότε ούτος απομακρύνεται εκ της εργασίας του άνευ ουδεμιάς υποχρεώσεως της εταιρείας προς αποζημίωσιν, καταγγελίαν της συμβάσεως κ.λ.π.».
16. The phenomenon of absenteeism, which we have suggested may be interpreted as a conscious creation of “free time” under certain given conditions, could take a number of varying forms. One could choose to absent himself from the workplace for a whole day (or days), or one could choose to abscond from work for just a few moments in the course of his/her work hours, and one could do the latter collectively with others. Doing it collectively, of course, could potentially intensify the “gamesplaying”, thus further blurring the distinction between the “economic” and the “extra-economic” fields. Simply so as to supplement what we have said for case 15, we present the following «ΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΣΙΣ», dated 23.9.1978: «Οι κάτωθι εργαζόμενοι εις το τμήμα του ΚΑΡΝΤΕ τιμωρούνται δια την εξής αιτίαν και με το εξής ποσόν έκαστος… 1) Ποταμιά Κων/να 2) Ποταμιά Αικατ. διότι απουσίασαν αδικαιολόγητα κατ’ επανάληψιν με εκατό (100) δρχ. η κάθε μία… 3) Κουτελού Μαρία διότι την 19/9/78 απουσίασεν άνευ αδείας εκ του τμήματος εν ώρα εργασίας με εκατό (100) δρχ… 4) Οι εργάτες Καραμάνος Αθαν. και Ευαγγελάκος Ιωάν. διότι την 21/9/78 απεχώρησαν από το τμήμα τους κατά 15’ λεπτά ενωρίτερον του κανονικού με πεντήκοντα (50) δρχ. ο καθένας».
17. Penalty to three male workers, 1978 – «συνελήφθησαν… να ακούνε μουσική εντός αυτοκινήτου εν ώρα εργασίας». This particular event within the Douridas factory has been discussed elsewhere above, in examining the Sinatra “cultural brand” and the question of popular entertainment. It surely constitutes a perfect example of how work and “play” could be brought together all at the same time by working people. These three workers, bonded by feelings of camaraderie, had decided to give up their work posts, enter a vehicle which provided them with access to a radio, and entertained themselves by listening to music. They of course knew all too well that they were taking a major risk.
18. Penalty to two male workers, 1978 – «ευρέθησαν… να αστειεύονται εν ώρα εργασίας». This case has also been discussed in examining the Sinatra “cultural brand”, and is yet another perfect example of combining work with “play”. Of course, such behaviour would violate the company’s «ΚΑΝΟΝΙΣΜΟΣ», ΑΡΘΡΟΝ 13ον, 18, which clearly stipulated that «Οι αστεϊσμοί… απαγορεύονται αυστηρώς», as discussed in case 10 above.
19. Penalty to male worker, 1978 – «ευρέθη υπό του Κου Δουρίδα εις πρωϊνήν του επίσκεψιν να κοιμάται». It would be stretching things just a bit too far to suggest here that such sleeping on-the-job constituted the “creation” of a “free zone activity” on the part of a worker. One would have to keep in mind that this worker (like most “Blue-Collar” employees at the Douridas factory) was doing shift-work, which can naturally cause sleep-deprivation and over-fatigue. Sleeping on the shop floor, therefore, would hardly be a “willed choice” on the part of working people. On the other hand, sociologists have devoted little attention to a sociological study of “the sleeping state” (and whenever they have done so their findings have been trivial and commonplace). But it would be interesting to investigate “the state of wakefulness” (here, alertness to the production process on the shop floor) vis-à-vis “the sleeping state” as some form of “consciousness alteration” (here, non-productive “dream-work” on the shop floor), and thereby gauge the manner/s in which a working person extricates himself from the real material conditions around him, and then inevitably pays the price for it. All we may say here is that such research work can get extremely complex in that it would presuppose the combined efforts of industrial sociologists, psychologists and social historians (sleeping habits have their own “history”). Finally, we should add that perhaps one of the more serious studies concerned with the relation between work and sleep is that of Sarah Burgard and Jennifer Ailshire, Putting work to bed: stressful experiences on the job and sleep quality, Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, Research Report No. 08-52, July 2008.
20. The patterns of “misconduct” described above for the years 1976-1978 would be more or less the same for the year 1979. File No. 110 of the Douridas Company Archives contains documents which stipulate a variety of “penalties” meted out to employees in 1979 – all such “penalties” verify that employee “misconduct” continued unabated throughout that year. Cases very much similar to those presented above would include the following: a) workers would stop working well prior to the formal clocking-off time; b) workers would absent themselves for a certain length of time from their work-posts; c) workers would be caught smoking while at the same time they would be found to be in some sort of improper physical posture («απρεπή στάσιν»); d) workers would be penalized or there would be threats of dismissal following unjustified absenteeism; e) workers would be penalized for entering the shop floor before the stipulated time limit, and so on and so forth.

We have focused on the 1976-1979 time period simply because the Douridas Archives happen to provide us with systematically recorded data pertaining to those years – one may assume that this phenomenon of creating “free zones” of activity while at work was a practice that took place both prior to and after the time period examined. Further, we know that similar types of “misbehaviour” were occurring at the A&M factory (cf. our case-studies of A&M employees, both on the shop floor and at Headquarters).

Naturally, and as we have seen, all cases of “misbehaviour” would be followed by the imposition of rather painful “economic penalties”, or could lead to either temporary or permanent dismissals. But all such disciplinarian measures would recur time and again – practically, this would mean that neither the shop floor nor the factory offices would ever be a “total institution” of “cheerful robots” (à la C. Wright Mills). In fact, both the recurrence and the strictness of “penalties” presuppose the reality of rule-breaking and therefore the existence of “free zones” of autonomous behaviour. Such autonomous behaviour would be the attempt, on the part of employees, to combine work with “play”. It was precisely this reality that advertizing discourse would wish to reflect – to the extent that such reality was being either sugarcoated or exaggerated, advertizing discourse would be legitimately engaged in “myth-making”. We say ‘legitimately’ because there is an important sense in which the employees of a Douridas or a Marakis would themselves be engaged in some form of “myth-making” – viz. experimenting with autonomous behaviour within a factory system that was ipso facto repressive. But such “myth-making” cannot be reduced to an illusion of “false consciousness” – it was as real as was the punishment that went with it.

The central conclusion to be drawn here may be put as follows: on the shop floor and in the office, employees had been connecting their own dots and creating links between their “moments” of work and their “moments” of “play”. It was just this reality, we are suggesting, that advertizing discourse sought to capture in its own way.

We have said that it would be in the decade of the 1980’s that advertizing discourse would most obviously and as emphatically try to connect the dots that linked all the “moments” in the life of the “New Amalia-type”. An interesting example of this type of discourse would appear in the indirect advertizing of various fashion houses usually promoted by the Επίκαιρα periodical of the 1980’s. Consider the following:

«Σανέλ για το ‘81

Ο Φιλίπ Γκιμπουρζέ, ο σχεδιαστής του
πρέτ-à-πορτέ του οίκου Σανέλ, αποφάσισε
ν’ ανατρέψει τις ιδέες για την κλασική
μόδα της Μεγάλης Δεσποινίδας. Έτσι για
το 1980-81 φαντάζεται τη ζωή μιας γυναίκας
στο διάστημα της ημέρας, παίζει με τη
διάθεσή της για αλλαγή και σχεδιάζει
εντυπωσιακά μοντέλα για κάθε στιγμή»
(cf. Επίκαιρα, Αριθ. Τεύχ. 611, 17-23.4.1980,
p. 107, my emph.).

The “grand” female was to be re-translated into the “Amalia-type” of the 1980’s in her “everydayness”. This mutated or mutating “Amalia-type” is characterized by a mood for continual change within that “everydayness”. The latter was a series of “moments” («για κάθε στιγμή») all of which mattered and which were to be united by fashion. Alternatively, one may say that fashion had no choice but follow the “moments” in the day of a woman – the “continuum” was the veritable “democratization” of the “moment”, it being the “democratization” of “everydayness” as such. Thus, the aloofness of the “grand” female would by now be debunked.

The popular socio-cultural discourse of the 1980’s – as also much of the concomitant advertizing discourse – would present female “beauty” and “intellect” as two sides of the same coin. Such interlinking of the two would become a dominant discourse throughout the Western world and would percolate through to the so-called peripheries of the capitalist world, including Greece. In 1986, the daily newspaper, Απογευματινή, would publish an article that very accurately captured the socio-cultural “atmosphere” of the period – accompanied by pictures depicting an attractive sixteen year-old, it read as follows:

«Αυτό είναι το κορίτσι του 1986…

Θα συμφωνήσετε κι εσείς πως είναι όμορφη
σαν ζωγραφιά η 16χρονη Βικτώρια που φιγουράρει
κορνιζαρισμένη σε μια βικτωριανής εμπνεύσεως
κορνίζα. Αυτά μετά την ανάδειξή της ως το
“πρόσωπο του ‘86” σε ένα διαγωνισμό ομορφιάς
στον οποίο πήραν μέρος χιλιάδες νεαρές Βρετανίδες.
Τώρα η Βικτώρια θα πάει στην Ιταλία για να πάρει
μέρος στο διεθνή διαγωνισμό “ΛΟΥΚ ‘86”… η ίδια
όμως διαβεβαιώνει πως όσο και να “σκίσει” δεν
πρόκειται να εγκαταλείψει το σχολείο της: Είναι
αριστούχος και έχει μεγάλες προσδοκίες και στο στίβο
της διανόησης. Ποιος το ‘πε πως αυτά τα δύο δεν
πάνε ποτέ μαζί;»
(cf. Απογευματινή, 12.8.1986, p. 5, my emph.).

Such prevailing socio-cultural discourse – wherein “beauty” and “intellect” would be placed side by side – would really be the consummation of developments that had commenced back in the decade of the 1960’s.

We may summarize this sub-section on advertizing discourse related to “eros” – and how “eros” was being related to work – as follows:

1. Advertizing discourse as-a-whole, for the period we are discussing, would gradually come to establish various gradations of a continuum between the world of “eros” and the world of work. Such “myth-making” would in fact be “adjusting” to the socio-cultural “myth-making” of the maturing “Amalia-type”. Discourse would feed on the “Amalia-type” and vice versa.
2. This reality needs to be contrasted to all “metaphysics” – usually of a Marxian persuasion – that wishes to draw an “essentialist” distinction between the “economic” and the “extra-economic” spheres (Bataille’s “metaphysics” being one rather extreme case of such thinking).
3. The reality we have attempted to capture (based on empirical research and not on some eschatological paradigm of hope) constituted the “lifeworld” and the “everydayness” of the “Amalia-type”.
4. This “lifeworld” was a tripartite “everydayness” composed of the “economic” sphere, the “extra-economic” free time sphere, and an “in-between” sphere – there would be the persistent attempt to unite such spheres both in advertizing discourse and via the lived psychology of the real “Amalia-type”. At the same time, all three spheres could only but maintain their relative autonomy with respect to one another. But advertizing discourse could create links between such relatively autonomous spheres by taking such autonomy into account. This is one important reason why one could also come across specific advertisements that dwelt exclusively on only one of these spheres – here, it would be advertizing discourse as-a-whole that would do the ideological work of uniting that one specific sphere with the rest. It would also be the real person of the “Amalia-type” that would wish to conjoin any one sphere with the next (this would be a natural wish on the part of the “Amalia-type”, unless one wishes to stigmatize such type either as “schizophrenic” or “one-dimensional”).
5. With respect to the specifically “economic” sphere, our findings allow us to make the following points: while, on the one hand, both the shop floor and the office would be characterized by employer “despotism” exercised over employees, at least a segment of such employees (mainly “White-Collars” like the “Amalia-type”) would gradually come to adopt a “work ethic” that enabled them to pursue the socio-cultural practices of “careerism”. The maturing “Amalia-type” would be characterized by real professional ambitions that the likes of a Bataille would never be able to recognize. Advertizing discourse which related to work would promote such new “work ethic”. At the same time, such advertizing discourse would suppress the reality of workplace “despotism” – but that too would be in keeping with the spirit of an ambitious “careerism”.
6. More than that, the suppression of the reality of “despotism” in advertizing discourse did not constitute a blatant distortion of the truth: what may be described as the “in-between” sphere in the “everydayness” of an employee was precisely those “free zones” created by employees in the workplace which enabled them to beat whatever “total system” of employee “despotism”. By breaking such system, they would – as we have tried to show – also be connecting their own dots and creating links with the “extra-economic” sphere. Advertizing discourse would wish to express such unity of one’s “everydayness” by presenting a female’s “lifeworld” as an interlinked series of “moments”.
7. With respect to the “extra-economic” sphere of free time and how this was expressed in advertizing discourse, our findings enable us to make the following points: First, while advertizing discourse could often present the “Amalia-type” with fashion paradigms of “ideal beauty”, it would at the same time advise Greek females to ignore “high fashion” and “adjust” their tastes to the practical needs of their own “everydayness” and to the aesthetic needs of their own personal “type”. Second, the emphasis on “personalized” fashion would translate into a “democratization” of all fashion tastes – such “democratization” would itself mean the “absolute freedom” of the “Amalia-type” with respect to aesthetic choices. Third, this “freedom” could translate into a choice for one’s personal experience of “sensuality”, and which could further take the form of one’s personal experience of the “erotic” per se. Thus, the “extra-economic” sphere of free time pertaining to the Greek female would be expressed in advertizing discourse by a chain of marketing “concepts” composed of the following elements: ideal beauty → adjustment → individual personality → democracy of taste → freedom of choice and expression → the experience of sensuality → the erotic.
8. This chain of marketing concepts expressive of the “extra-economic” free time of a working “Amalia-type” would, we have suggested, itself be part of that wider continuum joining work and “play”.
9. Finally, we have alluded to the fact that such continuum in advertizing discourse would itself be characterized by a variety of internal ideological tensions. These tensions would be reflective of real contradictions riddling the “lifeworld” of the “Amalia-type” – one may identify at least three types of contradictions: First, there could be a contradictious relationship between work and “eros” as such, these two spheres of life being, in themselves, of a different nature in whatever mode of production. Second, there would be contradictions within the terrain of work itself, given “despotic” and/or over-exploitative practices on the part of Greek employers. And thirdly, there could be contradictions within the terrain of “eros” itself, since such terrain could encompass a variety of experiences ranging from the “authentically” sensual, to manifestations of “cheap” sensuality, and could even extend to manifestations of sexual “perversion”. But it is important to note here that it would be advertizing discourse itself that would attempt to resolve all such tensions and contradictions. More accurately, it would be the specifically “adjustive” type of advertizing discourse that would often reflect such an attempt.

That, more or less, is the type of advertizing that we have been discussing in this section of our work. But such “adjustive” function of advertizing discourse on themes related to work and “eros” was, of course, just one dimension of the variety of discourse produced by the advertizing industry as a whole. To appreciate the “adjustive” type of advertizing, one needs to contrast it to the highly “provocative” type of advertizing discourse churned out on themes of work and, especially so, with respect to “eros”. Here, the “provocative” nature of such advertizing could take on a very specific form – that of “sexism”. Simply for purposes of contrast, then, we shall have to briefly consider the issue of “sexism” in advertizing discourse at the time.

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TO INVESTIGATE

Our purpose here is to investigate the discourse of advertizing in the 1950’s-1970’s period. We shall attempt to come up with some sort of typology of such discourse, and draw conclusions as to the implications of such typology with respect to Greek youth in the period, and especially as regards Greek female youth in the 1960’s. Throughout this paper, we shall try to examine the relation that pertained between advertizing discourse and a Greek female working youth such as Amalia Eleftheriadou, the White-Collar employee (“Clerk”) at the A&M Mill at Aliarto, whose life we are investigating both as employee and as youth in the 1960’s-early-1970’s socio-cultural milieu. To the extent that Amalia is representative of a “type” of person in the period under discussion (the “Amalia-type”), we shall try to understand how such type “lived” her relationship to the advertizing discourse that bombarded her.

We know that Amalia lived at Aliarto and worked at the A&M Mill from 1966 and through to the fall of the Military Dictatorship, a period of time when, as we shall see, advertizing in Greece blossomed. A number of basic questions shall inevitably arise: for instance, how did such a young female youth, living in a semi-rural area outside Athens, respond to the “global” messages that many advertisements carried, and with which she had direct contact through mass popular periodicals such as the  Romantso [Ρομάντσο]? Alternatively, one needs to also investigate the extent to which advertisements published in such popular magazines or presented at the Aliarto local cinema were in fact permeated by international “stereotypes” and the extent to which they also projected “national/“localist”/ “traditional discourse. To the extent that such latter discourse was itself present in advertisements, we shall need to here again investigate how the “Amalia-type” would respond to such “Greekness” in the discourse.

In coming up with some sort of typology of Greek advertizing discourse, we shall try to identify degrees of “provocative-interventionism” in particular advertisements, whereby their discourse would try to impose “stereotypes” on consumers in manners which fully disregarded the pre-existing cultural practices and traditional values of Greeks at the time (e.g. the so-called “Americanization” of life). Similarly, we shall try to identify degrees of “compromising adjustment” in yet other advertisements, whereby, in this case, their discourse would try to take into consideration the pre-existing cultural practices/values of consumers, and thus presuppose some kind of active interaction between consumer and advertizing company.

The structure of the text that follows will be organized around two central axes: we shall categorize advertisements in terms of the degree of “balances” they maintained (or did not maintain) between “provocative-interventionism” and “compromising adjustment” in their discourse and, further, we shall try to identify the specific “cultural content” of each such advertisement. We shall also examine what we call the “positive material content” of all advertizing discourse. Of course, before we even attempt such a methodology in dealing with the phenomenon of advertizing, we shall have to consider the manner in which Greek “intellectuals” at the time themselves dealt with the phenomenon (itself closely related to the phenomenon of consumerism in the 1960’s-1970’s) – and we shall have to do this because such “intellectuals” were to themselves play some role in determining how people viewed/related to advertisements. Both the discourse of advertisements and the theoretical discourse that unfolded in trying to position itself with respect to the phenomenon of advertizing, shall here be approached as more or less objective historical phenomena of the past that now await to be explained from a somewhat ‘neutral’ distance.

Such ‘neutral’ historicist distance cannot of course apply to present-day theoretical attempts at explaining what happened then. We have found some such attempts both useful in the hard facts they have come up with but also thoroughly disappointing in that their angle is either helplessly oversimplistic or still burdened with the ideological biases of the 1960’s-1970’s period. As to the problem of oversimplicity, we may very briefly consider here a text, entitled «Η Διαφήμιση στην Ελλάδα από το 1940 έως το 1990» (cf. “diafimisi” – http://diafimisi .wiki spaces.com), and which draws the following conclusions as regards the 1960’s-1980’s period:

«Η συλλογικότητα του ’60 και η εσωτερικότητα του ’70 δίνουν [in the 1980’s] τη θέση τους στη φιλάρεσκη αυτάρκεια του ατομισμού – του νέου εγωισμού» (p. 5).

Even at mere face value, such an observation is an obviously oversimplified periodization of the “common nous, and covers a span of thirty years wherein the so-called social psyche cannot possibly be reduced to all-inclusive abstractions such as «συλλογικότητα», etc. Yet still, one needs to admit that such observation does point to possible dominant tendencies within the 30-year period.

A contemporary theoretical attempt dealing with the question of advertizing and which remains burdened with the ideological biases of the 1960’s-1970’s, is that of E. Roupa (cf. Ευφροσύνη Ρούπα, «Η κατανάλωση στην Ελλάδα κατά τη μεταπολεμική εικοσαετία 1945-1967: «πατριωτική πράξη», «ξενική επίδραση» ή εθνικό «χαρακτηριστικό»;…», Ελληνική Ιστορική Εταιρεία, histsociety.web.auth.gr/Ρούπα-praktika%202011.pdf). We have here, yet another attempt at a periodization of the phenomenon of consumerism in Greece – though it too is based on conceptual tools that remain highly problematic. Consider the following quote:

«Μέχρι τα μέσα της δεκαετίας του 1950 η κατοχή
υλικών αγαθών ερμηνεύονταν ως τεκμήριο
ανάπτυξης και ευημερίας. Από τα μέσα της δεκαετίας
του 1950 η κατανάλωση θεωρήθηκε ως η μόνη εγγύηση
ευτυχίας στη ζωή, το σημαντικότερο μέσο προσωπικής
ικανοποίησης καθώς και κοινωνικής καταξίωσης και
ανέλιξης. Στις αρχές της δεκαετίας του 1960 άρχισε να
αναδύεται το ερώτημα αν η κατοχή των υλικών αγαθών
είχε σχέση με την πνευματική ανάπτυξη» (p. 255).

Roupa’s “periodization” as to the consumption of goods in Greece comes down to three different ways in which the act of consumption had been seen through the years: firstly, it had been seen as a criterion of “development”; but then, secondly, it was considered to be a guarantee of “happiness”; and then, finally, as something which had raised doubts as to what constituted “spiritual development”. The writer of course implies that such different manners of interpreting consumerism constituted the discourse of “dominant” ideology, and as that was inscribed in advertizing discourse itself, bar the third and final interpretation of consumerism, which itself expressed the critique of “Left” thinkers. Now, such an attempt to periodize the phenomenon of consumerism – as also the interpretations that went with it – is of course of importance to social history, to the extent that it identifies ruptures in the continuity of advertizing discourse in Greece, or ruptures in the interpretation of it. But terms such as «ανάπτυξη», «ευτυχία» and «πνευματικό» are so abstract, so subjective and so vague, that they cannot possibly be used as tools of any periodization whatsoever. Even if they were to be accepted as “tools”, they would have to be explained in sociological terms and without passing any “ethical” judgment on them. For our purposes, no general periodization will be attempted, it being beyond our limits. But we may keep Roupa’s descriptive subjectivity in mind, as we try to understand how the “Amalia-type” of the 1960’s related to advertisements, and as we shall try at the same time to understand how Greek “intellectuals” of the period themselves saw such relationship.

GLOSSARY OF GREEK TERMS

● «ανάπτυξη», «ευτυχία», «πνευματικό»: development, happiness, the spiritual
● «αυτάρκεια του ατομισμού»: individualistic self-sufficiency
● «εσωτερικότητα»: esoteric consciousness
● «Η Διαφήμιση στην Ελλάδα από το 1940 έως το 1990»: “Advertizing in Greece from 1940 to 1990”.
● «συλλογικότητα»: collective consciousness

SOME BRIEF NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF ADVERTIZING IN GREECE

As regards the period prior to the 1940’s, we know that Greek advertisements lacked any “structured” discourse meant to coax consumers into buying the particular product – all they did was to simply make a reference to the object advertized (and cf. A. Altiparmakidou, «Το ραδιόφωνο στην Ελλάδα», eureka.lib.teithe.gr.8080/bitstream/.../Altiparmakidou, 2010, p. 2). But this must be taken to apply only generally to the quality of advertisements at the time, and with special reference to the pre-War period. Writing of the late-1940’s, this is what Menis Koumandareas has to say of the Athens city-centre at the time:

«Κέντρο ήταν η Σταδίου και Πανεπιστημίου, όπου μόνον
εκεί  υπήρχαν μαγαζιά … και ρεκλάμες πολύχρωμες».
(cf. Menis Koumandareas, Σεραφείμ και Χερουβείμ [Seraphim and Cherubim], Κέδρος 1981, p. 95).
Most probably, Koumandareas is pointing to the very first of multi-coloured bill-boards to ever appear in Greece, and which could only have happened in the heart of central Athens, or only thereabouts.

By the early 1950’s, we have the first rudiments of the spread of the advertizing phenomenon around Athens, and which was to take a very special form – Koumandareas describes the matter as follows:

«Υστερότερα, τον πήραν [i.e. someone trying to land a
job in Athens] σ’ ένα γραφείο στην Κάνιγκος τοιχοκολλητή,
του ’διναν μια δέσμη, έναν κουβά κόλλα και γύριζε την
Αθήνα νύχτα … κόλλησε στους τοίχους από οδοντόπαστες και
σουτιέν μέχρι …[etc.]» (Koumandareas, op. cit., p. 216).

The reference to «τοιχοκολλητές» working the streets of night-time Athens, and putting up street posters in the early 1950’s, certainly conjures up an image of cheap and primitive promotion techniques – and yet Altiparmakidou (ibid.) observes that the “structured” message in Greek advertisements had already made its appearance within the decade of the 1950’s.

The appearance of “structured” discourse in the period of the 1950’s is verified – at least as a programmed intention in the process of being researched – by the periodical Παραγωγικότης – Όργανον του Ελληνικού Κέντρου Παραγωγικότητος (έτος Δ’ – αρ. 28 – Αθήναι, Απρίλιος 1958). This organ of the historically important “ΕΛ.ΚΕ.ΠΑ”, which functioned «μέ τήν συμπαράστασιν τής ενταύθα Αμερικανικής Αποστολής», and in cooperation with ΣΕΒ (according to an insert of the periodical), had this to say as regards the development of technical methods for the promotion of products and how this needed to be researched:

«Εταιρία πρός βελτίωσιν τών μεθόδων εμπορίας…
Είς τό Ελληνικόν Κέντρον Παραγωγικότητος συνεκροτήθη
τελευταίως σύσκεψις εκπροσώπων διαφόρων εμπορικών,
διαφημιστικών κ.λ. επιχειρήσεων, κατά τήν οποίαν συνεζητήθη
τό θέμα τής σκοπιμότητος ιδρύσεως εταιρίας, διά την βελτίωσιν
των μεθόδων εμπορίας (Greek marketing Association).
Απεφασίσθη δέ, κατ’ αρχήν, η σύστασης τοιαύτης εταιρίας. Αί
σχετικαί  λεπτομέρειαι θά ρυθμισθούν είς προσεχή
συνεδρίασιν» (p. 209).

The quote clearly shows that, by the late 1950’s, ΕΛΚΕΠΑ was already undertaking initiatives for the establishment of formal organizational structures whose purpose it would be to produce better, more “structured” advertizing discourse – at this point, methods of promotion were to be researched («μεθόδων εμπoρίας»). As we shall further see below, such methods would also include attempts at “compromising” with the Greek consumer in manners which would take into account the socio-cultural and economic reality of the popular masses – in that sense, the sheer presence of the latter would itself function in ways which determined the content of advertizing discourse.

It was of course the decade of the 1960’s that was to bring about truly radical changes in the field of the Greek advertizing sector. Contrasting the pre-World War II period to that of the 1960’s, Roupa (op. cit., p. 262) observes:

«Προπολεμικά λειτουργούσαν στη χώρα τέσσερις
διαφημιστικές εταιρείες. Στα μέσα της δεκαετίας
του 1960 ασχολούνταν άμεσα ή έμμεσα με τη
διαφήμιση 170 επιχειρήσεις».

Similarly, Altiparmakidou (ibid.) has observed that the 1960’s period, characterized by a variety of ‘revolutionary’ changes, was marked by the rise of consumerism and thus also by a focus on advertizing as a marketing technique – so much so that such technique/s actually advertized themselves (obviously to producers of products – for instance, an advertizing company by the name of “SERVIS” would promote its all-new marketing techniques to manufacturers and commercial outlets in an advertisement placed in the daily newspaper Ακρόπολις, 28.1.1966, p. 7). Altiparmakidou further verifies the existence of important indigenous Greek marketing companies operating at the time.

As regards the rise of consumerism and the related development of advertizing techniques in the 1960’s, A.G. has observed (in unpublished research notes) the pioneering usage of advertizing in the promotion of “ION” («σοκολάτα γάλακτος με αμύγδαλα»). She notes:

«Στις δεκαετίες του 1960 [and then on to the 1970’s],
η ΙΟΝ ήταν από τις πρώτες εταιρείες στην Ελλάδα που
χρησιμοποίησαν ενεργά τη διαφήμιση, πρώτα την
έντυπη και αργότερα με την εξάπλωση της τηλεόρασης
τα διαφημιστικά σποτ».

According to A.G., advertizing techniques in the 1960’s were first mainly in printed form, appearing in magazines and newspapers. She goes on to observe (accurately or not remains to be verified) that advertisements then gradually were to be relayed through the radio, and then later, especially by the 1970’s, we had the use of advertizing spots on TV. While such observations may not be accurate as regards the general history of advertizing in Greece, they seem to somehow apply to the particular ION product.

Wolfgang Koeppen, the German writer who travelled around Greece in 1961, noted the sheer ubiquity of advertisements, especially in Athens. In his excellent little book, Οι απόγονοι της Σαλαμίνας ή Οι βαρύθυμοι Έλληνες (University Studio Press, Salonika, 2009), he observed at the time:

«Σ’ όλες τις στέγες φεγγοβολούν ρεκλάμες…
Μια διψασμένη καταβόθρα διαφημίζει τη
μπίρα του Γερμανού ζυθοποιού Φιξ» (p. 16).

A bit further in that same book, he again refers to the ubiquity of advertisements and alludes to the up-and-coming dominance of advertizing, even since 1961 – as he so eloquently puts it:

«Η Ακρόπολη κρέμεται μετέωρη στον ουρανό,
υποστηριγμένη από το φως των διαφημίσεων
σαν εμπορικό σήμα κατατεθέν» (p. 38).

And yet, and having said all this, we still need to emphasize that in the decade of the 1960’s, the Greek advertizing sector remained relatively atrophic in contrast to what was to come later, in the 1970’s (let alone the 1980’s). Perhaps this is why the http://diafimisi source cited above insists as follows with respect to the 1960’s advertizing sector in Greece:

«Παρόλα αυτά ο κλάδος είναι ακόμα στο
περιθώριο» (p. 3).

As for the 1970’s, Altiparmakidou (ibid.) notes that it is then that the first important American and European advertizing companies establish themselves in the country (though this too awaits its verification by the historian). All we need say at this point is that in the early 1970’s we have clear evidence that advertizing techniques are being further promulgated and the advertizing sector is presented as a field of “creativity”, meant to attract both the manufacturers and young candidate careerists in the sector of professional advertizing creation. In 1974, for instance, the periodical  Epikaira [Επίκαιρα] (3-9 October, No. 322) presented advertizing as follows:

«Τί προσφέρει η διαφήμισις…
Η πρωταρχική… γοητεία της διαφημίσεως είναι
η παντελής έλλειψις ανίας. Η διαρκής αίσθησις
της  προσωπικής δημιουργίας…» (p. 47).

GLOSSARY

● «ΕΛ.ΚΕ.ΠΑ.»: Greek Productivity Centre (ELKEPA)
● «με την συμπαράστασιν της… Αμερικανικής Αποστολής»: with the support of the American Economic Mission to Greece (commencing 1947)
● «Οι απόγονοι της Σαλαμίνας ή Οι βαρύθυμοι Ελληνες»: “The descendants of Salamis or the brooding Greeks”.
● «ΣΕΒ»: The Federation of Greek Industries
● «σοκολάτα γάλακτος με αμύγδαλα»: milk chocolate with almonds – and cf. www.ion.gr/en/history.html
● «Το ραδιόφωνο στην Ελλάδα»: “The radio in Greece”.
● «τοιχοκολλητές»: workers doing poster sniping

BROAD DISSEMINATION OF ADVERTIZING THROUGH POPULAR PERIODICALS AND THE RADIO

Because our central focus is on the “Amalia-type” person, residing outside Athens at Aliarto, it is of interest to us to confirm the extent to which such a young female was exposed to the advertizing discourse of the period. We have elsewhere dealt with the complex relationship between the “cultural centre” of Athens and “cultural peripheries” such as Boeotia. Here, we may simply note that the popular periodicals of the time – major disseminators of advertizing discourse such as the Romantso – were especially popular in the rural or semi-rural areas of Greece. And especially as regards the Romantso itself, Roupa has very usefully discovered through her research work that this particular periodical was the first in terms of circulation numbers in the 1960’s. Such “discovery”, of course, is well known to whoever lived the period of the sixties, but it is of importance nonetheless to simply record the matter as a historical fact. She writes:

«…το Δεκέμβριο του 1964 το ‘Ρομάντσο’ πούλησε
94.750 αντίτυπα…» (p. 263).

No other periodical would sell as much. But generally all Athens-based popular periodicals such as the Romantso would be shared by readers in the “peripheries”, given the relative dearth of other reading material in such areas (the sharing would take place amongst family members, neighbours, shop clients, in coffee shops, etc.). The implication is that advertisements carried by such periodicals would bring the “Amalia-type” into direct contact with the type of advertizing discourse circulating around Athens itself (we may note here in passing that local newspapers circulating within Boeotia, such as the Aliartian-based Voiotike Floga[Βοιωτική Φλόγα] published in the 1960’s, were characterized by too “conservative” an outlook to effect such a contact with the “centre”). With reference to the Athens popular periodicals of the time, Roupa summarizes her findings as follows:

«Ας σημειωθεί ότι τα εν λόγω περιοδικά είχαν
ιδιαίτερη ζήτηση στην ελληνική περιφέρεια, όπου
οι ευκαιρίες ψυχαγωγίας ήταν λιγότερες από
την πρωτεύουσα» (ibid., my emph.).

The quote above certainly reinforces what we have observed elsewhere as to the role of popular periodicals in the “cultural peripheries” of 1960’s Greece (but which is not meant to suggest that periodicals were the one and only source of contact between “centre” and “periphery”). Further and as already suggested, the quote implies that the “Amalia-type” would “live” cultural events and trends taking place in the “centre” via such periodicals. Finally, we should note that Roupa supports her findings by making use of source material available in «Ελληνική ζωή και ξένη οικονομία: Εβδομαδιαία», in Viomichaniki Epitheorisis [transl.: Industrial Review –  Βιομηχανική Επιθεώρησις], No. 32 (April 1965), p. 253.

Apart from the popular periodicals circulating around Aliarto week in and week out, the “Amalia-type” would of course also have daily access to the radio (cf. our paper examining the role of the radio in the 1960’s-1970’s period). Making use of information provided by Theofilakto Papakonstandinou in 1963, Roupa has observed that Greek people in the 1960’s actively sought to be informed of new products in the market-place and did so by making use of the radio. With reference to the popular masses of the 1960’s and using data provided by Papakonstandinou, Roupa writes:

«Ήταν βέβαια περισσότερο “ακουστικός τύπος,
προτιμούσε το ακρόαμα από την ανάγνωση”.
Σύμφωνα με τα κριτήρια που οριοθέτησε η UNESCO
σε έρευνά της σχετικά με το επίπεδο ενημέρωσης
της κοινής γνώμης μίας χώρας, στην Ελλάδα …
το ποσοστό κατοχής δέκτη ραδιοφώνου ήταν
ιδιαίτερα ικανοποιητικό» (p. 263).

Perhaps we should point out here that it was not only listening that the popular masses would resort to so as to inform themselves – they would as much resort to seeing both for their entertainment and their information: hence the dominantly pictorial nature of the popular periodicals and hence also the popularity of the cinema (as also at Aliarto, especially amongst youth of both sexes).

Generally speaking, and as regards the relationship between advertizing, mass consumerism and the role of the radio as a means of consumer information, John Kenneth Galbraith had made the following observation in 1967:

“Coincidentally with rising mass incomes came
first radio and then television” (cf. The New
Industrial State, Penguin, first published 1967,
p. 213).

The very important question of ‘mass incomes’ in the case of 1960’s-1970’s Greece shall be dealt with below (but cf., inter alia, our paper on the “Samandoura Case”, as also our analyses of wage-scales at the A&M Mill from the 1950’s and through to the early 1980’s).We shall end these brief ‘historical’ notes by simply citing the views of an “average” Greek of the 1960’s on the question of the quality of radio commercials at the time, and whose views are perhaps expressive of the idea that radio listeners/consumers could themselves be highly critical of what they heard (or saw). In a ‘Letter to the Editor’ published in Ta Nea [Τα Νέα] (Thurs. 12.11.1964, p. 6, entitled «Οι ραδιοσταθμοί μας», and available in the Α&Μ Archives), the letter-writer had this to say about radio commercials:

«…Όσο για την ποιότητα των διαφημίσεων –
τα κείμενά τους δηλαδή – καλύτερα να μην
τα χαρακτηρίσουμε. Φαίνεται πως δεν το πήραμε
ακόμα είδηση ότι το ραδιόφωνο είναι σχολείο.
Και ότι στο σχολείο δεν επιτρέπεται η αρλούμπα».

GLOSSARY

●«Οι ραδιοσταθμοί μας»: “Our radio stations”.

GREEK INTELLECTUALS ON THE QUESTION OF ADVERTIZING/CONSUMERISM, 1960’s-1970’s

To begin with, we shall have to emphasize that whatever examination of the theoretical discourse on the discourse of advertizing/the practice of consumerism that unfolded in the 1960’s-1970’s amongst Greek intellectuals at the time, cannot possibly make sense unless one also takes into consideration the dominant trends of thinking amongst foreign intellectuals. If it is true that foreign advertizing stereotypes were imported and adopted by the Greek advertizing sector, it is also as true that those who were highly critical of advertizing were themselves making use of ideas – at times stereotypical themselves – which were being clearly imported from overseas, such ideas most often being borrowed   from the Continental “Left” (or from ‘radical’ theoretical discourse hailing from the USA). Thus, the importation of foreign theories on the part of Greek “intellectuals” and their imposition onto the Greek reality was something that went hand-in-hand with the influx of foreign advertizing discourse. But while, as we shall try to show, the latter discourse had to willy-nilly adjust to the Greek reality, the borrowed theoretical discourse, handicapped by an incipient political dogmatism, made no such corresponding adjustment.

Perhaps one of the most important foreign intellectuals to have had a major influence on Greek thinkers at the time – especially in the early-1970’s – was Erich Fromm. In his The Sane Society, translated in Greek in 1973 (Η υγιής κοινωνία, Εκδόσεις Μπουκουμάνη), Fromm summarizes his position on advertizing very succinctly – he says:

«Πίνουμε ετικέτες…» (p. 170).

This statement, for Erich Fromm, is generally expressive of the age of the 1960’s and the 1970’s. In some sense, he means to suggest that the ‘modern’ post-war man is so alienated from himself and from his own body that he does not truly savour, does not authentically relish and experience the act of drinking whatever liquid: the body is somewhat excluded from such act – what we have here is a victim-consumer whose act of drinking is ‘mediated’ by an imposed trade-mark. We may contrast the implications of such an approach to the realities of the “Amalia-type”: we could say that, after a hard day’s work at the Headquarters of the A&M Mill, Amalia Eleftheriadou had to do some washing. By 1970, let us say, she could do this, not by using her fairly delicate hands, but by using her newly-bought IZOLA washing machine. Would her washing in this case not be “authentically real” but an act ‘mediated’ by the IZOLA trade-mark? Could we here say that Amalia would now be “washing trade-marks”? Alternatively, we may ask ourselves: what, in the case of the “Amalia-type”, was more important to her: the brand-name itself or the practical amenity?

For Fromm, as also for Greek “intellectuals”, the post-World War II socio-cultural milieu was
such as to swallow up everything and everyone within its all-inclusive and all-powerful new means of domination, that of the brand-name. Such an approach, while definitely originating from the thinking of the New Left, had become so dominant amongst writers and commentators in Greece, that even non-“Left intellectuals” would uncritically adopt it as their own. Consider, for instance, how Menis Koumandareas would describe the ‘new age’ sprouting in Greece and with specific reference to 1963 – he writes:

«H μισή πόλη χτιζόταν με αντιπαροχές, όπως η
μισή άδειαζε από σαβούρα – δηλαδή κονσόλες,
βιενέζικες καρέκλες και μπουφέδες – για να γεμίσει
με φορμάικες και νάυλον» (cf. M. Koumandareas,
Ο ωραίος λοχαγός[The Handsome Captain], Κέδρος, Οct. 1982, p. 70).

Now, such a description of the state of affairs in 1963 Greece is not in fact inaccurate – the 1960’s was the period of time in which the age of the Formica and of Nylon (and the brand names that went with these) was being ushered in. But what Koumandareas does not tell us is what a set of Formica table and chairs or what a Nylon pair of stockings would have meant to the “Amalia-type” (consider, for instance, that quite a number of Aliartian families in the early 1960’s had their meals on the floor or used tree-trunks for chairs – but we shall have to come back to this further below). It is not only that a writer such as Koumandareas fails to pose and deal with such a pertinent question – in fact, his position is highly reminiscent of that of Fromm’s when he comes to speak of the ‘plastic age’ of the early-1970’s. In his  Βιοτεχνία Υαλικών [Glass Factory,  Κέδρος, 1975, 1st edition), he presents the ‘plastic age’ as a period of time wherein everything loses its ‘authenticity’ (people included) – this is how he puts it:

«Έτσι ανακάλυψα τα πλαστικά. Πλαστικές
οι καρέκλες που καθόμαστε, πλαστικά τα ποτήρια
που πίνουμε, οι τσάντες που κρατάμε, τα
ραδιόφωνα, τα τηλέφωνα – πλαστικές ακόμα
 και οι γυναίκες» (p. 99, my emph.).

For the vast majority of Greek “intellectuals” at the time, such age of the Formica, of Nylon and of Plastic, is in essence the age of manipulation. In 1972, the writer Marios Hakkas would present life in Athens as follows:

«Αθήνα, η αρμονία σου είναι να ψωνίζεις και
ταυτόχρονα να ψωνίζεσαι» (cf. Marios Hakkas,
Το κοινόβιο [The Commune], Κέδρος, 1972, p. 116).

For Hakkas, the dominant practice amongst Athenians in the early-1970’s – that which maintains, ironically, their «αρμονία» – is the act of buying. But while so buying, they are being manipulated (the term «ψωνίζεσαι» suggesting precisely that).

The manipulative function of advertizing bill-boards – especially – is brought about through the sheer effect they have on the circumscribing atmosphere within which the person finds himself. In 1973, Glafki Daskalopoulou would describe such atmospheric effect as follows:

«Απέναντι στο βάθος, στερεωμένες στην ταράτσα
κάποιου κτιρίου, οι δυο πρώτες λέξεις μιας
διαφημιστικής επιγραφής: Η ΠΙΟ ΣΙΓ… Το υπόλοιπο
βρίσκεται έξω από τ’ οπτικό μου πεδίο. Χωρίς
αμφιβολία, Η ΠΙΟ ΣΙΓΟΥΡΗ ΤΟΠΟΘΕΤΗΣΗ, ή
ΕΞΑΣΦΑΛΙΣΗ, ή ΕΠΙΤΥΧΙΑ. Όταν ανάβουν τα φώτα,
οι λέξεις αναβοσβήνουν σε χρώμα παπαγαλί και
η ατμόσφαιρα γύρω πρασινίζει» (cf. G. Daskalopoulou,
 Ένοπλη Ξενάγηση, Κέδρος, 1973, p. 20).

The manipulative automaticity involved in the act of buying (implied by Hakka) and the very atmosphere which envelopes the buyer (as described by Daskalopoulou), have the effect of making the consumer purchase things for reasons outside his intentions: what one buys is all a question of how the thing is advertized. Satirizing the practices of advertisers in 1974, Nikos Tsiforos would make this point as follows:

«Μόνον το απορρυπαντικό ΖΘΕ πλένει βιολογικά …
[and yet] … Το απορρυπαντικό ΖΘΕ δεν πλένει
βιολογικά, … αλλά ρεκλαμάρει, γιατί το παν είναι
να βρεις έναν ορισμό… Πλένω βιολογικά. Οδοντόκρεμα
με γκαρντόλ… [etc.]» (cf. Nikos Tsiforos, Άνθρωποι
 και ανθρωπάκια[Men and Little Men], Ερμής, 1974, p. 133, my emph.).

We shall elsewhere see that Tsiforos himself will go on to also satirize – and thus criticize –the idea that people simply do what advertizing slogans/jingoes ask them to do. But here, and in keeping with the general ideological sway of the 1970’s, he suggests that a product does not “do” things – it just «ρεκλαμάρει» (i.e. it merely promotes itself and nothing more). In the same text, he will stress the manipulative nature of advertizing discourse by maintaining that such discourse can usually play on personal weaknesses, thus making people swallow the line – he writes:

«… “Αγνά γαλακτοκομικά προϊόντα” …  Η αλήθεια είναι,
ότι η λέξη “αγνός” τραβάει πάντα όλον τον κόσμο,
γιατί κανείς σε όλον τον κόσμο δεν είναι αγνός» (op. cit.
p. 213).

For the “intellectual” I.M. Panagiotopoulos, all advertizing discourse in the decade of the 1970’s is reduced to (manipulative) propaganda, its single object being to impose whatever product on the public. While, as we shall see below, Panagiotopoulos had held a radically different view on the question of advertizing and consumerism in the decade of the 1950’s, by 1977 – and again given the dominant anti-consumerist ideological trend of the “Left” at the time – he would reduce whatever promotional campaign in the advertizing sector to what he would call a «σκληρό σφυροκόπημα» of the Greek popular masses. He would, in 1977, write:

«…Η προπαγάνδα είναι … σκληρό σφυροκόπημα
που επιδιώκει να επιβάλει ένα προϊόν οποιασδήποτε
μορφής. Αυτό το προϊόν μπορεί να είναι …
ένα είδος της καθημερινής χρήσης»(cf. I.M.
Panagiotopoulοs, O σύγχρονος άνθρωπος [The Modern Man], Εκδόσεις των
Φίλων, Athens, 1977, p. 70, my emph.).

Similarly, Rea Galanaki, writing in 1982 but with specific reference to the 1967-1974 period (i.e. the years of the Military Dictatorship), would point to the psychological effect that advertizing had on Greeks and on the creation of “false hopes” – and she would continue as follows:

«Τα δούρεια βήματα μες στο μικρό δωμάτιό της
εκ των προτέρων εκπορθούν την πρόφαση του
πρωινού για ελπίδα… εκ των προτέρων εκπορθούν
… το άρωμα της οδοντόκρεμας» (cf. Rea Galanaki, Πού ζει ο λύκος;
[Where does the wolf live?], Εκδόσεις Άγρα, Athens, 1982,
p. 46).

Of course, the whole idea that many of the goods sold in the market-place were meant to satisfy “false needs” manipulatively created by the advertizing industry, was already in circulation following the work of John Kenneth Galbraith in the 1960’s, especially with his classic masterpiece, The Affluent Society (Penguin, 1969), and which itself was highly influential in Greece. The crux of Galbraith’s argument had raised questions such as the following:

“Why worship work and productivity if many
of the goods we produce are superfluous-
artificial ‘needs’ created by high-pressure
advertising?” (cf. John Kenneth Galbraith,
 The New Industrial State, op. cit., p. 416,
wherein The Affluent Society is introduced).

Very many Greek “intellectuals” had been directly influenced by the work of Galbraith (for instance, Christos Malevitsis, to whom we shall have to return). One could very simply say here that Galbraith’s analyses may have quite accurately applied to the truly “affluent”, highly industrialized capitalist world that his work was focusing on (though, even within such world, such “affluence” had never been a linear upward movement for all of society, but rather a definitely uneven distribution of wealth which could at times include the vast majority of its citizens, but could also exclude portions of them depending on the economic conjuncture). But the point here is that the “affluent society” Galbraith was referring to – and the consumer habits that went with it – could not possibly be mechanically transferred to the reality of Greece in the 1960’s. Put otherwise, whatever forms of ‘manipulation’ had applied to the USA of the 1960’s, could not possibly have applied to the Greek social formation at the time (which was just rearing its head above the poverty that had for so long beset it). We shall come back to the analyses of Galbraith vis-à-vis the Greek case below, and with special reference to the rise of the Greek middle classes in the period under discussion.

We have thus far suggested that, for the Greek “intellectuals” of the 1960’s-1970’s, advertizing basically constituted a manipulation of consumers meant to simply make them consume whatever was promoted. However, and especially as regards the highly vocal Greek “Left”, things went much further than that. For them, the age was not simply characterized by consumer manipulation meant to maximize company profits: all this went hand-in-hand with politico-ideological domination – this being the real essence of such age. Yet again, it was the Continental “Left” – and especially the “ultra-Left” philosophical discourse of the Frankfurtians – that would be the source of near-fanatical inspiration in Greece.

Writing as early as 1944-1947, Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer would argue in their Dialectic of Enlightenment (re-issued 1969) that both consumerism and advertizing constituted a total system of politico-ideological domination, yielding a “false identity” amongst the dominated subjects – yielding, that is –

«την ψευδή ταυτότητα του γενικού
και του μερικού» (cf. Horkheimer & Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment
greek edition: Διαλεκτική του Διαφωτισμού,  Νήσος,
Athens, 1996, p. 202).

Above all, and even since the early-1940’s, Adorno and Horkheimer would come up with a highly ‘radical’ – but excruciatingly simplistic – equation, i.e. that THE SYSTEM = ADVERTIZING / ADVERTIZING = THE SYSTEM. They were basically arguing that advertizing reinforces the dominance of the capitalist system – they would put it in as straight-forward a manner as possible:

«η κυριαρχία του συστήματος οχυρώνεται
στη διαφήμιση» (op. cit., p. 268).

The system of mass production and advertizing is so powerful that it actually determines the very “identity” of people – it does, in fact, “make” them – Adorno and Horkheimer are crystal-clear on this:

«Η εξουσία της βιομηχανικής κοινωνίας
έχει καταλάβει τους ανθρώπους μια για πάντα
… Κάθε επιμέρους εκδήλωση της πολιτιστικής
βιομηχανίας αναπαράγει αναντίρρητα τους
ανθρώπους έτσι όπως τους έχει κάνει η
βιομηχανία στο σύνολό τους» (op. cit., p. 212).

Such an approach, of course, seems to question the very field of social history itself: here, one need not at all bother with either the real person Amalia Eleftheriadou or with the “Amalia-type” itself and the manner/s in which either the person or that type of person would try to forge relationships with the phenomenon of advertizing – one need simply examine ‘the system’ and how it churns out robot-like stereotypes. Of course, the idea that industry “makes” people carries some definite truth in it. But accepting such truth at face value would mean leaving a number of absolutely crucial questions – crucial at least for social history – completely unanswered. Such questions would include the following: firstly, to what extent does industry “make” people? – This surely is a question that only a historian could answer. Secondly, to what extent did people at the time themselves want to be so “made”? – Consider, for instance, that syndicalist/worker movements at the time actually fought specifically for wage raises, and therefore for a greater consumer power. And thirdly, to what extent did industry have not much choice but to yield to the consumer needs, tastes and styles of the people themselves? – Here, the content of advertizing discourse is, again, a field for historical research.

Neither Adorno/Horkheimer nor the vast majority of “Left”/Marxist-inspired Greek “intellectuals” in the 1960’s or 1970’s (as also later) would actually stoop down and quite ‘humbly’ delve into the complex minds and as complex everyday lives of young working people such as Amalia Eleftheriadou at Aliarto. In fact, and at least as regards the Greek “Left”, we may make the general observation that very many of its “theoreticians” and “activists” were characterized by an all-knowing arrogance that made them look down on the Amalias of the day – even since the 1920’s/1930’s, Asimakis Panselinos would himself observe such aloofness amongst his fairly well-educated comrades – he writes:

«Ετούτη πάλι η Σίτσα Καραϊσκάκη ήταν ένα
περίεργο ψυχολογικό χαρμάνι… Ήταν αριστερή
και μιλούσε πάντα από περιωπής!» (cf. A. Panselinos,
  Τότε που ζούσαμε [When we were really alive], Κέδρος, 1974, p. 112).

The all-knowing arrogance of the “Left”, especially in Greece, is certainly explainable (the absence of a mass industrial proletariat, as also the absence of any well-established Marxian tradition in Greek thought, would mean the relative isolation of “Left-wing intellectuals” from the Greek reality) – but what really concerns us here is to show how such a mentality mingled with the writings of an Adorno and yielded a completely distorted view both of the “Amalia-type” and of how such “type” would relate to the world of advertizing. If, for the Frankfurtians, people were robot-like stereotypes mechanically reproduced by the industrial system, for I. N. Xirotyris, writing in 1965, the Greek people were suffering a complete loss of freedom due to the “hypnotic” effects of advertizing – this is how he would express such a position in his Επίκαιρα κοινωνικά προβλήματα (Salonika, 1965):

«Η διαφήμιση αποπλανά και διαφθείρει
… Η διαφήμιση, γέννημα του βιομηχανικού
πνεύματος, καταντά με τα μέσα που διαθέτει
και τον ασυνείδητο τρόπο που καλλιεργείται,
να φτάνει ως την αρπαγή της ελευθερίας των
 ατόμων. Την αρπάζει η διαφήμιση με τη
σύγχυση που προκαλεί στα άτομα, σύγχυση
που φτάνει ως τον υπνωτισμό, με αποτέλεσμα
να κάνει το άτομο ανίκανο να σκεφθεί, να
κρίνει» (pp. 103-106, his emph.).

The question raised is obvious: if it is true that the popular masses in Greece in the 1960’s – such as the “Amalia-type” – were «ανίκανα», what would be the object of any social history? Alternatively, why take at all seriously the stories of dumb, hypnotized “robots”? Logically speaking, such an approach would reject all history bar that of the so-called ‘dominant’ ruling classes. This of course raises further problems of methodology both for the historian and the sociologist (and which we shall have to deal with below).

The idea of a total politico-ideological domination imposed on a helpless people would also be adopted by a non-Marxist such as Koumandareas in 1975 – as he writes in his Βιοτεχνία υαλικών (op. cit.):

«Μας καταντήσανε σκουλήκια, φάνηκε
να της ψιθυρίζει, κι άφησε το κεφάλι του
να πέσει…» (p. 69).

Yet another overseas thinker who had had a major influence on Greek “intellectuals”, especially in the 1970’s, was the Frenchman Henri Lefebvre, perhaps the most prolific of “New Left” intellectuals whose “Marxist Humanism” and his “critique of everyday life” had, at least up until the 1980’s, constituted a major criticism of the “Stalinist Left”. And while such “Stalinism” would continue to dominate in the political thinking of the Greek “Left”, the thinking of Lefebvre would nonetheless be used – most often very crudely – to link the phenomenon of advertizing to the ideological domination of the Greek capitalist “system”.

In his work, Everyday Life in the Modern World (translated in Greek in 1972, Εκδόσεις Μπουκουμάνη, Athens), Lefebvre would write:

«Στο δεύτερο μισό του 20ού αιώνα στην Ευρώπη
…, το καθετί (ένα αντικείμενο, ένα άτομο, μια
κοινωνική ομάδα) παίρνει αξία μόνο χάρη στο
είδωλό του: τη διαφημιστική εικόνα του που το
περιβάλλει μ’ ένα φωτοστέφανο» (cf. pp. 157-160).

And further:

«Η Διαφήμιση αποκτά τη σημασία μιας ιδεολογίας.
Είναι η ιδεολογία του εμπορεύματος» (ibid.).

Such a position is quite reminiscent of that of Adorno’s and his partner, in that it reduces a person’s “identity” to “idols”, and as such “idols” are themselves expressions of some «διαφημιστική εικόνα» – and all of which come to constitute the dominant ideology. All we may briefly say here – and if we are to truly understand the socio-cultural practices of the “Amalia-type” – is that one needs to re-define the very concept of “ideology” if one wants to research social history – i.e. to examine empirically how ideological practices exist in the real world and without reducing such practices to a mere “false consciousness” imposed from the “top”. Now, while Lefebvre’s overall theoretical project could somehow make allowances for such a re-definition of ideology (he could, for example, see everyday life as some kind of an intersection between “illusion” and “truth” or an intersection of “sectors” controlled/not controlled by an “Amalia-type’), the adoption of his thinking by Greek “intellectuals” in the 1970’s could not make such amends at all.

In 1970, the writer Lea Megalou, in a short story entitled «Ο Wernher von Braun φερ’ ειπείν θα γέλαγε μαζί μας» [“For instance, Wernher von Braun would laugh with us”], directly relates the whole of the political system to the world of advertizing – she writes:

«Το παν … δεν είναι άλλο από το σύστημα.
ΤΟ ΣΥΣΤΗΜΑ [sic]. Ενιαίο, οικουμενικό… Όσο
πιο γενναιόδωρο, πίνετε Coca-Cola για να
πάνε όλα καλύτερα… Όσο πιο γενναιόδωρο,
ομαδικοί οι τάφοι» (in  Διήγημα ’70 [Short story  ’70] ,
Κάλβος, Αθήνα, 1971, p. 107).

We need note here the protest tone of the text, such protest being both against the political and the advertizing “system” at the same time. Thus, in the selfsame short story, the writer will further down continue as follows:

«ΑΓΟΡΑΣΤΕ ΚΙ ΕΣΕΙΣ
ΑΠΟΚΤΗΣΤΕ ΚΙ ΕΣΕΙΣ» (ibid., p. 110).

We thus here have a critique of the advertizing industry as part and parcel of political protest. Similarly, in 1971, the important writer Alexandros Kotzias would in his own way suggest that ‘yielding’ to the message of an advertisement would be tantamount to ‘yielding’ to the then rule of the Military Dictatorship – this is how he puts it in his short story, «Ο Γενναίος Τηλέμαχος» [“Brave Telemachos”]:

«Ε, λοιπόν, εγώ δε θέλω να ανανήψω, θέλω
να είμαι ο Πέτρος θέλω να είμαι ο Πέτρος και
δεν αποκηρύσσω τίποτα – είναι τόσο
εξευτελιστικό μοιάζει με τη διαφήμιση ΟΛΟΙ
ΟΙ ΕΠΙΤΥΧΗΜΕΝΟΙ ΞΥΡΙΖΟΝΤΑΙ ΜΕ ΑΦΡΟΚΡΕΜ.
Σκατά! Εγώ θέλω ν’ αγνοώ την ΑΦΡΟΚΡΕΜ
και με ποιο δικαίωμα η ΑΦΡΟΚΡΕΜ υποβάλλει
στον Πέτρο την παρουσία της, ναι, μοιάζει
με το θάνατο» (in Νέα κείμενα 2 [New Texts 2]], Κέδρος,
1971, p. 195).

In the Greek political tradition of the 1950’s and the 1960’s – as also in the period of the military regime – words like «ανανήψω» and «αποκηρύσσω» carried a very heavy political content, whereby “communists” were forced to confess to and publicly renounce their allegiance to the “Left” – and Kotzias here uses such terms in relation to an advertisement. Further, and very much like Xyrotyris referred to above – who suggests that advertizing leads to a loss of personal freedom and thus to a loss of self – Kotzias equates the ΑΦΡΟΚΡΕΜ advertisement to “death” itself. Yielding to the message of an advertisement is yielding to the ‘establishment’, and thus Kotzias’ rejection of the advertizing industry is a deeply political stance, presumably for “life”.

In 1972, Petros Ampatzoglou, in his book Η γέννηση του Σούπερμαν [The Birth of Superman,] Κέδρος, 1972), would in his own way be insinuating that advertisements are in fact a manifestation of a totalitarian society wherein everyone is a victim of an advertizing company, and is destined to die as such (we notice, yet again, the theme of “death”). He would write:

«Χάσαμε τον προσανατολισμό μας. Από πού
βγαίνει ο ήλιος και πού βασιλεύει κανείς μας
δεν ξέρει πια. Είμαστε θύματα διαφημιστικής
εταιρίας και θα πεθάνουμε θύματα
διαφημίσεως» (p. 93).

In 1973, Daskalopoulou (op. cit.), would herself write of the ‘establishment’ and its advertizing:

«…αντιπρόσωποι του κατεστημένου
που περιφέρουν πλακάτ μ’ επιγραφές:
«’Επισκεφθείτε…» «Προτιμήστε…»
«Διαλέξτε…» «Καταναλίσκετε…» (cf.
 Ένοπλη ξενάγηση, p. 15).

Interestingly, there would be times when the “Left” discourse would want to more discreetly differentiate between the capitalist system as a whole and the endogenous/national Greek economy: in this case – and as a tactical response to current anti-American public opinion – it would focus its attack on the advertizing campaigns of foreign multi-national corporations and the disastrous effect these would have on local products. George Koumandos, himself not by any means a “Left-winger”, but in some ways certainly influenced by the dominant ideological currents of his day, would deal with the phenomenon of advertizing in Greece as follows:

«Τα πολυεθνικά μονοπώλια των απορρυπαντικών
με τη διαφήμιση κατάφεραν  να εκτοπίσουν το
σαπούνι από την πλύση (εις βάρος και της εθνικής
μας οικονομίας…) και με τη διαφήμιση προσπαθούν
να μας πείσουν για τις ολοένα καινούργιες και
ολοένα πιο μαγικές ιδιότητες των παντοδύναμων,
βιολογικών, ενζυματούχων προϊόντων τους» (cf.
www.aristoteleio.net/docs/Voithimata.thematon.
Pdf).

Such an approach may be taken to be superior to what has thus far been presented as the standard “Left” positions of both Greek and Continental thinkers – and it is certainly superior in two distinct ways: firstly, it is capable of distinguishing between different (and at times contradictory) sectors of so-called Capital-as-a-Whole. Secondly, and as importantly, it avoids drawing general, almost ‘metaphysical’ conclusions as to what advertizing can do to people at an abstract, ahistorically ‘existential’ level. Yet still, and while pointing to the highly significant clash that would certainly ensue between a product such as local Greek soap and US detergents, it nonetheless takes a number of pertinent questions for granted. One could, for instance, begin by posing the following question: Do multi-national corporations ‘dislocate’ the local Greek soap from the market because of the power of their advertizing campaigns, or was their product in fact more practically useful for the Greek housewife herself? Such a question would of course raise further questions regarding consumer practical judgment and the capacities of such popular judgment, and which is above all a historical question to be empirically verified. It is quite possible, in other words, that Greek housewives in the 1960’s-1970’s may have come to their own decision that the Greek bar of soap was simply and practically inferior to the more technologically advanced American detergent – but, we repeat, such questions cannot be answered seriously unless one undertakes detailed research around the history of washing in Greece (and/or around other such related socio-cultural mass practices). Related to this, and which again Koumandos takes for granted, is the question of the content of advertizing discourse produced by the multi-national corporations: the question remains open as to whether it was the “manipulative” or “provocative-interventionist” manner of their discourse which had a persuasive effect on Greek women or whether such discourse actually responded to their real needs – or, further, if there was some sort of combination between manipulation and real needs which had had the effect that such advertisements did (it shall be precisely such types of questions that we shall try to deal with below). Koumandos, finally, takes for granted (or rather superficially accepts) the absolute dominance of multi-national corporation advertizing: what we shall need to do is to examine the balance of forces that were continually in operation and that were to determine, this way or that, the real conflict that had unfolded between “global” advertizing discourse and local Greek advertizing discourse (the latter being expressive of the interests of Greek endogenous non-monopoly capital).

But the Koumandos position, and the truly important questions it raises, cannot be taken as representative of the thinking of the Greek “Left” (Koumandos himself belonging to the liberal “Centre” and with a well-trained legal mind) – and which of course explains why the questions it had unconsciously raised were never at all really dealt with at the time. That which truly dominated the “Left”, then, was the wish to reject whatever had to do with the “capitalist system” as a whole and to posit in its place what was – at least for the Greek case – a rather utopian “socialist model”. In a book entitled  Η γυναίκα & τα Μέσα Μαζικής Ενημέρωσης[Woman and the Mass Media], published by the “Democratic Union of Young Women” [Δημοκρατική Ένωση Νέων Γυναικών] (Πύλη, Αθήνα, 1979), and which is fully representative of the ‘Orthodox Left’ at the time, we read (inter alia):

«Η διαφήμιση κατ’ αρχήν προέρχεται από
τις βάσεις του οικονομικού μας συστήματος,
καπιταλιστικού, που προκαλεί την ανάγκη για
όσο το δυνατόν μεγαλύτερα κέρδη και επομένως
για όσο το δυνατόν μεγαλύτερες πωλήσεις» (p. 47).

It was such «βάσεις» that had to be destroyed and whatever “superstructure” (such as advertizing) that went with these. At this point, we may simply contrast such dogmatic wishful thinking to what the communist historian, Eric Hobsbawm, has to say of the 20th century capitalist world and its 1960’s “Golden Age”, and which was of course also dominated by the advertizing sector – comparing such world to the possibilities of socialism, he writes:

«Το να δείξει … κανείς ότι μια … σοσιαλιστική
οικονομία είναι εφικτή, δεν ισοδυναμεί με
το να δείξει ότι είναι αναγκαστικά ανώτερη,
ας πούμε σε σύγκριση με μια κοινωνικά πιο
δίκαιη εκδοχή της μικτής οικονομίας της
Χρυσής Εποχής, κι ακόμα λιγότερο ότι ο κόσμος
θα την προτιμούσε» (cf. Eric Hobsbawm,
The Age of Extremes, greek edition: Η εποχή των άκρων, Θεμέλιο, 2004,
p. 633).

The fact is that Amalia Eleftheriadou, as also quite a number of even “Blue-Collar” employees at the A&M Mill, would actually experience at least the rudiments of the Greek-version of the “Golden Age” of the 1960’s and through to the 1970’s, etc. Not all employees at the Maraki Mill and not all the residents of Aliarto could be said to have climbed the social ladder of “success” (Nikos Troughas, for instance, did not) – but such “success” was both relatively feasible and, above all, a common popular wish (such wish encompassing both “Left-wing” and “Right-wing” residents of the area). In direct contrast to the real will of the popular masses, Greek “intellectuals”, having related advertizing to politico-ideological domination, would also see the “models of success” that such advertizing carried, as part and parcel of such politico-ideological domination. In fact, whatever form of “social success” within the capitalist “system” would be rejected. Yet again, such a theoretical tendency amongst Greek “Left-wing” thinkers would be directly borrowed from overseas and mechanically applied to the Greek case. Horkheimer and Adorno, in their Dialectic of Enlightenment (greek edition, op. cit.), would approach the issue of “success” – and how that was being promoted via the advertizing industry – as follows:

«…οι εξαπατημένες μάζες καταλαμβάνονται από
το μύθο της επιτυχίας πιο πολύ απ’ ό,τι οι
επιτυχημένοι. Έχουν τις επιθυμίες τους και
εμμένουν αμετακίνητες στην ιδεολογία με την
οποία τις υποδουλώνουν» (pp. 222-223).

We may briefly comment at this point that, for the Greeks of the 1960’s and 1970’s, “success” was both a “myth” and a reality (or a potential reality). Possessing one’s own house, furnishing and decorating it, having a steady job and with some possibilities of an annual wage raise, buying a car, and so on, were undreamt of material conditions for the vast majority of the popular masses prior to World War II. As we shall further see below, the “Amalia-type” was to consciously pursue a “myth” which could and did turn into a reality. It was not merely the industrialization of the period which would help her ‘cause’: mass populist movements such as those of George Papandreou’s EK (cf., for instance, Nikos Mouzelis, Politics in the Semi-Periphery: Early Parliamentarism and Late Industrialization in the Balkans and Latin America [greek edition: Κοινοβουλευτισμός και εκβιομηχάνιση στην ημι-περιφέρεια, Θεμέλιο, 1987], esp. chapter 2), as also that of the “Left-wing” ΕΔΑ would struggle for such better material conditions. Thus, that the “Amalia-type” would insist on such “myth-reality” («εμμένουν αμετακίνητες»), is historically and quite logically explainable. But neither an Adorno nor the Greek “activists”/”theoreticians” – supposedly representing the popular masses – would ever admit to themselves that what people such as Amalia Eleftheriadou truly wished for was some rudiment of “success” within “capitalist” society, and which would not, for such people, necessarily constitute any acceptance of “ideological domination”.

The Frankfurtian rejection of “success”, we are suggesting, had deeply permeated the thinking of Greek “intellectuals” at the time – consider the irony of a Marios Hakkas as regards “success” and how it was being promoted by advertizing in 1970:

«Οι πετυχημένοι χτενίζονται με μπρηλκρήμ.
Μπρηλκρήμ. Μπρηλκρήμ. –  Δεν ήμασταν
πετυχημένοι και καθόλου της σήμερον. Κι
αυτό φάνηκε» (cf. Marios Hakkas, Ο μπιντές [The Bidet],
Κέδρος, 1970, p. 17).

We have here a radical rejection of the whole gamut of commodities such as ‘Brylcreem’ – extremely popular amongst young men in the 1960’s and early-1970’s in the Western world – , as also of the numerous advertisements that promoted them, as also of the whole idea of being “in”. What was being rejected here was not merely the “social success” of the well-to-do “squares”, but even that of the Elvis Presley ‘wet look’ popular amongst youth but also much promoted by the international advertizing industry. There is no denying, of course, that such trendy youth of the 1960’s and 1970’s – itself the subject of the socio-cultural/sexual ‘revolution’ of the 1960’s/1970’s (cf. our paper on such ‘revolution’ in Greece) –  was to itself later on join the ranks of the Greek middle-classes: hence Hakka’s rejection both of the ‘Brylcreemed’ Greek youth and of the latter’s later turn towards the more ‘conventional’, materially-boosted “social success”. That, however, was the history of those generations.

The connection between ‘Brylcreem’ and the “image” of “success” and “power” had, interestingly, also been commented on by Nikos Tsiforos in 1974 – he would write of:

«Ένας δυνατός με το μαλλί  γεμάτο
Μπρίλ Κρήμ, με μπλε ρούχα και με
μαντηλάκι των έξι δοντιών» (cf. Άνθρωποι
 και ανθρωπάκια, op. cit., p. 235).

As with Daskalopoulou (op. cit.), Kotzias (op. cit), and as also with Hakkas and Tsiforos just quoted, so also would Mikhail Mitras, in 1972, sarcastically relate advertizing and its products to the question of “social success” – in his «φανταστική νουβέλα» (Athens, Private Edition, 1972), he would write:

«Το μυστικό λοιπόν της επιτυχίας είναι
βέβαια και τα κατάλευκα δόντια της
διαφημίσεως» (p. 24).

We present such kaleidoscope of Greek writers of the period – certainly not all of them necessarily “Left-wing” – to simply show how widespread the rejection was of consumerism, advertizing and material “success”. In fact, one may even go on to argue that there was some sort of a ‘consensus’ between “Left-wing” thought and some important “Right-wing”  thought as regards the ‘evils’ of consumerism: both would counterpose the practice of consumerism to that of ‘culture’ and the manifestations of the so-called ‘Human Spirit’.

Perhaps the most important critique of consumerism/advertizing coming from the quasi-“Right-wing” flank – and which showed an emphatic concern for ‘The Spirit’ – was expressed by Andreas Karandonis as early as 1960, and who was himself a sympathizer of Venizelos and could therefore be said to have belonged to the “Centre-Right”. Very much reminiscent of the ‘aloofness’ and ‘arrogance’ of “Left-wing” thinkers – vis-à-vis the popular masses –, and to which we have referred to above, Karandonis would literally scold and insult the Greek people for their all-too-easy ‘materialist’ concerns. For him, it was not only a question of “manipulation” coming from the “top” (the advertizing companies), but also – and mainly – a question of a self-imposed “mental laziness” coming from the “bottom” (the popular masses). In an article entitled «Η σύγχρονη έννοια της διασημότητος», and published in Nea Hestia [Νέα Εστία], No 792, Athens, July 1st, 1960, he would refer to mass popular discourse as follows:

«το ψωμοτύρι της καθημερινής κουβέντας
του μέσου ανθρωπάκου» (cf. pp. 856-857).

And this is how he would ‘evaluate’ such «ψωμοτύρι»:

«…το μεγάλο πλήθος ενδιαφέρεται μονάχα
για ό,τι εμπίπτει με τρόπο άμεσο στις αισθήσεις
του, στις συνήθειές του και, κυρίως, στην
χωρίς απαιτήσεις διανοητική του καλλιέργεια.
Το μεγάλο πλήθος … δεν ενδιαφέρεται παρά για
ό,τι άμεσα το τέρπει. Άμεσα, πρόχειρα, φθηνά
και φευγαλέα. Προ παντός όχι κούραση, όχι
προσπάθεια, όχι αποταμιευμένη σοφία…
Προς το παρόν, το μέγα πλήθος … παραμένει
… έξω από το Πνεύμα» (ibid.).

What we have here is a strain of thinking which – unwittingly – comes down to operating as do communicating vessels between “Left” and “Right” ideology: while Karandonis wants to “pull” the Greek popular masses towards his “Spirit”, the “Left” wishes to “pull” those same masses towards their own understanding of “Spirit” (and which was some utopian belief in the eschatological, millenarian capacities of the ‘proletariat’). In that sense, both Karandonis and the “Left” were rejecting the socio-cultural practices of the popular masses – and the manner in which such masses related to advertisements/consumerism – from an essentially idealistic understanding of history (and that, despite the ideology of “historical materialism” that the Greek “Left” espoused but had hardly digested). Naturally, it would be precisely such an understanding of things that would inevitably lead both sides to their “intellectualist arrogance” already referred to – such “arrogance” meaning that both sides would choose to ignore the real material conditions of people at the time and the real needs and as real wishes which such conditions would provoke (such needs having been neither ‘maximalist’ and ‘revolutionary’ nor ‘spiritualist’ in the Karandonis sense). Thus, we may conclude that both approaches had failed to examine, analyze and ultimately explain the “values” of the popular masses – both simply “evaluated’ them and did so highly subjectively. Further, there is no reason why we should as simply assume that the ‘theoretical knowledge’ of a Karandonis or that of the “Left” must necessarily be seen as superior to the ‘empirical knowledge’ of the “Amalia-type”. The knowledge of the latter cannot but constitute the object of a historical sociology and/or of a social history: both such latter disciplines ‘escaped’ the idealism of the theoretical discourses we are considering.

Now, it is quite true that, at times, some “intellectuals” of the “Left” would try their very best to be as ‘understanding’ as possible as regards the ignoble habits of the masses – i.e. the tendency of the latter to be consumer-prone: in such cases, the superior intellect of such “intellectuals” would fully expose its own idealism. Consider how Rosa Imvrioti would try to deal with that supposedly near-irreconcilable contradiction between consumerism, on the one hand, and “culture” or “The Spirit”, on the other – she would, in 1972, write:

«Έστω κι αν δεχτούμε, ότι οι άνθρωποι έχουν
έμφυτη κλίση προς τα υλικά αγαθά κι η
θεωρία, ότι κυριαρχεί ο καταναλωτής, το
απαιτεί, πρέπει όμως να ενθαρρύνεται κι η
τάση για διάδοση της κουλτούρας» (cf. Το
 κατηγορώ της νεολαίας», Διογένης, 1972,
p. 140, my emph.).

Here, we have the selfsame Karandonis-like elitist understanding of “culture” – as also the need on the part of the “intellectuals” to “intervene” so as to salvage the masses from their ‘lower instincts’ and thus help them discover their pre-ordained mission on earth.

And again very much like Karandonis, Dido Sotiriou – who was to also work as journalist for the organ of the Greek Communist Party, Rizospastis [Ριζοσπάστης] – would comment as follows with respect to the spread of advertizing/consumption in the 1960’s:

«Οι φωτεινές ρεκλάμες αναβοσβήνουνε
τα πονηρά τους μάτια. Ευημερία! Ευ-η-με-
ρί-α [sic) … Μπύρες, Ασφάλειες, Ακτοπλοΐες,
οικόπεδα με δόσεις, θεάματα, σεξ, σεξ,
λάσο στο λαιμό του εικοστού αιώνα.
 Πνίξτε το πνεύμα. Απάνω του, όλοι μαζί»
(cf. Dido Sotiriou, Κατεδαφιζόμεθα[We Are Being Demolished],
Κέδρος, 1982, p. 187, my emph.).

Both Imvrioti’s «οι άνθρωποι έχουν έμφυτη κλίση προς» and Sotiriou’s «όλοι μαζί», does point to some degree of ‘disappointment’, on the part of the “Left”, with the Greek popular masses and their insistence (that «εμμένουν αμετακίνητες», as Horkheimer & Adorno had put it) on consumerist behaviour.

Finally, and with specific reference to the consumerism-versus-culture/spirituality debate, Roupa (op. cit.) would generalize the situation in the 1960’s as characterized by an –

«…αμφισβήτηση της αξίας της
κατανάλωσης» (p. 267).

Judging by what we have presented above, her statement is quite accurate: especially by the early-1970’s, both Continental and Greek writers, philosophers, etc., would unleash an anti-consumerist discourse which would dominate the whole of European thought (something also discussed in Hobsbawm’s work, op. cit.). But when one speaks of «αμφισβήτηση», one would naturally have to ask who it was that voiced such dissent. Was there, apart from marginal groups perhaps, any particular segment of Greek society which rejected the idea of buying, say, a fridge or Brylcreem or some detergent? Did the “Left-wing” popular masses not buy themselves fridges or detergents?  Did devotees of the Greek Orthodox Church see the use of a fridge as ‘sinful’? We all very well know that by the 1970’s (at least), the vast majority of Greek homes owned – or prepared themselves so as to own – appliances of the sort. In that sense, the dogmatic critique of consumerism by “Left-wing” thinkers did not express any category of society. And one certainly wonders if what such “intellectuals” said and wrote actually reflected their own style of living (we shall return to this when we come to examine the Papanoutsos approach). And we in any case know that one basic demand of ΕΔΑ was to raise the standard of living of the Greek popular masses, fighting thereby for better material conditions, and which meant strengthening the consumer capacity of those popular masses.

Now, having said all this – and especially as regards the ‘communicating vessels’ of thinking between anti-consumerist “Left” and “Right” theoretical discourse – we shall also have to point out that, within the period we are discussing, there was in fact also a clash of discourses on the issue of consumerism and advertizing. One may begin here by citing a rather controversial “intellectual” of the 1970’s, Nikos Dimou – whose  Η δυστυχία του να είσαι Έλληνας [On the Unhappiness of Being Greek] was to become a best-seller in 1975 – and who was to finally reject all Greek “intellectuals” as “idiots” (cf. Kathimerini [Η Καθημερινή, Τέχνες & Γράμματα], 6.4.2014, p. 8). Writing in the periodical Efthini [Ευθύνη] (issue no. 78, date unknown), this is what Dimou would have to say of all advertizing:

«…Στη διαφήμιση δε λέμε ψέματα …
Στη διαφήμιση (… σε σύγκριση με την
προπαγάνδα) η κατευθυνόμενη πληροφόρηση
είναι λιγότερο επικίνδυνη. Όχι μόνο
γιατί η διαφήμιση φαίνεται πως είναι
διαφήμιση, αλλά γιατί στη διαφήμιση
υπάρχει ανταγωνισμός ... Ο έξυπνος μπορεί
να συγκρίνει, να κρίνει…» (pp. 339-341).

Apart from the reference to “competition” (and which can certainly apply to the conflict of interests between multi-national cooperation advertizing and that of Greek endogenous non-monopoly capital, and which Koumandos (op. cit.) had himself not seriously dealt with), the rest of the Dimou text can quite easily be rejected, if only because it limits itself to that part of the population which Dimou very subjectively calls “clever”. Perhaps more seriously, Aristotelis Nikolaidis, a “Left-winger” who was to be finally disappointed with the “Dream” of the Greek “Left”, would go on to emphasize the ‘respect’ one should show to the so-called “average person”, and thus to a ‘respect’ of the “decisions” such person ultimately comes to make as regards his style of life. In his 1975 book, Η εξαφάνιση[Vanishing-Point, Κέδρος], he would put the matter very simply and clearly:

«Ο μέσος άνθρωπος – και όλοι ως ένα
σημείο είμαστε μέσοι άνθρωποι –
φαίνεται πως ήδη παίρνει τις αποφάσεις
του» (p. 217).

Such a simple statement nonetheless encapsulates the work of any historiography: to the extent that the popular masses were to be involved in their own “decision-making”, that was their very history, and such history has to be accepted and explained as such. The implication is that people – such as Nikolaidis – who ignored “Left-wing Dreams” and finally accepted to enter the world of consumption were in fact deciding for themselves as subjects in history. And a further, and as important, implication is that the “false consciousness” was not theirs, but rather characterized those others who continued to live in their other-worldly “Dream”.

Why was it that ex-“Leftists” such as Nikolaidis would accept the experience of ‘enjoying’ – or of trying to ‘enjoy’ – the ‘fruits’ of the “Golden Age”? For one thing, the vast majority of those who had come to believe in the “Dream” could not possibly waste their lives weeping over a “Utopia” which, as things showed, was not to materialize anywhere in the world, let alone in Greece. And their ability to share in the ‘fruits’ of the modern world – an ability which we do not take for granted but shall examine further below – did certainly attract them to consumerism. On the other hand, this did not at all mean that both ex-“Leftists” and the rest of the Greek population would not, at least by the early-1980’s, feel despondent as they started realizing how over-consumption was beginning to yield its own rather ugly effects on their socio-cultural environment. It would be, amongst others, E.P. Papanoutsos who, in 1984, would speak of an “epidemic” of pessimism amongst Greeks. He would observe:

«Τα τελευταία χρόνια έχει πάρει μορφήν
επιδημίας (με τις ανοδικές και τις καθοδικές
φάσεις της καμπύλης της) η τάση όλα να τα
βλέπουμε γύρω μας μαύρα και να δηλώνουμε
κατηγορηματικά και ανεπιφύλακτα ότι το πάν
έχει για τον ταλαίπωρο άνθρωπο χαθεί,
οριστικά και ανεπανόρθωτα» (cf. E.P.
Papanoutsos, Πρακτική φιλοσοφία,
Δωδώνη, 1984, p. 220).

Such feelings, according to Papanoutsos, were due to the technological developments taking place all over the world (and which included a Greece which was only just beginning to see its own local industries being destroyed by the European Community – cf. our papers on the effects of the E.C. on the functioning of the A&M Mill). And yet, and unlike the vast majority of “intellectuals” we have been discussing above, Papanoutsos would go on to explain that such technological developments had provided the post-War Greek people with ‘fruits’ completely undreamt of by the majority of their parents. Such technological developments, he would point out, had provided for –

«ευκολίες ζωής, άνεση και ψυχαγωγία» (ibid.).

While Papanoutsos has little to say about the relatively uneven distribution of wealth, especially in the 1960’s, and as little about the role of social pressure exerted by the popular masses so as to provide themselves with such new-found ‘luxuries’, his position nonetheless constitutes a major theoretical attack on all critics of consumerism and the advertizing that went with it. In his Πρακτική φιλοσοφία , Papanoutsos would clash with the anti-consumerists with argumentation that went as follows:

«…είναι πλάνη να υποθέτουμε ότι οι
εκπληκτικές κατακτήσεις της επιστήμης
και της τεχνικής, για τις οποίες δικαιολογημένα
υπερηφανεύεται ο πολιτισμός μας, δεν έχουν
καμιάν ουσιαστικήν  αξία, επειδή τάχα δεν
έκαναν “ευτυχέστερο” τον άνθρωπο – άρα
δεν αποτελούν “πρόοδο”. “Αχ! Τι ωραία
που ζούσαν άλλοτε οι άνθρωποι στις πρωτόγονες
κοινωνίες τους, χωρίς το τηλέφωνο, το
ραδιόφωνο, το αυτοκίνητο, το αεροπλάνο”…
Δεν πρέπει, νομίζω, να παίρνομε στα σοβαρά
αυτό τον ψευτορομαντισμό της υποκριτικής
νοσταλγίας του παρελθόντος. Πρώτα-πρώτα
γιατί δογματίζει “εκ του ασφαλούς” και
“με το αζημίωτο”: δεν εγνώρισα ακόμη κανένα
οπαδό του δόγματος να διακόψει το ηλεκτρικό
ρεύμα στο σπίτι του για να ζήσει ευτυχέστερος»
(op. cit., pp. 306-307).

This, basically, is the way that Papanoutsos would see “developments” in the 1960’s and on, and which is supposedly the point of view of a “conservative intellectual”. For one thing, it is difficult to see how he may be labeled a “conservative” when he is so much for technological “progress”. But, and much more importantly so, we should have to add that the “Amalia-type” would have fully understood and agreed with this manner of thinking: Amalia Eleftheriadou “lived” it so.

Of course, and as we have tried to show above, “Left-wing intellectuals” of the 1960’s-1970’s would have examined the ‘Amalia-type” by placing her in their “Orthodox” laboratory (but a laboratory gone wrong in terms of their dreams and expectations), and would inevitably have come to the conclusion that such “type” was a “victim” of the ideological “system” of advertizing (and its “bourgeois” technology).

And yet, objective history would speak – and did so speak – otherwise. Even “Left-wingers” who had consciously felt the “ethical” burden of their “defeat” in the 1940’s, would finally come to accept exactly that style of life adopted by the “Amalia-type” and supported by the “conservative” Papanoutsos. Take, for instance, George Panagoulopoulos’ tellingly entitled book, Μετατόπιση (Κέδρος, 1972), where one such “defeated” “Leftist” tells his past comrades:

«…φύγετε όλοι σας και φωλιάστε στο
ζεστό σας σπιτάκι για ν’ απολαύσετε
τις ανέσεις του πολιτισμού μας.
Πηγαίνετε στο καλό» (p. 111).

And the narrator ends, referring to his past comrades as follows:

«Βρίσκονται συνήθως στο ζεστό τους
σπιτάκι» (p. 114).

It was not just that even “Left-wingers” would ultimately and almost inevitably come to live with the ‘fruits’ of a Greek capitalist development (albeit a rather dependent development). Things would go further – let us take, for instance, the case of a Giannis Kakoulidis. This was a man who, prior to the establishment of the Military Dictatorship in 1967, had belonged to the «Νεολαία Λαμπράκη» and who would with consistency continue his political activism as a high executive of ΕΔΑ. As a “Left intellectual”, he had made his debut as a poet in 1971, and had already been the writer of song lyrics since the 1960’s. The interesting thing about his case is that his profession was that of a «κειμενο-γράφος» (copywriter) for advertisements – thus, this man, rightly or wrongly is here beside the point, not only ‘enjoyed’ the ‘fruits’ of consumerism, he in fact as much participated in “creating” the advertizing discourse of such consumerism. His talents as a poet must have surely helped him in his profession. To put it mildly, it seems as if the Greek “Left” relished its own “alienation”.

Of course, the case of a Kakoulidis is definitely no exception at all. Simply for the sake of interest, we may cite a passage from George Mihailidis’, Τα φονικά[The Murders,  Εκδόσεις Καστανιώτη, Αθήνα, 1991), and which is a serious study of the typical “Left-wing intellectual” of the 1960’s-1970’s. In a dialogue expressive of the personal lives of such “intellectuals”, we read:

«…Κι είναι ακόμα συγγραφέας;…»
«Ακόμα»…
«…Είναι καλός;»
«Καλός… Δουλεύει σε μια διαφημιστική
εταιρεία» (p. 117).

We have referred to the then on-going clash between pro-consumerist and anti-consumerist ideologists. But here, in the case of people such as Kakoulidis and his likes, we actually have a clash within their own minds: the story of the “Left-wing copywriter” constitutes a highly interesting case – if, as Lefebvre had argued, advertizing discourse is the dominant ideology, then what these “Left-wing copywriters” were doing was to articulate precisely such dominant ideology, while at the same time, in their political discourse proper, they would be articulating an anti-consumerist/anti-advertizing ideology. The glaring contradiction is fairly easily explainable: they simply could not possibly escape the realities of an objectively measurable and qualitatively experienced technological “progress”. Now, this may seem like a rather controversial point to make, but consider what one of the most vociferous of “Leftist intellectuals”, a lady who had opted to call herself Alkis Thrilos, had to say of “progress” as early as 1961:

«Πολλά και ποικίλα είναι τα ευεργετήματα
του πολιτισμού. Δεν είμαι καθόλου από κείνους
που ωραιοποιούν τα γνώριμα, δοκιμασμένα …
και ξεπερασμένα, που αρέσκονται να τα φαντάζονται
παραδεισένια, που νοσταλγούν τον “παλιό καλό
καιρό”, που επιθυμούν χάριν μιας ουτοπίας –
γιατί οι επιστροφές είναι ανέφικτες – να ανακοπεί
 ή και να αντιστραφεί η εξέλιξη» (cf. Alkis Thrilos,
 Συζητήσεις με τον εαυτό μου, Δίφρος, Αθήνα,
1961, p. 175, my emph.).

In the last instance, both the “Leftwing copywriters” and the “Amalia-type” were children of the Greek “Golden Age” – it just seems as if there was much more internal “ideological” coherence/cohesion within an Eleftheriadou than there was within a Kakoulidis.

GLOSSARY

NOTES:
● «αμφισβήτηση»: doubting, disputing or questioning something
● «ανανήψω»: recover, in a figurative sense
● «ανίκανο να σκεφθεί»/ «ανίκανα»: incapable of thinking
● «αποκηρύσσω»: reject, recant, renounce
● «αρμονία»: harmony
● «ΑΦΡΟΚΡΕΜ»: foam cream
● «βάσεις»: bases/base (of the economic system – in the sense traditionally used in Marxist literature)
● «διαφημιστική εικόνα»: advertizing image
● «ΕΚ» : The Centre Union, Greek political party established in 1961.
● «εμμένουν αμετακίνητες»: insist on their fixed beliefs
● «Επίκαιρα κοινωνικά προβλήματα»: “Current social issues”.
● «Η σύγχρονη έννοια της διασημότητος»: “The modern sense of fame”.
● «Μετατόπιση»: “Displacement”.
● «Νεολαία Λαμπράκη»: the Leftwing Lambrakis Youth Movement, founded in 1963 following the assassination of the Leftwing MP, Grigoris Lambrakis.
● «οι άνθρωποι έχουν έμφυτη κλίση προς…»: humans/people have an inherent inclination for (material goods)
● «όλοι μαζί»: all of us together
● «Πίνουμε ετικέτες»: “We drink labels” – Fromm was referring to Coca-Cola.
● «Πρακτική φιλοσοφία»: “Practical philosophy”.
● «ρεκλαμάρει»: from the noun «ρεκλάμα», which means advertisement; here used as a verb.
● «σκληρό σφυροκόπημα»: hard onslaught or pounding of the consumer by advertizing campaigns.
● «Συζητήσεις με τον εαυτό μου»: “Discussions with myself”.
● «Το κατηγορώ της νεολαίας»: “The accusations of youth”.
● «φανταστική νουβέλα»: fictitious novel
● «ψωμοτύρι»: literally meaning ‘bread and cheese’, but suggesting that something is a very common, everyday practice
● «ψωνίζεσαι»: the word «ψωνίζω» means ‘I buy’; used in its passive form, it suggests that you are ‘being bought’ (which is what is alluded to in the text). But it could also mean that you ‘prostitute yourself’.

METHODOLOGICAL POINTERS TOWARDS AN EXAMINATION OF ADVERTIZING DISCOURSE

Our purpose is to of course move beyond an exposition of the ideological discourses of the 1960’s or 1970’s on the issue of advertizing. Further, the ad hoc critique of such discourses which we have attempted above is obviously not enough in trying to understand how an Amalia Eleftheriadou would have responded to the phenomenon of advertisements. To achieve some understanding of this historical reality, we shall have to approach the matter from the vantage point of a historical sociology. The latter discipline can make use of a wide variety of methodologies, all of which have their pros and cons and none of which can easily be rejected out of hand. Here, we shall briefly stipulate the methodological pointers we shall be employing for our purposes – and we have chosen such methods because it seems to suit the particular object we are here researching: the end-product of our findings remains to be either further verified, or amended, or of course rejected.

Firstly, throughout what follows, we shall have to reject the idea that whatever “system” – such as that of the world of advertisements – can be taken to be a “monolithic authority”. In fact, the very idea of any “totalitarianism” in describing “systems” – so easily thrown about when discussing various social formations – needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. For instance, in discussing the history of the USSR – a society often labeled “totalitarian” – Hobsbawm would comment:

«Όσο κτηνώδες και δικτατορικό κι αν ήταν
το σοβιετικό καθεστώς, δεν ήταν “ολοκληρωτικό”
… Για την πλειοψηφία των σοβιετικών πολιτών
οι περισσότερες δημόσιες δηλώσεις για την
πολιτική και την ιδεολογία που προέρχονταν
από την κομματική ηγεσία, πιθανότατα δεν
 περνούσαν καν στη συνείδησή τους, εκτός κι αν
 είχαν κάποια σχέση με τα καθημερινά τους
 προβλήματα – πράγμα σπάνιο» (E. Hobsbawm,
op. cit., pp.503-504, my emph.).

We do not at all wish to argue that if the citizens of Stalin’s “brutal dictatorship” could somehow dodge the doings of such regime and “live” their own everyday lives, how much more so could an Amalia Eleftheriadou escape the intentions of a ‘Colgate’ advertisement meant to ”reproduce” her identity into one of its “successful stereotypes”, and so on. That is not our point at all – rather, what concerns us here is Hobsbawm’s socio-historical method – i.e. the refusal to examine “authority” as if that is absolutely “monolithic” and capable of reducing everyone to “hypnotized” objects. Such a reduction would necessarily come down to a de facto rejection of whatever “forms of life” were to ensue in the post-war modern world. And that was exactly what was to happen in the theoretical work of the Frankfurtian Marxists. But it was one of the representatives of that same School of Thought, Jϋrgen Habermas, who would, by 1985, undertake a radical critique of the theoretical implications of such School. In his important boofk, The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity [greek edition: O φιλοσοφικός λόγος της νεωτερικότητας, Αλεξάνδρεια, 1993], Habermas would go on to summarize the implications of such philosophical thinking, and perhaps especially that of Adorno, as succinctly as possible – he would describe such implications as the –

«… ολικευτική απόρριψη των νεωτερικών
μορφών ζωής…» (p. 415, my emph.).

Thus, it was now not simply a question of rejecting – on the part of Habermas in 1985 – forms of philosophical thinking which had themselves holistically rejected “the system” as that had been shaped (or was being shaped) after World War II in Europe – it was also a question of now taking seriously all “forms of life” that manifested themselves within civil society. The “Amalia-type” was such a “form of life” which had to be analyzed objectively and in all its contradictions. (One central question which shall arise when we analyze such “type” will be the extent to which, given the material conditions of the post-war period, it constituted a somewhat “new type” of person.)

It was not only a matter of having to reject the idea that the post-war “system” (or “systems” and “sub-systems”) was an all-powerful “monolithic authority”, or of having to re-consider the multi-dimensionality of the different “forms of life” – now, and naturally following from such a new approach, special emphasis had to be placed on an examination of the internal contradictions, differences, nuances, etc., of all “forms of life”, be that, say, of the phenomenon of advertizing, or that of the “Amalia-type” (both being “forms of life”). Such thinking was of course well beyond Adorno et al. Now, anyone even slightly acquainted with the thinking of Habermas will most probably protest that we are not doing him much justice as regards his much more complex relationship with the old Frankfurtians – and yet this is how he would evaluate the theoretical results of the old Frankfurt School in his 1985 work:

«Οι διαφορές και αντιθέσεις έχουν …
υπονομευθεί, και μάλιστα καταρρεύσει,
ώστε η κριτική δεν μπορεί πια να διακρίνει
χρωματικές αντιθέσεις, αποχρώσεις και
διφορούμενους τόνους μέσα στο επίπεδο
και άχρωμο τοπίο ενός πλήρως διοικούμενου,
υπολογιζόμενου και εξουσιαζόμενου
κόσμου» (ibid).

Were one, in other words, to have accepted the overall logic of the old Frankfurtians, one could only but have come up with conclusions such as those enumerated above and now fully rejected by Habermas.

In examining the advertizing sector in Greece and how the “Amalia-type” responded to it, we too shall absolutely steer clear of whatever could possibly suggest any form of such a «πλήρως διοικούμενου, υπολογιζόμενου και εξουσιαζόμενου κόσμου»: any such ‘theoretical’ slip would blind us to whatever possible contradictions a) within the advertizing discourse per se, b) within the “Amalia-type” per se, and c) between the advertizing discourse and the “Amalia-type” (as relationship) – all three nexuses ought not to lose that contradictory vitality which makes of them true “life-forms”. This shall be one of our singularly most important methodological targets.

So that we may further clarify such a methodological target, we may contrast it directly to the theoretical orientation of Horkheimer’s and Adorno’s Dialectic of Enlightenment  (op. cit.) – they write:

«Η διαφήμιση σήμερα είναι μια αρνητική
αρχή, ένας μηχανισμός αποκλεισμού: ό,τι
δεν φέρει τη σφραγίδα της είναι οικονομικά
ύποπτο» (p. 269).

Tentatively, our methodological approach would critically examine such an observation by positing questions such as the following: Firstly, is it accurate to say that advertizing is merely a “single mechanism” («έναςμηχανισμός»)? Is it not maybe a series of mechanisms or maybe a series of discourses which could possibly stand in contradiction to one another? Is it not possible that in 1960’s-1970’s Greece there were mechanisms and discourses which related conflictually/competitively to one another given, inter alia, that some were promoting technologically superior ‘global’ products whereas others struggled to survive as good-old/familiar ‘local’ products? And, secondly, if there was such an internal contradiction within advertizing-discourse-as-a-whole, what effect would this have had on an “Amalia-type”? Is it not possible that an Amalia Eleftheriadou could have found herself within a contradiction-riddled dilemma whereby she could have asked herself whether she would prefer products expressive of a new-found “internationalism” or products expressive of a familiar/habitual “traditionalism”? And thirdly, and as regards the relationship between an advertisement and an Amalia Eleftheriadou, is it not possible that, given her own contradictory social reality (young and fairly well-educated but also fairly badly-remunerated and “despotically” repressed by her boss at the A&M Mill, etc.), she could have doubted or even rejected the “exclusion” suggested by an advertisement, or ignored “suspicions” raised by a product not bearing a particular brand-name? The question here is to what extent the “Amalia-type” would have accepted, compromised with, or rejected the “provocative-interventionist” messages which some “global” advertizing discourse carried. Is it not possible that advertisements which would try to raise fears of “exclusion” could themselves be excluded by an Amalia herself? Or, alternatively, is it not possible that advertisements which provoked whatever “suspicions” could themselves be suspected by the receptor? Now, in trying to answer such latter types of questions, we are able to employ two different types of methods: firstly, we could try to surmise how the “Amalia-type” would have most probably responded given her very specific socio-economic and other personal circumstances (age and sex, of course, included). But secondly, and more importantly, we shall use a method of argumentation that had been well employed by Nikos Poulantzas himself.

To understand such argumentation – and which constituted a method of seeing ‘simple’ and ‘hard’ facts in all their complexity – we shall have to digress slightly and very briefly refer to the history of its development. In the 1960’s-1970’s period, Poulantzas was struggling to come up with some theory of the capitalist State which would be capable of explaining the endless paradoxes of its own practices within society (and for him, this State would include both “public” and “private” apparatuses such as organizational structures producing the discourse of advertizing). In his attempts to develop such a theory, he was confronted with conceptions of the State very much similar to the type we have been referring to above in examining the “Left intellectuals” and their interpretation of consumerism/advertizing. Poulantzas would confront such conceptions in a variety of ways – for instance, in his article, «Οι σημερινοί μετασχηματισμοί του Κράτους…» (in The Crisis of the State [greek edition: Η κρίση του Κράτους, Διεύθυνση: Ν. Πουλαντζάς, Εκδόσεις Παπαζήση, [no date]), he would write:

«… ένας θεσμός, το Κράτος, … δεν είναι και δεν
μπορεί να είναι, όπως θεωρούν οι αντιλήψεις
του Κράτους ως Πράγματος και του Κράτους ως
Υποκειμένου, ένα άρρηκτο μονολιθικό
 συγκρότημα, αλλά αντίθετα είναι από την ίδια
τη δομή του διαιρεμένο» (p. 38, my emph.).

And further, in his Για τον Γκράμσι… (Εκδόσεις Πολύτυπο, Αθήνα, 1984), he would attack the Frankfurtians as follows:

«… αυτή η αμετάβλητη σχέση ιδεολογίας -αλλοτρίωσης-πραγματικότητας είναι
φανερή σ’ όλες τις “υποκειμενιστικές”
μαρξίζουσες αντιλήψεις απ’ τον Γκολντμάν
μέχρι τον Αντόρνο και τον Μαρκούζε, που
ερμηνεύουν τις σημερινές κοινωνικές
εξελίξεις σύμφωνα με το σχήμα μιας ολικής
πραγμοποίησης-αλλοτρίωσης του υποκειμένου
μέσα στο πραγματικό, καταλήγοντας στο
συμπέρασμα της “απορρόφησης της ιδεολογίας
μέσα στην πραγματικότητα”…» (p. 60, his emph.).

We have, of course, already come across the idea that ‘ideology’ had been “absorbed” within ‘reality’ when referring to Fromm’s suggestion that we “drink brand-names”, etc. Now, Poulantzas would continue his theoretical struggles up until 1978, with his final and truly brilliant State, Power, Socialism – but, even by that time, the idea that the State (and all its Dominant Discourse, and especially, as we have seen, its advertizing/consumerist discourse) was a simple instrument of Capital imposing itself on blinded and alienated masses of people, would continue to dominate “Left-wing” thinking, especially in Europe – the sheer simplicity of the idea would suit the ‘radical’ fashions of the day. In his State, Power, Socialism (published by Θεμέλιο in Greece in June 2008), Poulantzas would make his final attempt to convince people that neither the State nor whatever of its discourses were mere “instruments” of the “system” – the method he would here use is of major interest to us in that it would help us measure the extent to which an “Amalia-type” would herself play her own role in determining the content of advertizing discourse. With reference to the form of State in capitalist societies, Poulantzas would pose the following question:

«… γιατί η αστική τάξη, για να εξασφαλίσει
την κυριαρχία της, προσφεύγει σε τούτο
το εθνικό-λαϊκό Κράτος, σε τούτο το
σύγχρονο αντιπροσωπευτικό Κράτος με
τους ιδιαίτερους θεσμούς του, και όχι
σ’ ένα άλλο; Διότι δεν είναι καθόλου
 πρόδηλο – κάθε άλλο – πως αν η αστική
 τάξη μπορούσε να συγκροτήσει το Κράτος
 από το Α ως το Ω, και όπως της ταιριάζει,
 θα διάλεγε τούτο εδώ το Κράτος. Αν
 από τούτο το Κράτος αποκόμισε και
 εξακολουθεί να αποκομίζει πολλά οφέλη,
 απέχει ωστόσο πολύ, σήμερα όπως και στο
 παρελθόν, από το να είναι πάντα ικανοποιημένη
 απ’ αυτό» (p. 15, my emph.).

The implications of such method of thinking – which of course suggests that the State was never an “instrument” or a “making” of any one class but is rather a relationship of social forces and discourses within its own multifarious structures – were quite indigestible for the dogmatic “Left”. For our purposes, we have here a terrain of social participation on the part of the popular masses and within whatever ideological discourse, which calls for hard empirical research. If the form of capitalist State was not wholly of the making of the capitalist class, then neither was the discourse/s of such State, and which therefore means that the discourse of advertizing was itself never fully of the making of any «Εξουσίας-Κενταύρου, μισής-ανθρώπου, μισής-κτήνους» (as Poulantzas describes such understanding of the State, ibid.). Now, it is that extent of State practices and discourses which was not of the making of the ruling classes – that remaining “space” – which points to the presence of an “Amalia-type” in the ultimate forging of ideology as inscribed in advertizing discourse. Our purpose here therefore, practically and methodologically speaking, is to examine concrete examples of advertizing in the 1960’s-1970’s and to identify traces of discourse left behind by the wishes, the tastes, the prejudices, etc., of an “Amalia-type” – i.e., to find samples of advertizing discourse which the advertizing sector would not have been «πάντα ικανοποιημένη απ’ αυτό», or to at least identify traces of that remaining “space” in advertizing discourse which had to take into account the pulls and pushes exerted on it by the sheer presence of the thousands of Amalias that lived and worked in Greece at the time.

We may put the matter slightly otherwise: if and only if we do identify such traces of the “Amalia-presence” within advertizing discourse of the period, shall we be able to verify, not only the general political philosophy of Poulantzas himself (but whose thought too must also be seen as a product of his age), but the more specific position that Amalia Eleftheriadou was never herself a victim of any “false consciousness” imposed on her by an all-powerful “System”. And if we do find cases of advertizing discourse which suggest that that discourse had to adjust to the whims of an “Amalia-type”, we shall also be able to identify elements of the thinking and habits of an Amalia Eleftheriadou (as a specific “form of life”), and delineate how that constituted her response to the world of advertizing. The enterprise before us, then, stands or falls according to our empirical findings and as these are interpreted by us. On the other hand, and whatever our findings, we already know that the “private” ideological apparatuses of the Greek State – i.e. the structures set up by the advertizing industry to produce advertizing discourse – included the presence of elements of Greek society which had adopted an oppositional stance to the Greek State as a whole (we are obviously referring here to the “Left-wing-Kakoulidis-type” discussed above). Thus, we have here a case (one of those many apparent “paradoxes” of the capitalist State we frequently bump into as we observe everyday life) which verifies the position that the Greek State apparatuses – and especially those which supposedly produced advertizing discourse as an ideology of socio-political domination – were never a monolithic «Εξουσία-Κένταυρος», but were complex and contradictory enough to include the presence of the “Left-wing intellectual” as copywriter within their structures. But while the “Kakoulidis-type” was present within such structures, this was obviously not the case as regards a “Clerk” working in the Headquarters of an Aliartian Mill: what we shall try to show below is the extent to which the “Amalia-type” (her own specific “common nous”) was “present” in the discourse of advertizing, but “from a distance”.

Adopting the type of methodological approach we have pointed to above, we shall very naturally have to be quite critical of any concepts relating to the idea of “manipulation”. Our intention is surely not to reject the idea that advertisements may very well have attempted to “manipulate” an “Amalia-type” – on the other hand, we shall steer clear of taking whatever possibility of “manipulation” for granted. To give us an idea of precisely what needs to be avoided, let us take a sample passage from the Roupa study (op. cit.), where she speaks of the role of the Americans in the field of Greek advertizing in the 1960’s – she writes:

«Σχετικά με την κυριαρχία των αμερικανικών
προτύπων να σημειωθεί ότι η διαφημιστική
εταιρεία “Μίνως” είχε ως σύμβουλο τον Αμερικανό
Dr. Ernest Dichter (1907-1991), που ήταν γνωστός
για τη μέθοδο χειραγώγησης του καταναλωτή
“Motivational Research” (1946) και είχε ιδρύσει
το “Ινστιτούτο Μελέτης Ψυχολογικών Κινήτρων”
(Institute of Motivational Research)» (p. 263).

Firstly, in terms of our methodological approach, the idea of a «κυριαρχία … προτύπων» could not be seen as an absolute dominance – but, further, even a possibly relative dominance of American prototypes and methods tells us, in itself, very little about the extent to which such prototypes and methods had – or did not have – to be adjusted to the Greek reality (and in manners which could qualify whatever degree of intended “manipulation”). As happens throughout the Roupa study, any references to “motivation” are automatically translated into “manipulation”. In fact, one could argue that it would be impossible to “motivate” anyone to do anything unless one takes into consideration what it is that “motivates” the other. The person’s particular needs, based on objective class position, cultural context, etc., will inevitably have to be considered. To the extent that they are taken into account, the “motivator”/potential “manipulator” (the advertiser) becomes himself “motivated” (by the consumer, who delimits the advertiser’s field of manoeuvre, and thus “motivates” the advertiser to stick to such field). But this, then, comes to constitute a veritable arena of strugglebetween different socio-cultural/ideological practices, as also economic interests. And, of course, this is all in keeping with the manner Poulantzas has presented the idea of the capitalist State-as-a-Whole.

All this now allows us to stipulate our central methodological tool, and which will be practically applied as we examine each advertisement separately – in his State, Power, Socialism (op. cit.), as also elsewhere in his work (and always deeply influenced by Gramsci), Poulantzas has presented the so-called “dominant discourse” in capitalist society, in the latter’s various forms,  as follows:

 «[It is a] πεδίο μιας ασταθούς ισορροπίας
 συμβιβασμών» (op. cit., p.43).

These “compromises” take place between those who “control” – relatively speaking – the means of production of discourse (here, the advertizing companies) and those who are meant to “receive” such discourse (inter alia, the “Amalia-type”). Each and every sample of an advertisement can only but be analyzed by placing it within the context of this “terrain” wherein we have a continually unsteady balance of on-going “compromises” between the advertizing companies and the consuming masses. Being an on-going ideological/cultural struggle, there can be times when the one side will triumph wholly over the other, but such “imbalance” cannot last for too long, and a new “balance” will have to be found and various “compromises” have to be made, and on like that. Speaking of such types of on-going struggles, one should not at all imagine masses of people taking to the streets and burning down the headquarters of some advertizing company – things could happen like that but most unusually so: rather, and which is (or was, for our purposes) an on-going daily practice amongst consumers, one could observe an Amalia Eleftheriadou dropping the idea of buying a ‘Kelvinator’ and opting for an ‘Izola’ product instead, depending on what she read, saw or heard about such products. Very simply, consumers can and do show their teeth by buying or not buying particular things, and this is not necessarily a mere “passive” form of “resistance” on the part of the popular masses.

Making use of such methodological tools, we shall attempt to interpret the very specific advertizing discourse in Greece in the 1950’s-1970’s period – and the relationships that were articulated between such discourse and the “Amalia-type” – by placing the matter within an as specific socio-historical framework. We may very briefly outline such framework as follows:

1. Especially as regards the 1950’s and 1960’s, Greek society as a whole was characterized by a deep socio-cultural clash between what we may call the “residual element” (“localism”/”traditionalism”) and the “modern element” (the influx of the “foreign”/”overseas” socio-cultural paradigm). Very schematically, we could say that the “residual element” was predominantly expressive of the older generations, all of whom carried the highly traumatic war-memories of their very recent past (both the German Occupation and the Civil War). Again very schematically, we could say that the “modern element” was predominantly expressive of the younger generations, all of whom were children of what seemed to be – and in fact was – a permanent peace-time. (We are fully aware of the dangers of over-simplification here, but we shall not bother with these at this point, as they do not seriously affect the overall conceptualization of our framework).

2. Highly symptomatic of this major socio-cultural clash is what Thrilos (op. cit., p. 296) would call the syndrome of a «ψυχική αστάθεια» and which would envelope (in varying degrees of intensity) the whole of Greek society – in fact, and as we shall see in the sub-section that immediately follows, the Thrilos observation would be repeated in a variety of different ways by an array of Greek writers and other commentators (including the local newspapers of Boeotia, as also the local paper of Aliarto itself).

3. Within such a context of (mass psychic) “instability”, the ideological discourses of the period – while deeply contradictory within themselves (and in fact highly conflictual at the political level) – would attempt to maintain a balance of compromises at the level of socio-cultural practices: such an attempt at a balance of compromises would inevitably be most apparent within the field of advertizing discourse (the need to sell products and the need to buy them would ‘lock’ the parties, involved in such transactions, in a two-way discourse). Put otherwise, and specifically as regards socio-cultural practices/paradigms, there was a need to maintain balances in a world of objective imbalances and essentially transitional instabilities.

4. But given such objective world,  the on-going attempts at maintaining whatever ideological balances would yield a thoroughly vacillating advertizing discourse (the objective instabilities would be reflected in the unstable balances of advertizing discourse): we shall come across advertisements which displayed varying degrees of ‘compromising balances’ and degrees of ‘non-compromising imbalances’, and such degrees would, to some extent, be determined by the consumer reactions of an “Amalia-type” (this constituting her own “space” of intervention whichwe have spoken of above).

5. Thus, and given such vacillation, the general ‘body’ of advertizing discourse at the time would vary between two extremes: on the one hand, a discourse of “compromise” and “adjustment” with respect to the realities of an “Amalia-type” and, right at the other end of the scale, a discourse of “provocative-interventionism” which could ignore or even insult the tastes and world-view of an Amalia Eleftheriadou.  As a ‘body’ in toto, the advertizing discourse of the period, and given the need to maintain precisely the balances we have been referring to, would include a wide range of advertisements which would fall in-between these two extremes. Such in-between advertisement-types would fulfill the function of what Gramsci had once identified as the “law of determined proportionality” activated between and within the structures of social discourse so as to help maintain the overall reproduction of a social formation. (cf. A. Gramsci, «Ο σύγχρονος ηγεμόνας», in Για την πολιτική και για το σύγχρονο κράτος, ΗΜΕΡΗΣΙΑ Α.Ε.Ε., 2010, pp. 166-167).

Before we undertake an examination of the advertisements themselves, and in keeping with the framework outlined, we shall have to dwell on the historical context of the period.

GLOSSARY

NOTES

● «Για τον Γράμσι…»: “For Gramsci…”
● «Εξουσίας-Κενταύρου, μισής-ανθρώπου, μισής-κτήνους»: “Centaur-Power, half-man, half-beast”.
● «κυριαρχία… προτύπων»: dominance of… models/prototypes
● «Ο σύγχρονος ηγεμόνας»; «Για την πολιτική και για το σύγχρονο κράτος»: “The modern prince”; “On politics and the modern state”.
● «Οι σημερινοί μετασχηματισμοί του Κράτους»: “The current transformations of the State”.
● «πάντα ικανοποιημένη απ’ αυτό»: always satisfied with it
● «πλήρως διοικούμενου, υπολογιζόμενου και εξουσιαζόμενου κόσμου»: fully managed, calculated and dominated world
● «ψυχική αστάθεια»: mental instability

THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT, ESPECIALLY THE 1950’s-1960’s PERIOD

By the late 1950’s, we may say – descriptively speaking – that Greece had already undergone some ‘great change’. Writing in 1959, Nikos Tsiforos, in his Ελληνική κρουαζιέρα [Greek Cruise, Ερμής, 1975], would point to the dramatic changes that had taken place by describing the reactions of a Greek on returning to his homeland – we read:

«Παλιοχώρι την θυμότανε την Ελλάδα,
τώρα άνοιξε τα μάτια. “Μπας κι’ έκανα
λάθος;… Τούτη η λεωφόρος, τούτα τα
φώτα, τούτα τα χτίρια!... ρε πώς άλλαξαν
έτσι!”… και έτριβε τα μάτια του» (p. 50).

But these great changes happening by the late-1950’s were accompanied by a generalized confusion, amounting to a mass psychological clash of “values” (we may remember the Thrilos observation mentioned above): flux characterized the period. And the radical transformations that were underway in Greece meant, not only an influx of the “Western” style of life, but also an anxiety (cf. the observations of Vasos Varikas, in his Συγγραφείς και κείμενα, 1955-1959 [Writers and Texts, 1955-1959, Ερμής, Αθήνα, 2003], p. 21, p. 67, p. 86, pp. 165-166, et al) on the part of the popular masses to digest such new “values” and to try to “evaluate” them in their own terms. Of course, following the destructions of World War II, such “Western values” were also being critically questioned by the Europeans themselves (hence the impact of an Adorno et al), and which would add to the generalized confusion within Greece at the time. “Modernity”, in other words, was banging on the door of the Greek people, and was doing so all too abruptly, all too provocatively, and just a bit too violently. All this would, of course, appeal to – and challenge – the younger generations, though these too would find themselves locked in clashes with the Patriarchal Family Unit to which they all belonged, or even with clashes over “ethical” matters with their own boss if they happened to be employed (cf. our paper on 28 year-old Ekaterini Douka, who worked as a “Chemist” for the A&M Mill in 1961-1962, and had frequently been involved in such “ethical clashes” with her as-“Patriarchal” boss, Maraki).

Such generalized confusion within Greece was very accurately captured in 1957 by an otherwise mediocre “intellectual”, Petros Haris, whose long-time service as Editor of the periodical Nea Hestia (1933-1987) would at times enable him to “read” – but not at all explain –  the situation quite perceptively. In an article entitled «Έπειτ’ από τα τριάντα χρόνια» (cf. Nea Hestia, No 720 – Athens, July 1st 1957), he would make observations with respect to the late-1950’s such as the following:

• «γενική σύγχυση» (p. 890)
• «το σχήμα της ρευστής εποχής μας» (ibid.)
• «τι είναι αυτός ο “δυτικός κόσμος”, τι αξίζει … έπειτ’ από τόσες ριζικές μεταβολές, τι μπορεί να προσφέρει στο μεταπολεμικό άτομο…;» (p. 891)
• «… προβλήματα, που έχουν γίνει πύρινοι κύκλοι…» (ibid.)…[etc.].

Especially his phrase «πύρινοι κύκλοι» would perhaps most accurately describe the vicious circle of contradictions that Greek society had found itself caught up in, especially at the level of socio-cultural practices, and which would involve the whole of the population, with the “Amalia-type” certainly included (the political contradictions, as intense, would only directly involve a fraction of the population, and even such fraction would have no choice but retreat from political activity following the seizure of power by the Colonels in 1967).

We have already pointed to the clash between the “residual” and the “modern” – it was this that would galvanize such «πύρινους κύκλους», and such clash would take a variety of forms. In 1961, Koeppen (op. cit.) would himself observe the general contradiction as follows:

 «Η Αθήνα είναι σταυροδρόμι του αέρα.
Φαρδείς δρόμοι, σκόνη, αμερικάνικα
αυτοκίνητα, πού και πού ένα κάρο που
το σέρνει γάιδαρος» (p. 13, my emph.).

Imported technology, here represented by the American automobile, would be accompanied by the “primitive technology” of rooted tradition, here represented by the use of the donkey as a means of transport. We shall have to see how such «σταυροδρόμι του αέρα» would have an impact on the socio-cultural discourse of the popular masses, and especially as that would permeate into and structure advertizing discourse – as suggested above, the latter would often have to somehow try to achieve some sort of “balance” between the “world” of the American automobile and that of the Greek donkey, both such “worlds” carrying their own sets of “values”.

This clash of “values” and incompatible “realities” would at the same time mean that we had the sudden advent of “modernity” being confronted by the reality of a widespread impoverishment which lurked on from the past – such impoverishment, while most pronounced in the rural “periphery”, was actually also quite evident in the “cultural centre” of Greece, in Athens, and even in the central Square of such “cultural centre”, at ‘Πλατεία Συντάγματος’ – this is how Koeppen describes his impressions of the city’s Constitution Square in 1961:

«…να κοιτάς από το παράθυρο του
μοναδικού παλιού εστιατορίου την
εγκαταλειμμένη πλατεία, περιτριγυρισμένος
από μύγες…» (p. 14).

In the early-1960’s, the “cultural centre” of Greece, and even its central squares – while being the very first recipients of “modernity”, and as also the very first to display «ρεκλάμες  πολύχρωμες» (Koumandareas, op. cit.) – was still an area teeming with flies and mosquitoes. Elsewhere, Koeppen would continue:

«Η Αθήνα μοσχοβολούσε … ψημένο
καλαμπόκι, σαφώς αντικουνουπικό…»
(pp. 17-18).

Flies and mosquitoes, as is obvious, are symptomatic of unhygienic material conditions and thus of poverty: especially as regards the problem of mosquitoes, we know that the area of Aliarto itself had always been plagued by it given the presence of the drained lake of «Κωπαΐδα» in the region (cf., for instance, V. Katsifi-Zota, Η λίμνη της Κωπαΐδας, [Lake Copais], Αθήνα, Ιούλιος 2005). Thus, whatever rudiments of “modernity” were to filter through to Amalia Eleftheriadou’s place of residence in the 1950’s-1960’s (and on), these were to be ‘accompanied’ by the swarms of mosquitoes that continued to survive years after the drainage of the lake. Such ‘natural’ phenomena, therefore – but which were also as much ‘social’, given the underdeveloped economic infrastructure of the country at least up until the early 1950’s – must themselves be seen as part and parcel of the clash between the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ which we are here describing.

That such clash of “values” and “realities” was conducive to a state of anxiety amongst the popular masses – i.e. that uncomfortable balance in the minds of people between foreign technology/”modernity”, on the one hand, and local “primitiveness”/”Greekness”, on the other – was most succinctly expressed by that major Greek poet, George Seferis, and which shows that he had fully understood and empathized with the Greek “common nous” (and there was such relative commonality of feeling amongst the various social strata when it came to the clash we are describing here). It was in 1967 that he would write:

«… με δυσκολεύει η βιομηχανία των
ξένων» (cf. Ignatis Trelos (G. Seferis),
 Οι ώρες της κυρίας Έρσης [The Hours of Mrs Erse Ερμής,
Αθήνα, 1973 (first published 15.4.1967),
p. 45, my emph.).

This “difficulty”, reflective of socio-cultural discourse at the time (and, as we shall see, as much present in advertizing discourse), often appeared as a dominant theme in the writings of people who had lived, and lived intensely, the turbulent transition from pre- to post-war Greece. And excellent example of this, coming from an as excellent a writer, is the work of Asimakis Panselinos’ Τότε που ζούσαμε (op. cit.). Even the very title of his book, published in 1974, obviously suggests his ‘preference’ for 1930’s Greece: for him, it was then that the Greek people truly “lived”. Of course, this is quite reminiscent of the “Left-wing” thinking we have been discussing above, in that it implies the one-dimensionalist “alienation” of the person in post-war “modern times”, and we do know that Panselinos was himself a “Left-winger” (dogmatic and uninformed ‘Stalinist’ in his student days but not at all so in later years). But Panselinos was not to really dwell on whatever “alienation” in his work – what concerned him was to above all describe the “old” style of life in Greece, to at times compare that with the “new”, and to somehow try and understand both. In so doing, however, he could be said to be a bit ‘guilty’ of that ‘nostalgic romanticism’ that Alkis Thrilos had referred to (cf. above) – but such  ‘romanticism’, on the part of Panselinos, was simply a symptom of that on-going clash of “values” and of “realities” that had made Seferis himself say, «με δυσκολεύει». The “difficulties” expressed both by Seferis and by Panselinos would definitely also have been of concern to the fathers and mothers of an “Amalia-type”, and this was precisely what was causing that clash and confusion – that complex of «πύρινοι κύκλοι» – which Haris had written of.

Having clarified the case of Panselinos, we may here very briefly present samples of his work which express this difference between the “old” and the “new”. Writing in the early 1970’s, he would ‘travel’ back to the Athens of 1929-1930 and comment:

«Συλλογιέμαι την Αθήνα τα χρόνια εκείνα
που ήταν φτωχιά και γιόρταζε ακόμα στις
στήλες του Ολύμπιου Δία τα κούλουμα με
ταραμά, χαλβά και λατέρνα. Φαίνεται τότε
να είχαν τα σπίτια της ψυχή πιο βαθιά»
(p. 168, my emph.).

There was, in the ‘atmosphere’ of 1930’s Athens, a deeper “spiritual” element that Panselinos could see in contrast to that of the 1970’s – such “spirituality”, of course, had nothing to do either with the “intellectualist” “Spirit” of a Karandonis or with the “proletarian” “Spirit” of a Sotiriou. He would see such «ψυχή» in the popular everyday socio-cultural practices of the period and which, at least by the 1970’s when he was writing his book, had become “residual” (to the extent that some traces of it had then still survived – we note that Panselinos adopts a relativistic position, speaking of «πιο βαθιά»).

Related to this “spiritual” element in the ‘atmosphere’ of the 1930’s, Panselinos would also speak of a “mystical” atmosphere in the streets of late night-time Athens – we read:

«Γυρνούσαμε αργά… Τα ανάρια φώτα από
τους φανοστάτες φωτίζαν τους δρόμους
μ’ ένα φως μυστικιστικό» (p. 171, my emph.).

One may feel rather dubious as regards Panselinos’ descriptive/subjective terms such as «μυστικιστικό» when describing the pre-war years. And yet, one could argue that what he is describing here is in fact an ‘objective reality’ and which was to stand in stark contrast to the “new” that was coming. Such stark difference in ‘atmosphere’ is clearly explainable in terms of the technological infrastructures available in Greece before and after the war, and here specifically as regards the quality of electrification. The dim lights Panselinos speaks of («ανάρια φώτα») were a product of the then relatively “primitive” technology of the time (albeit provided by the Ελληνική Ηλεκτρική Εταιρία, itself established by the US-based Thompson-Houston), and could and did create an ‘atmosphere’ of the “mystical” (or, depending on one’s mood, could even provoke a state of ‘misery’). Anyone who has happened to walk around the little villages near Thiva – even as late as the 1970’s – would know exactly what we are talking about here. Now, such «ανάρια φώτα» (and the “mystical” that went with these) were to be ultimately replaced by the ‘bright lights” of ΔΕΗ, which was established in August 1950. It was precisely such “modernized” electrification network that would provide the essential infrastructure for the electrified advertisements we have spoken of above, and which would radically transform the whole ‘atmosphere’ of Greek cities and towns (and which would definitely include Thiva and Levadia, both of which constituted centers of entertainment for the “Amalia-type”). Panselinos’ «φως μυστικιστικό» must be directly contrasted to the “atmospheric effects” of advertizing in the early 1970’s, and as such “effects” were described by Daskalopoulou above (as quoted: «Όταν ανάβουν τα φώτα, οι λέξεις αναβοσβήνουν σε χρώμα παπαγαλί κι η ατμόσφαιρα γύρω πρασινίζει»). This violent clash between the ‘dim lights’ of the past and the ‘bright lights” of the post-war period – and especially as such multi-coloured ‘brightness’ was used in promoting new products – would also mean as violent a clash between different ‘psychologies’: the up-and-coming younger generations, born in “modernity” and within such ‘bright lights’, would relate to such ‘world’ in a manner one might describe as ‘natural’ (for want of a better word) and would definitely feel ‘miserable’ whenever confronted by any residual «ανάρια φώτα» around them (and much of such lighting would persist in the Aliarto of the 1950’s and 1960’s). In contrast, the older generations, having grown up in the «φως μυστικιστικό» as described by Panselinos, would, in some sense, be ‘blinded’ – not to say ‘shocked’ – by this radically new phenomenon (and the advertizing that went with it).

It must have been, surely, this sheer blinding ‘rawness’ of such ‘new world’ which seemed prepared to ‘expose’ everything – as opposed to the ‘mystical spirituality’ of the ‘old’, and which itself had never dared reveal the naked truths of its own reality under any spot-lights of electricity – which would cause Panselinos to at times adopt some degree of that ‘nostalgic romanticism’ we have alluded to above. He would thus willingly acknowledge his rather idyllic stance as regards the pre-war years:

«Η αλήθεια είναι πως τα χρόνια εκείνα,
λίγο πριν από το 1930 και λίγο μετά,
η Αθήνα για μας φαινόταν ειδυλλιακή».
(p. 173).

Panselinos would go on to point to the sharp contrast that marked that old Athens in relation to what he was seeing around him in the early 1970’s. He would note the dominance of “modernity”, especially amongst the new generations, and how such “modernity” had meant an influx of its ‘fashions’ within Greece. His language shows the difficulty he feels in trying to digest the ‘new’, and yet he certainly tries to explain what was happening in his own way – for instance, he writes:

«… σήμερα πάλι, οι άνθρωποι θρέφουν
μαλλούρα και γένια, φορούν απίθανα
ρούχα, γυρνάν ξυπόλυτοι, ξετραχηλισμένοι,
για να αλλάξουν σουλούπι, και να μη
μοιάζουν με τους καλοντυμένους
ευπαρουσίαστους φιλισταίους, που ρίξαν
την ανθρωπότητα στον όλεθρο του
πολέμου» (p. 158).

We may say that both Seferis and Panselinos, and at least based on the particular quotes presented, would see the clash of “values” going on at the time and sense what we have referred to as that “uncomfortable balance” in the minds of people between foreign “modernity” and local “traditionalism”. To some extent, therefore, their thought reflected that of the “average Greeks” (and especially but not exclusively the older generations) who were still trying to come to terms with the onslaught of the “foreign element” – and while the latter would itself try to “adjust” to local conditions (and as that especially happened, as we shall try to show, in the discourse of advertisements). And it could only but take time before that turbulence of the transitional period would ebb and the tide of socio-cultural contradictions fall. There were, of course, many Greek “intellectuals” who had long since already accepted some ‘bond’ and/or some ‘cultural commerce’ between “Greekness” and “foreignness” – one such case being that of Giannis Psiharis. Even as early as at the turn of the century, an “intellectual” such as him would be able to weave some kind of delicate balance between his “Greekness” and his “Frenchness” – as Panselinos would himself describe the case of Psiharis and the «λόγος» of the latter:

«Ήταν μια τέχνη πολύτροπη. Μια
φινέτσα φραντσέζικη και μια γουστόζικη
ρωμαίικη τσαχπινιά» (op. cit., p. 133).

But the likes of a Psiharis were in no way representative of Greek society as a whole – in any case, Psiharis was himself something of  an eccentric who resided in France and whose own identity was divided between that of “Greekness” and “Frenchness”. That «τέχνη πολύτροπη» – whereby the “foreign” would articulate with, combine and be assimilated into the “local” – would, for the popular masses, constitute a traumatic historical process which would perhaps reach some apex only by the 1980’s. What concerns us here was how the “Amalia-type” would develop its very own «τέχνη» – itself as highly «πολύτροπη» – to both assimilate the “foreign” and maintain its essential “Greekness”.

The contradictory traumas of such historical process are most evident when one comes to consider how the “new” would try to ‘gate-crash’ into that more specific “arena of conflict” which was to unfold within the “peripheries” all over the rural or semi-rural regions of the country (Aliarto of course included). Such socio-cultural ‘gate-crashing’, especially within the Greek villages of the 1950’s, had deeply concerned, inter alia, a gentleman by the name of George P. Kanellakis, who happened to be an anti-communist as well as a monarchist. While one would expect such a person to be proud of the ‘fruits’ of the anti-communist “West”, and be appreciative of Marshall’s programme (AMAG) meant to reconstruct the Greek economy, he would nonetheless fully reject whatever “modernism” as destructive of Greek “traditionality” (and would therefore – oh so paradoxically – not have much disagreed with the “alienating” effects of Western consumerism that his communist enemies were to themselves talk about).

In Kanellakis’ book, published in Athens in 1955, entitled Επιστροφή εις το χωριό [Return to the village] and dedicated «Εις την Α.Μ. τον Βασιλέα ημών Παύλον – τον εμψυχωτήν και προστάτην του χωριού…[etc.]», we read:

«… το χωριό αντιμετωπίζει σήμερον … μεγάλον
… εχθρόν. Ο εχθρός αυτός είναι η πόλις. Μέχρι
προ ολίγων ετών, μόνο το χωριό μετεκινείτο
προς την πόλιν. Με την πύκνωσιν όμως της
συγκοινωνίας και με την διάδοσιν του
ραδιοφώνου και η πόλις μετακινείται, ολονέν
περισσότερον προς το χωριό» (p. 72).

For the “Right-wing” Mr. Kanellakis, the “enemy” threatening the traditional way of life of the “periphery” was of course “materialism” itself – though this was not at all that particular “dialectical materialism” hailing from Stalinist Moscow, but that other type, the one offered by the ‘Free World’, and which would ultimately enable Kanellakis’ peasant compatriots to make use of things such as fridges and indoor toilet basins. Kanellakis continues as follows:

«Προ του αυτοκινήτου και του ραδιοφώνου
[elsewhere K. also refers to the press and the
cinema – cf. p.55], το χωριό έζη ήρεμον με
τας συνηθείας του, τα ήθη και έθιμά του, τας
παραδόσεις του. Τώρα όμως ο υλισμός των
 πόλεων εισέρχεται, με την ταχύτητα και την
ευκολίαν που του παρέχουν τα σημερινά
μέσα του τεχνικού πολιτισμού, εις την ζωήν
του χωριού» (ibid., my emph.).

Both the “dialectical materialism” of communists and the US materialism of the anti-communists would be utterly rejected by a “Right-winger” such as Kanellakis: the former “materialism” (if he would at all have heard of it) would be rejected out of hand for solidly ‘political’ reasons; the latter would be as much rejected for as solidly ‘socio-cultural’ and/or ‘nationalist’ reasons. Here, in fact, we have a case whereby all forms of “technological civilization” are rejected as threats to the traditional “values” of an authentically Greek, rural lifestyle (and as such threat was coming in from an already ‘poisoned’ “cultural centre”). The key word here is ‘threat’ – it would be quite inevitable that both a Panselinos and a Kanellakis would not have wished to see their “idyllic” worlds be so violently and so swiftly threatened by unknown technological forces barging in from the outside and with unknown consequences. That both a “Left-wing” Panselinos and a monarchist such as Kanellakis would more or less feel the same way is not surprising at all – such emotional response was a generalized phenomenon amongst the Greek popular masses at the time, especially as regards the older generations (though the young as well, growing up as they did with their parents, could – but to a much lesser degree – also have shared elements of such emotional response in the 1950’s-1960’s). Unlike the inflexible monarchist, however, large sections of the population would also – and right at the same time – see such ‘threat’ as a luring challenge for personal material ‘progress’ – and which would further add to the confusion we have been referring to. Kanellakis would himself notice such proclivity for material progress amongst his compatriots and link it automatically to the “new” and “unethical” habits especially rampant amongst youth – he writes:

«Η υλιστική ζωή, το πνεύμα του μοντερνισμού,
η διάδοσις των προϊόντων του βιομηχανικού
πολιτισμού, ο κοσμοπολιτισμός μεταφυτεύονται
ταχύτατα εις το χωριό με το πιστοποιητικόν
μάλιστα της “προόδου” και της “εξελίξεως”.
Επίσης πολλά έντυπα με “επιστημονικάς”
δημαγωγίας και με ερωτικούς αισθησιασμούς
κυκλοφορούν, ολονέν περισσότερον, μεταξύ
της νεολαίας του χωριού, μεταφέροντας τας
ανωτέρω ιδέας της πόλεως. Τας παλαιάς αρχάς
και πεποιθήσεις, τα αγνά ήθη και έθιμα του
χωριού, αντικαθιστούν νέαι συνήθειαι και
τρόποι τελείως ασυμβίβαστοι με το πρώην
παρθένον περιβάλλον της υπαίθρου» (pp.
72-73).

Kanellakis would be most critical of those «νέαι συνήθειαι» especially being adopted by two particular categories of the Greek population living in the “periphery”: the females (more or less approximating the “Amalia-type”) and the young males (someone more or less like a Vasilis Damokas, a young “Blue-Collar” worker at the A&M Mill – cf. our paper investigating the case of this rather ‘ill-disciplined’ employee at the Mill, hired in 1962). As regards the females, Kanellakis would write:

«Η απλή λαϊκή ενδυμασία από υφάσματα,
κατά το πλείστον, επεξειργασμένα από τα
χέρια των γυναικών του χωριού, παραμερίζεται
από την επιδεικτικήν τουαλέτταν…» (p. 73).

As regards youth generally and more specifically the young males, he would go on:

«Η νεολαία, εξ άλλου, επηρεασμένη από
τας νέας αντιλήψεις αισθάνεται περιφρόνησιν
δια τας αγροτικάς ασχολίας και μόνον ιδανικόν
έχει την εγκατάστασίν της εις την Πρωτεύουσαν»
(p. 74).

This clash of “values” between old and young would of course also be as marked at Aliarto – a semi-rural/semi-urban area – and would not at all (or at least not only) come from the quarters of  so-called “conservative” “Right-wingers” and/or “monarchists”. And we need to emphasize here that neither the “emotional” responses of the old nor the “emotional” counter-responses of the young at Aliarto (and its environs), should be considered as “irrational” (in the specific Pareto sense, as discussed by Raymond Aron, in his Main Currents in Sociological Thought [greek edition: Η εξέλιξη της κοινωνιολογικής σκέψης, Εκδόσεις Γνώση, 1984, pp. 166-178): we shall have to return to this important methodological approach a bit further below.

Οn Saturday, December 30, 1961, Aliarto would see the launching of its own local newspaper, the Voiotike Floga – its front page would carry a «Στήλη των νέων» and therein an article would be published entitled «Η κραυγή του Αλέκου». This hypothetical “Alekos” represented the youth of the area and it is highly symptomatic of the ‘youth problem’ at the time that the Aliartian newspaper would decide to establish a permanent column in its front page dealing with the problems of that age category. In this first article on youth, Alekos would be presented as a very angry young man announcing his violent “arrival” to the older generations – signed by certain S. Damianos, part of the text reads as follows:

«…Να φωνάξω έτσι: Παπάδες, Δάσκαλοι,
ασπρομάλληδες, εργοδότες… Είμαστε οι
νέοι που μας σπείρατε με επιπολαιότητα…
Υποψιαστήκατε την παρουσία μας… δεν
αισθανθήκατε τον ερχομό μας;… Προβλήματα
πυρακτωμένα μας καίνε: ο πόλεμος, η πείνα,
η αδικία, … το επάγγελμά μας (το ψωμί μας),
η ψυχαγωγία μας,… ο έρωτας, η ζωή, το
χωριό… οι γροθιές μας σφίχτηκαν και
μετά από λίγο… θα είναι αργά…». (cf.
 Voiotike Floga, 30.12.1961 – No 1, p. 1).

It is most probable that this text does not in fact express the authentic “voice” (or «κραυγή») of Aliartian youth – it must, rather, be seen as an attempt on the part of the Editors of the paper to make their readers aware of how intense the youth problem really is. Still, at least what they write (as opposed to how) must be fairly accurate, based as it is on empirical – though not unbiased – observation. But if in this text the Editors were perhaps putting words in the mouths of youngsters, they would, in June 1962, be directly voicing their own thoughts on the burning issue – in an article entitled «Απολογία στα νειάτα» (and as part of that «Στήλη» already mentioned), they would be apologetic towards youth in general for the situation in which such youngsters were finding themselves in, and yet the paper would also at the same time go on and throw adjectives amounting to hubris right in the face of these new generations. This extreme hubristic discourse essentially degrading Greek youth as a whole must be seen as expressive of the intensity of the clash of “values” generally and of the young-old clash in particular. The «Απολογία», written by Argyris Ioannis («Καθηγητής Φυσικός»), and fully expressive of overall Editorial policy, would go as follows:

«Τελευταία, με τις εκδηλώσεις τεντυμποϊσμού,
το πράγμα έχει προσεχθή … από αρμόδιους και
μη … Η νομοθεσία αντέδρασε αρνητικά. Ο νόμος
4000 καταδικάζει τους παρεκτρεπομένους νέους
εις δημοσίαν διαπόμπευσιν και κατεξευτιλισμόν
με ποινικά επακόλουθα!... Με οργή και
αγανάκτησι “οι σοβαροί” άνθρωποι της κοινωνίας
χαρακτηρίζουν με τις πιο βαρειές φράσεις τους
νέους για τον κατήφορο που έχουν πάρει:
Άγριοι, εγωιστικοί, ατίθασοι, εξωφρενικοί,
απειθάρχητοι, ρέμπελοι, ανήθικοι, αυθάδεις,
αναίσχυντοι… Γιατί οι νέοι έφτασαν σε τέτοιο σημείο
 εκτροπής, που εγγίζει πολλάκις τα όρια της
 διαστροφής;… Γιατί δεν λειτουργούν οι ηθικές
 αντιστάσεις και η προσφερομένη αγωγή δεν
 αναχαιτίζει τις εκρήξεις των ενστίκτων τους;… Όταν
πρόσωπα της κοινωνίας … κρύβουν υποκρισία και
ψευτιά, τότε επόμενον είναι [for a youngster] να
πέση στην απογοήτευση, στον κυνισμό, στην
αναίδεια, ή την απελπισία…» (cf. Voiotike Floga, 26.6.1962,
No 7, p. 2, my emph.).

In the issue of  Voiotike Floga immediately following that of June 1962, the local paper would openly and directly relate that youthful behaviour «που εγγίζει … τα όρια της διαστροφής» to the element of “foreignness”. Now, unlike the monarchist Kanellakis, the Editors of  Voiotike Floga (K. Gelis and N. Kollias, who were both rather well-educated professionals, with the former also running a private school at Aliarto, while the latter was a medical doctor) were definitely for material and technological “progress” and would have rejected Kanellakis’ position as anachronistic ravings (their own political position amounting to something like a pro-“modernistic” “Right-wingness”). And yet, somewhat like the monarchist, they would reject at least certain socio-cultural “values” of the “West”, and especially as such “values” were being adopted by the Greek youth. How it was possible for “organic intellectuals” (educationalists/newsmen) such as Gelis and Kollias to combine both an acceptance of “Western” technology and a rejection of the socio-cultural practices related to such technology, is difficult – though not impossible – to fathom at a theoretical level. But what is of importance here is that such complex combinatories of ideological thinking were characteristic of the period, reflecting as they did the traumas of the transitional period we are examining. Put otherwise: the «γενική σύγχυση» that Petros Haris had spoken of had to be, and ultimately was, “ordered” by various ideological paradigms – the problem was that such “ordering” was done by different and conflicting paradigms (by the “Left”, the “Right”, the young “Amalia-type/s”, the peasants, etc.), and it could only but lead to a fusion of contradictions. Thus, the apparently contradictory paradigm of an organ such as  Voiotike Floga would clash – and it would be a tenacious clash – with the as apparently contradictory socio-cultural paradigms of Greek youth, and especially when such paradigms seemed to take on the more ‘extreme’ nuances of “foreignness”. The July 1962 issue of the local paper would carry an article by someone signing as ‘G. Kr.’ («Τελειόφοιτος Φιλολογίας»), and would unleash an attack which, within the confines of a semi-rural area such as Aliarto, would reveal the full proportions of the dramatic clash between the “old” and the “new” – entitled «Αναθεώρηση ή Δημιουργία – Για το Μεγάλο προσκλητήριο», part of it reads as follows:

«…Είναι πράγματι αξιοθρήνητη η κατάσταση.
Τα ερείπια του περασμένου πολέμου καπνίζουν
ακόμη. Υλικά, ερείπια χαρακτήρων και νεύρων,
πνευματικά ερείπια… Η φτώχεια και η μιζέρια
κρατάνε ακόμη τον σύγχρονο Έλληνα δούλο μιας
περιόδου παρακμής… Και οι νέοι μας;… Θλιβερή
η διαπίστωση μα όμως πραγματική. Πλήρης
αδιαφορία. Ένα πνεύμα υλιστικό κυριαρχεί. Είναι
ένας υλισμός όχι σαν του περασμένου αιώνα…
Είναι κάτι το παράδοξο. Οι νέοι μας με τίποτε δεν
ικανοποιούνται. Αυτό το αίσθημα της μη
 προσαρμογής και του ανικανοποιήτου οδηγεί
 στη συνεχή αλλαγή και τέλος στη δουλική
 μίμηση των ξένων… Τζαζ, περιπετειώδη φιλμς,
 ροκ ή τουίστ, πανσεξουαλισμός, tde dy [sic] boys
 (τέντυ μπόου [sic]) του Δυτικού Κόσμου, ή
hooligans Χούλιγκανς του Ανατολικού, να μια
 ξενική εικόνα, που επιγραμματικά μεταφέρεται
 σήμερα στα δικά μας πλαίσια…» (cf. Voiotike Floga,
22.7.1962, No 8, p. 2, my emph.).

By early 1963, the local paper would continue its attack on the life-style of youth, this time hitting out at those most popular of “cultural institutions” attracting young people at the time – i.e. their beloved «σφαιριστήρια» (billiard halls). Very much closely related to what is said above as to «εκτροπή» and «διαστροφή», as also about “Hooliganism” and “Teddy- boyism”, the paper would report the following in an article entitled «Σφαιριστήρια»:

«Από πολλού χρόνου λειτουργούν εις
Λεβάδειαν, Θήβαις και τώρα τελευταία
εις Αλίαρτον, Ορχομενόν, Αγ. Γεώργιον
και εις άλλα χωριά της Βοιωτίας σφαιριστήρια.
Οι ιδιοκτήται αγνοούντες την βλάβην που
προξενούν εις την εφηβικήν ψυχήν, δέχονται
εις τα σφαιριστήρια νέους εργαζομένους ή
μαθητάς κάτω της καθορισθείσης ηλικίας
υπό της Αστυνομίας… Εκτός όμως τούτου
ουδεμία επίβλεψις ή παρατήρησις γίνεται εις
εκτρεπομένους νέους, οι οποίοι υβρίζουν
και βλασφημούν. Ούτω τα σφαιριστήρια
από κέντρα ψυχαγωγίας γίνονται κέντρα
ψυχοφθόρα και αλητείας. Η Αστυνομία, οι
γονείς και οι εκπαιδευτικοί ιδία των Γυμνασίων
ας λάβουν τα μέτρα». (cf. Voiotike Floga, 24.2.1963,
Νο 13).

One may wish to argue that the line toed by Gelis and Kollias was simply or exclusively representative of the “conservative” “Right”: it is quite true that their  Voiotike Floga would often carry exhortations such as the following:

«Να δημιουργήσουμε ένα Νέο Ελληνικό
πολιτισμό βασισμένο στις παλιές αρχές του
ελληνοχριστιανικού πολιτισμού, που θα
αναδημιουργείται συνεχώς ανάλογα με τα
αιτήματα των καιρών…[etc.]» (cf. Voiotike Floga,
11.11.1962, Νο 9).

But whatever suggestion that it was only the “conservative” or “Right-wing” quarters that clashed with the “foreign-inclined” socio-cultural practices of the younger generations would, based on the empirical data available, be wide off the mark (and we may here remind ourselves of how “Left intellectuals” had looked down on the new ‘consumerist’ trends in general). Let us here, for instance, consider the case of the Thiva-based newspaper Allagi tis Voiotias [Αλλαγή της Βοιωτίας – Μηνιαία Προοδευτική Εφημερίς], also circulating in the 1960’s (established May 17, 1964). As suggested by the term «προοδευτική», etc., and as explicitly stated in its various Editorials, this paper was pro-ΕΔΑ (and therefore expressed views of both the communist and non-communist “Left”).

The June 14, 1964 issue of this paper would carry an article on the annual demonstrations organized by the Thiva Highschool for its summer closure (that same institution attended by Amalia Eleftheriadou at the time). It would report on the event as follows:

«Την 24ην Μαΐου [1964] ενώπιον των δημοτικών,
πολιτικών και στρατιωτικών Αρχών των Θηβών
ετελέσθησαν οι καθιερωμένες ετήσιες επιδείξεις
του Γυμνασίου Θηβών…». (cf. Allagi tis Voiotias,
14.6.1964, No 2, p. 2).

What was, for this “Left-wing” organ, the central most important newsworthy item about this event involving high school pupils? For it, what truly mattered was how those youngsters behaved in front of their seniors, and especially as such seniors constituted the official «Αρχές» of Thiva. The paper would write:

«Παρατηρήθηκε κάποια αταξία στην
διεξαγωγή των αγωνισμάτων…[etc.]»
(ibid., my emph.).

This might sound lukewarm criticism of youthful behaviour, especially if compared with the hubris thrown at youngsters by the Aliartian  Voiotike Floga. But in that selfsame issue of Allagi, the Editors would also publish an article which voiced its concerns about what it called the «Εκμαυλισμό της νεολαίας». Endorsing the views of a Mr. Kafetzopoulos, who was the then «Πρόεδρος Επαγγελματοβιοτεχνών Λειβαδείας», the paper would go on to enumerate the causes and symptoms of the crisis of a youth characterized by a certain «αταξία» – such causes/symptoms would include:

«Κινηματογραφικές ταινίες άθλιες,
πορνογραφήματα, κατάπτωσης
αθλητισμού κλπ.» (ibid., p. 4).

Proposals published in Allagi and meant to deal with the problem of youth could as well have been written by Gelis, Kollias and their own ideological cohorts – we read:

«… Κατάργησι των σφαιριστηρίων με τζούκ-μπόξ …
Αυστηρός έλεγχος στις εισαγόμενες
γκαγκστερικές ταινίες … Απαγόρευσιν ασέμνων
περιοδικών…» (ibid.).

The “Left-wing” clash with the new, “Western”-inspired socio-cultural practices of the young – and as already alluded to when examining the discourse of “intellectuals” above – basically came down to a feeling of “frustration” (on the part of the “Left”) as regards the overall orientation of the majority of young people. Voula Damianakou, who knew Giannis Ritsos personally (and who was of course the poet of the communist “Left”), describes the feelings of the poet towards the younger generations as follows:

«Έλπιζες, Ρίτσο αγαπημένε μας, κι όλοι
ελπίζαμε. Μα τα σημάδια τα δυσοίωνα
όλο πληθαίναν και σκιάζαν τις ελπίδες
μας. Πολύ και το φαινόμενο της νεολαίας
 σε απέλπιζε: Εδώ στην κατανάλωση εκεί
 να καταλιέται, στραβή πορεία στα στραβά…»
(cf. B. Damianakou, Τιμιότατο να ‘σαι
 Έλληνας – Να ’σαι ο Γιάννης Ρίτσος, Εκδόσεις
Επικαιρότητα, Oct. 1991, p. 24, my emph.).

The clash between the “new” and the “old”, between the “unethicality” of the young and the “propriety” of a Kanellakis, a Gelis, a Kollias or of the Editors of Allagi, would actually spill over and encompass other sectors of Greek society – as was quite inevitable, the socio-cultural practices of the younger generations would rub off and affect/influence other segments of society as well, thus generalizing the clash of “values” we have been describing. But what must sound absolutely paradoxical to the researcher of the period we are investigating, is that the so-called “unethicality” of the young would also be reproduced in sectors of society one would least expect – for instance, one would have thought that, in the early-1960’s, the Armed Forces (that bastion of so-called “conservative nationalism” meant to supposedly ‘guard’ Greek society from the corruptions of the day, and which also harboured the likes of a George Papadopoulos who was to very soon establish a dictatorial regime flourishing an ideology of presumably puritan ‘Greco-Orthodox’ ideals) would themselves not ever be ‘poisoned’ by the immoral «αταξίες» of the unruly youngsters. And yet, history writes its story in a manner befitting the sheer complexities of its various “forms of life”. Consider the following article, entitled «Οργασμός χορών», and which was published in 1963 in Voiotike Floga:

«Έγινε πλέον κανών και μόδα, αι ημέραι των
απόκρεω να γεμίζουν από χορούς… Το τι γίνεται
εις τους χορούς αυτούς, ακόμη και εις τους
πλέον καλώς ωργανωμένους και “πολιτισμένους”
μπορούν να πουν αυτοί που παρηκολούθησαν
τον διαλαληθέντα χορόν των Αξιωματικών του
Κ.Ε.Π. εις Θήβας. Περί του ίδιου “πολιτισμένου”
χορού μαρτυρούν και αι φωτογραφίαι αι οποίαι
ελήφθησαν και κυκλοφορούν… Ελπίζομεν ότι οι
αξιότιμοι οικογενειάρχαι και σύζυγοι θα οικτείρουν
εαυτούς, που προσήλθον εις τον χορόν αυτόν.
 Αλλά και οι Αξιωματικοί θα έχουν μετανοήση
 πικρά που άφησαν τον εαυτόν τους να παρασυρθή
 από το κατώτερο ρεύμα της κοινωνίας. Τώρα τι
γίνεται εις τους άλλους χορούς είναι υποτιμητικόν
όχι μόνον να το γράψη κανείς, αλλά και να το
φαντασθή» (cf, Voiotike Floga, 24.2.1963, Νο 13,
my emph.).

This ‘spilling over’ and the ‘rubbing off’ we have spoken of above is clearly indicated in the  Voiotike Floga article by the phrase «άφησαν τον εαυτόν να παρασυρθή» – that which had beguiled the Officers and led them astray were the ‘lower instincts’ and the ‘lower trends’ within Greek society, and – judging by the hubris used by the local papers in describing the life-style of youth – one can only but draw the conclusion that such ‘trends’ emanated from this particular social grouping.

We may therefore say that the likes of a Kanellakis the monarchist, of a Gelis/Kollias the “Right-wing pro-technology ethicalists”, as also the likes of the “Left-wing pro-socialist ethicalists” – all such clusters of people would, not only be hitting out at youth itself, but at whoever happened in some way or other or at some point in time to reproduce the ways of the young (i.e. they would be mercilessly attacking those who allowed themselves to be led astray by the ‘lower’ instincts and trends, such as the military Officers mentioned). But these clusters of “organic intellectuals” would of course go on to as mercilessly attack whoever remained (apparently) “indifferent” to what was happening around them. Now, such “indifference” – and we need emphasize that such a stance was only apparently “indifferent”, hiding as it did within it both a fear of and an attraction to the new challenges opening up – could actually be said to include great masses of people mainly residing in rural or semi-rural areas such as Aliarto. It would be such people – on average middle-aged and over – whom the local Aliartian newspaper would stigmatize. In July 1962, it would carry an article entitled «Να λείψουν οι στενοκέφαλοι», and part of which went as follows:

«Οι άνθρωποι που καταδικάζουν την επαρχίαν
μας εις την αμάθειαν, την αφάνειαν, το σκότος
& τον μαρασμό… Έχομεν υπ’ όψιν μας πολλά
χωριά, τα οποία θα είχαν ανακαινισθεί ήδη, εάν
δεν υπήρχαν οι ολίγοι εκείνοι άνθρωποι, τα
καθυστερημένα εκείνα μυαλά, τα γεμάτα από
πείσμα και εγωισμό, οι οποίοι είναι οι
“πολύξεροι” και οι “διανοούμενοι” του χωριού
ή της πόλεως … Οι άνθρωποι που εμαθήτευσαν
εις την ταβέρνα ή τα καφενεία του χωριού, τα
μοναδικά δι’ αυτούς σχολεία, από τα οποία
έμαθαν να είναι άσσοι εις την πρέφαν και το
κουτσομπολιό, μοναδικοί εις το άδειασμα των
βαρελιών και το κάπνισμα των αργιλέδων …
Αλλά είναι απορίας άξιον πώς ανέχονται οι άλλοι
και υπολογίζουν τις γνώμες τέτοιων ανθρώπων».
(cf. Voiotike Floga, 22.7.1962, No 8).

And yet, such “indifferent” people – what we might call the 1960’s “traditional” coffee-shop/taverna regulars – actually represented the vast majority of the older male generations. While spending many hours working in the fields or at a Mill such as that of A&M, and while spending perhaps as many hours in the coffee-shops and their tavernas, they would ultimately have to return to their homes. And what was it they found therein? What faced them there was the central arena of socio-cultural struggle at the time – i.e. the ever-rising doubt/rejection of their authority as “Patriarchs” by the young “Amalia-type”, as also by the young male “Damokas-type”. As we have elsewhere shown in this series of papers discussing the socio-cultural ‘milieu’ of the 1950’s-1970’s, the Greek Family Unit was beginning to be fairly seriously ‘rocked’, and especially given the up-and-coming ‘sexual revolution’. At least until such time as the consumerist behaviour of an Amalia and that of her parents would converge, meet and supplement one another, the clash between the so-called “indifferent” coffee-shop regulars-cum-parents and their offspring would be intense, though such intensity could vary much depending on circumstances.

In a very important sense, then, the conflicts of the period were centered, not merely around the polemics of a Kanellakis or of a  Voiotike Floga – in fact, the real conflicts were above all most concentrated around the everyday lives of those apparently “indifferent” parents, and as such parents had to confront the new socio-cultural practices of youngsters right inside their own house (cf., for instance, an article published in a 1965 daily newspaper [the clipping does not allow us to identify the name of the paper] which describes a violent clash between father and daughter over the latter’s insistence on listening to “twist songs” – «Η κόρη ήθελε τουίστ αλλά έμεινε χωρίς μαλλιά – Ο δράστης – κουρεύς μπαμπάς απηλλάγη»). Now, as such new practices were transferred inside a home, the “Patriarchal” father (but the mother in her own way as well) would see his own “authority” fading – and thus, like Kanellakis, Gelis, Kollias and the Editors of Allagi, he too would also wish to see his kids “disciplined” by “Authorities” outside his home, be these the School directly, the Church indirectly, or even the Police if need be. Seeing his own “Patriarchal authority” waning, in other words, he would turn to organs of the State (“private” or “public”) to maintain order within this clash of “values”. And thus, were the coffee-shop regular to have read  Voiotike Floga while sipping his coffee, he would certainly have agreed with either the disciplinary injunctions meant to bring youth back to order or with whatever initiatives meant to tame the ‘wilder instincts’ of an Amalia Eleftheriadou or a Vasilis Damokas. And despite what the Editors of such local papers themselves thought, the coffee-shop regular was in fact an avid reader of newspapers right within the coffee-shop: it is a fact that most coffee-shops in villages near Thiva or Levadia had a special table in some corner piled with newspapers and these would be shared amongst regulars.

All of the older generations, faced with the ‘youth problem’, would have quite agreed with the following article published in  Voiotike Floga towards the end of 1962, and tellingly entitled «Η μεγάλη ευθύνη»:

«… Διότι ποίοι ποτέ ηθέλησαν να έλθουν αρωγοί
εις την επίλυσιν των τόσων προβλημάτων που
αντιμετωπίζουν οι νέοι μας; Των σχολικών, των
σεξουαλικών, της ηθικής, της μελλοντικής
επαγγελματικής αποκαταστάσεως και των τόσων
άλλων που σχετίζονται με τας συνθήκας της
οικογενειακής, της κοινωνικής ζωής και του εν
γένει περιβάλλοντος; … Kάτι θέλησε να προσφέρη
η εκκλησία και αι διάφοραι χριστιανικαί κινήσεις,
με τα Κατηχητικά Σχολεία, τας Χριστιανικάς
Μαθητικάς Ομάδας, τας Κατασκηνώσεις, αλλά τα
αποτελέσματά των δεν ήταν ικανοποιητικά, εξαιτίας
της προκαταλήψεως πολλών της μη δυνατότητος
των εν λόγω προσπαθειών … Αι ιδιωτικαί πρωτοβουλίαι
έχουν εκλείψει…». (cf. Voiotike Floga, 11.11.1962, No 9).

We assume that extreme measures taken by the central State to fight the “Teddy-boy” phenomenon – such as ‘Law 4000’ of the 1960’s mentioned above – would not necessarily have met with the approval of the “average parent” (bar extreme cases, that is). Writing prior to the enactment of such law, in 1959, Varikas (op. cit., p. 192), would perhaps have expressed that more compromising stance of the “average” Greek parent when he would write:

«…θα αδικούσαμε πολύ τα σύγχρονα νιάτα,
αν δεν θέλαμε να δούμε σ’ αυτά παρά μόνο
τις εκδηλώσεις του “τεντυμποϋσμού”, του
αμοραλισμού και της τυφλής ικανοποίησης
των ενστίκτων».

Yet still, parents would have expected the school (especially) to have taken over the role of a “disciplining” mechanism (and which would also imbibe in their children some kind of Greek version of the “work ethic”, which was itself, by the way, to willy-nilly prepare kids as successful consumers). Thus, when Gelis wanted to advertise his own private school (through the pages of his Voiotike Floga) to those “indifferent” compatriots of his, he would really know what it was that they wanted to hear – his 1962 advertisement would go as follows:

«ΙΔΙΩΤΙΚΟΝ ΓΥΜΝΑΣΙΟΝ
Κ. ΓΚΕΛΙ
ΕΝ ΑΛΙΑΡΤΩ –
 Η εργατικότης, η αυστηρότης, η παρακολούθησις,
 η τακτική επικοινωνία με τους γονείς,
 το άνετο περιβάλλον κ.λ.π. είναι από τα μέσα,
πού διαθέτει το Γυμνάσιόν μας …» (cf. Voiotike Floga,
26.6.1962, No 7, p. 2, their emph.).

The question of work-discipline («εργατικότης») and of severity («αυστηρότης») would be widely accepted “values” amongst the older generations. Thus, when the Local Authorities of the region would organize «Γυμναστικαί επιδείξεις» amongst high schools in 1962, the purpose of such activities – according to the  Voiotike Floga – would be defined as follows:

«…ο εθισμός των μαθητών εις την
συστηματικήν και πειθαρχημένην εργατικότητα»
(ibid.).

All social institutions at the time would try to somehow ‘tame’ what then seemed to be wild, ferocious ‘instincts’ heralding from a ‘Wild West’ unheard of in pre-war Greece – but as Varikas was trying to point out, the drives of Greek youth were not just that, and gradually the old would be ‘meeting’ the young in the terrain of consumption and in at least some of the socio-cultural trends projected by the advertizing sector. Such sector had no choice but to take into account the realities we have been describing, and it would do so especially in the course of the seven-year Military Dictatorship. The practices of the latter would be highly contradictory: while it would have no choice but to allow the deluge of new socio-cultural patterns to enter Greek society, it would still insist on ‘taming’ the youthful ‘Wild West’ (and would do so most probably because it was rather scared of it). Thus, and according to a June 1967 issue of yet another Thiva newspaper – I Foni ton Thivon [Η Φωνή των Θηβών] – the regime would try to make use of both the Church and the School in a desperate attempt to hold back the socio-cultural tide that was already on its way – we read:

«Το Υπουργείον Παιδείας δι’ εγκυκλίου προς
τους επιθεωρητάς Στοιχ. Εκπ/σεως εντέλλεται
όπως οι μαθηταί των δημοτικών σχολείων
εκκλησιάζωνται κατά Κυριακήν» (cf. I Foni ton Thivon, 5.6.1967, No 554).

Such cultural clashes as we are describing, we should not forget, were taking place in material conditions of a widespread poverty (cf. Koeppen above), and especially as regards the very early-1960’s. It is surely a major paradox of such period that, while youngsters were beginning to experiment with new cultural trends, this experimentation would go hand-in-hand with the struggles of parents to actually feed their children – and this would, again, further add to the psychic confusion and characterize the turbulent transitionality of such period.

To give us some picture of the scale of such poverty, and especially as that plagued the “periphery”, we may consider the following extract taken from a 1962 article in  Voiotike Floga:

«Τα νειάτα της υπαίθρου κυνηγημένα από
την ανεργία εγκαταλείπουν την πατρική γη
και φεύγουν… Φεύγουν για τις μεγάλες πόλεις.
Φεύγουν για τις ξένες χώρες. Ποίο άραγε είναι
το μέλλον του ερημουμένου τούτου τόπου;»
(cf. Voiotike Floga , 22.7.1962, No 8).

The Aliartian barber we have elsewhere referred to in this research project is himself an excellent example of such migratory trends caused above all by poverty. We may summarize his own sojourn in life as follows:

• Born in 1926 in Domvraina, a village of Thiva. He would begin working from a very early age – first as a vendor of food products around the nearby villages (he would use a donkey for this), and then as a trainee barber;
• He would move to Thiva so as to train as a car mechanic;
• He would return to his village and establish his own barber-shop (with a partner);
• He would then move to a suburb of Piraeus and again establish a barber-shop;
• He would move back to Domvraina and again establish a barber-shop – the cut-throat competition between barber-shops in his village, and the fact that he would get married and have children, would bring him to near-bankruptcy;
• By the very early-1960’s, he would make his move to Aliarto and again establish his own barber-shop. He would try to supplement his income by also working as a sales representative (would sell fridges to various tavernas, etc. around the villages of Thiva and Levadia); It would be in this period of his life when he would, for the very first time (by now in his 30’s), begin to make his first timid steps as a “consumer” – e.g. he would buy a radio for his family, “modern” clothes for his wife and kids. Still, such “consumerism” would be fairly restricted by the tight family budget;
• He would move to a suburb of Athens and would work as a wage-earning barber for a barber-shop at Omonoia; he would combine this by also working night-shifts as a supervisor of female workers in a smallish clothes manufacturing company;
• Frustrated with his economic plight – he had still not managed to buy a fridge for his family – he would, by August 1963, leave for South Africa. There, he would first work as a wage-earning barber for an Italian and soon establish his own barber-shop.
• It would only be by the early-1980’s that he would return to Athens and establish his own – and final – barber-shop in the city.
• He would finally retire in Domvraina and be buried there in 2012.

Here we have ‘ten easy steps’ for an “average Greek” belonging to the popular masses at the time to be able to finally declare himself a “consumer” (and house-owner). This man, like thousands of others, had chosen his “exodus”. For those who remained behind, material conditions in the early 1960’s remained tough – the same July 1962 issue of  Voiotike Floga referred to above would also publish an article entitled «Σκελετωμένα παιδιά» – it went as follows:

«Αν κανείς παρηκολούθησε τας γυμναστικάς
επιδείξεις ή τους περιφερειακούς αγώνας … [θα]
παρετήρησε … με λύπην ότι τα … ελληνόπουλα
διέθεταν κατά το πλείστον σώματα αδύνατα και
σκελετωμένα. Δεν χρειάζεται βέβαια να πούμε
ότι αυτά τα παιδιά είναι το μέλλον της φυλής
μας, η ελπίς της αύριον κ.λ.π. κ.λ.π… Η φυλή
δεν μεγαλουργεί με καχεκτικά και σκελετωμένα
κορμιά… Οι Αρμόδιοι και οι κατά τόπους
εκπαιδευτικοί ας οργανώσουν εκστρατείαν δια
την καταπολέμησιν της πείνας και του
υποσιτισμού εις την επαρχίαν μας. Οι Γονείς ας
φροντίσουν όσο μπορούν περισσότερον την
υγείαν των παιδιών των… Μόνον έτσι θα
μπορέσουμε να παρακολουθούμε επιδείξεις δια
να ευχαριστούμεθα… Άλλως θα μας θυμίζουν το
τρομερόν χειμώνα 1941-42» (ibid.).

Now, while the ex-Aliartian barber would be slaving away with his pair of scissors somewhere in Johannesburg, those «σκελετωμένα παιδιά» would soon be able to drink their proper dosages of milk and, as soon –  say by 1968 – even be able to “drink brand-names” (as in any case Erich Fromm would wish us to see it) such as Coca-Cola. We know that Greece was having its first (and only) “industrial revolution”, and both young and old would see this and many members of both age-groups would find a common (though still culturally contradictory) ground as regards the question of working hard so as to earn money and enter the age of consumption – the “Amalia-type” and her brother would belong to this category of youth. The «σκελετωμένα παιδιά» would soon be consuming enough milk and meat so as to grow robust and be ready for the “new age”. According to the 1972 “Statistical Yearbook Of Greece” and based on the selected series of world statistics it also includes, the per capita increase in the consumption of milk and meat amongst Greeks would be as follows (in grams per day):

MEAT        MILK
1960-62              72              344
1963-65              92              387
1967                   111             448
(cf. p. 382)

Or, in terms of consumer price indices for Greece, and with specific reference to food up until 1970, the Yearbook provides us with the following picture (in annual averages):

1965 – 105
1966 – 112
1967 – 112
1968 – 112
1969 – 116
1970 – 120
(cf. p. 381)

Parents at the time acquired an almost religious devotion to their mission of feeding their children – their war-time experiences, especially that «τρομερόν χειμώνα» of 1941-2, would drive them to an almost psychotic obsession with the amount of food their kids consumed. One representative example of advertizing which circulated in 1961, and which placed the child and its eating at centre-stage, ran as follows:

«Με ΜΙΑ δραχμή ΔΥΟ γεύματα…
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟΝ ΤΩΝ ΠΑΙΔΩΝ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ…
Με προϊόντα ΓΙΩΤΗ…»
(cf. Kathimerini, 23.5.1961).

This advertisement, to which we shall have to return below, does a number of things – inter alia, it ‘plays’ with the rubric “Kingdom of Greece”, suggesting as it does that such “Kingdom” now belongs to the young – and, further, that this up-and-coming new generation had to have its calories and proteins (the most popular «ΓΙΩΤΗ» product being, of course, milk).

Gradually, it would not be merely food that had to be provided to the Greek child – especially as the latter became a teenager, parents would work hard to provide their offspring with clothes and whatever other artifacts would come to constitute the new “consumerist” model. In some sense, the socio-cultural conflicts which truly ‘rocked’ the Greek Family Unit would almost inevitably yield practices within such Unit which aimed at maintaining ‘balances’ between parents and offspring through a series of ‘compromises’ – one can imagine, for instance, the parents of Amalia allowing their daughter, while still at high school, to go to Levadia and treat herself to a new dress. And this would itself initiate the parents themselves to new consumer patterns. As the years went by in the 1960’s, the “average Greek” would be able to do that – even Konstandinos Tsoukalas, in his otherwise bad little book ‘analysing’ events which led to the regime of 21st April, would have no choice but to admit:

«Μη ξεχνάμε ότι το σημερινό καθεστώς
[i.e. the 1967 Military Dictatorship] έδρεψε
τους καρπούς μιας δεκαπενταετούς
απρόσκοπτης οικονομικής ανάπτυξης της
οποίας οι αντανακλάσεις στο επίπεδο ζωής
των καταπιεζομένων τάξεων δεν έγιναν
εμφανείς παρά στις αρχές του 1960»
(cf. Η Ελληνική Τραγωδία [The Greek Tragedy], Εκδόσεις
Ολκός, 1974, p. xii).

We shall end these notes on the historical context covering the 1950’s-1960’s period by a recapitulation of the basic thrust of our argumentation, clarify possible ambiguities, and relate all such to the advertizing discourse that would ensue.

All too often, we have emphasized the conflict between the “old” and the “new”, and this with special reference to the socio-cultural practices that such “old” and “new” carried. We have tried to show how such conflict would yield a socio-cultural “confusion” amongst the Greek people. And we have suggested that this would create the need for such generalized “confusion” to be ideologically “ordered” by the “organic intellectuals” of the day. However, and given the specific historical circumstances, we would have a variety of conflicting paradigms trying to establish some sort of “order” within such “confusion”. Such conflicting paradigms would, on the one hand, yield the “tired person” of the early 1960’s – we believe that the  Voiotike Floga was quite accurate in its description of the early-1960’s Greek as «τον αναμένοντα κουρασμένον σημερινόν άνθρωπον» (cf. Voiotike Floga, 30.12.1961, No 1, p. 1, my emph.). On the other hand, it would yield extremities such as that of the “Teddy-boy” phenomenon amongst Greek youth. The older generations were “tired” because of the conflicting paradigms in a context of poverty; the younger generations were “angry” because all such paradigms, whatever their ideological orientation, were essentially hostile to their new-found socio-cultural practices and especially as regards the question of sex (in 1970, Panselinos would note: «… την ώρα που γράφονται τούτα … συντελιέται μια ηθική επανάσταση της νεολαίας που έχει κιόλας συντρίψει τα βάθρα της ερωτικής δεισιδαιμονίας» – cf. op. cit., p. 205).

As we have seen above, the “Kanellakis-type paradigm” (against the new technology and with heavy dosages of “traditional ethicalism”) would clash with the “Gelis/Kollias-type paradigm” (for the new technology but still also with heavy elements of “traditional ethicalism”). Both of these “Right-wing”-inspired paradigms would clash with the “Allagi-type paradigm” (which, being “Left-wing”-inspired, would only accept technology within a socialist context and would also adopt an “ethicalist” position against the corruptions of the Western style of life, the “consumerism” of which it saw as a disorientation from political struggle). And all three of these paradigms would clash with the “indifferent” coffee-shop regulars, precisely because they showed an apparent “indifference” towards matters of technology, ethics, nationalism and socialism. But, in actual truth, these coffee-shop regulars and hard-working drunkards, together with their wives, would clash with their sons and daughters, noticing as they would that their offspring would be gradually demolishing the foundations of “traditional” “sexual prejudices” or concomitant “superstitions” (Panselinos).

Facing both Kanellakis, and Gelis/Kollias, and those who struggled for a “socialist ΑΛΛΑΓΗ”, and also facing the “Patriarchal Family Unit”, there would be the up-and-coming young “Amalia-type”. The latter, together with friends and/or possible sexual partners such as the “Vasilis Damokas-type”, would sense this fusion of contradictions – they would live it directly and feel it deep inside their very guts. The “Amalia+Vasilis-type” would itself be deeply-rooted in “Greekness”, given the socio-cultural formation within which it had been raised – but it would come to articulate such “Greekness” with its pro-“Western” socio-cultural “values”, with its love for the new technology of the time, etc. (and all of which would of course be subsumed within a new “consumerist” behaviour).

It would be this “New Identity” which, as it experienced this fusion of contradictions we have referred to, would ultimately come to gradually defuse the situation, and this process of defusion would have as its basic form precisely the socio-cultural/sexual revolution of youth. The “values” of this veritable revolution would, in the long run, ultimately become dominant throughout society, at least by the early 1980’s (we say ‘dominant’, which by implication suggests that such “values” would continue co-existing with the more ‘residual’ secondary cultural systems and sub-systems). But much of that “New Identity” – and that “New Type” of person – which was raising its head, being dominant, would ultimately also come to be adopted by many sections of the older generations: “modernism”, as a socio-cultural practice, would permeate the whole of society. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, the spearhead of this defusing revolution would, amongst females, have been the young “Amalia-type”.

Now, if, as we have suggested, the 1950’s-1960’s period was essentially transitional, we need also emphasize that the “Amalia-type” was also as transitional a type. Amalia Eleftheriadou, like all the younger employees at the A&M Mill, had been raised in a family which carried intense memories of the recent war and her parents were themselves children of the rural, traditional style of life. Her own boss at the Mill, Marakis, was himself a man with a military past and consistently adopted stern “traditionalist/ethicalist” practices even in the running of his company. And Amalia herself, as a young female employee whose income was, in the 1960’s/early 1970’s, still determined by the Greek sexual division of labour (and the low remuneration that went with it – cf. our papers on Greek women workers generally and Mill female employees in particular in the 1960’s/1970’s period), would continue to hover between the need to survive and the wish to spend some of her earnings on “luxury” products. And finally, Amalia in the 1960’s was only just beginning to be exposed to whatever foreign “values”. All such biographical data allow us to conclude that this “New Type” of person that Amalia represented was definitely “new”, but surely only in a relative sense – we may thus go further and suggest that the “Amalia-type”, being only relatively “new” as a type, was itself a new balance of contradictions: while carrying the “old” in her, Amalia was bent on “modernizing” her life, and in that she was the spearhead of her time. It was precisely to this new balance of contradictions – to this relatively, and therefore internally contradictory, “New Type” of Greek female – that the advertizing industry would have to talk to, and do so convincingly. The new contradictions of the “Amalia-type” would have to be somehow reflected in the discourse of advertizing-as-a-Whole. (Need we say, of course, that since the advertizing industry would also have needed to target the older generations as well, the strategies of its discourse had to steer along lines which were doubly compounded in terms of complexity.)

We may now further suggest that this overall movement from the “confusion” of the period to the rise of the “Amalia-New-Type” signaled the rise of the Greek middle class milieu – the Greek version of the post-war “Golden Age” would determine such movement and throw whatever so-called “anachronistic” flotsam (and also whatever dogmatic understandings of ‘class struggle’) overboard. It is impossible to understand the discourse of advertizing in Greece unless one further considers such new middle class milieu.

GLOSSARY:

NOTES:
● «ΑΛΛΑΓΗ»: “CHANGE”.
● «Αναθεώρηση ή Δημιουργία – Για το Μεγάλο προσκλητήριο»: “Revision or Creation – For the Great call/bidding”.
● «ανάρια φώτα»: dim lights
● «Απολογία στα νειάτα»: “An apology/apologia to youth”.
● «Αρχές»: the authorities
● «αταξία»: disorder
● «άφησαν τον εαυτόν να παρασυρθή»: let themselves be led astray
● «γενική σύγχυση»: generalized confusion, perplexity, bewilderment
● «Γυμναστικαί επιδείξεις»: “Gymnastic demonstrations”.
● «Εκμαυλισμός της νεολαίας»: “The corruption of youth”.
● «εκτροπή»; «διαστροφή»: deviation; perversion
● «Η κόρη ήθελε τουίστ αλλά έμεινε χωρίς μαλλιά – Ο δράστης-κουρεύς μπαμπάς απηλλάγη»: “The daughter wanted to dance the twist but was left without hair – the perpetrator-barber dad is acquitted”.
● «Η κραυγή του Αλέκου»: “Alekos’ scream”.
● «Η μεγάλη ευθύνη»: “The great responsibility”.
● «Καθηγητής Φυσικός»: physics teacher
● «με δυσκολεύει»: it bothers/disturbs me; it is giving me a hard time
● «μυστικιστικό»: mystical
● «Να λείψουν οι στενοκέφαλοι»: “There is no room for the narrow-minded” (free translation).
● «Οργασμός χορών»: “Dancing orgasm”, or “An orgasm of dances”.
● «πιο βαθιά»: deeper
● «που εγγίζει… τα όρια της διαστροφής»: which verges on perversion
● «προβλήματα, που έχουν γίνει πύρινοι κύκλοι…»: problems, which have become fiery circles (in the sense of vicious and fierce)
● «Πρόεδρος Επαγγελματοβιοτεχνών Λειβαδείας»: Chairman of the Levadia professional classes, craftsmen and merchants
● «προοδευτική»: progressive
● «ρεκλάμες πολύχρωμες»: multicoloured advertisements
● «Σκελετωμένα παιδιά»: “Emaciated children”.
● «σταυροδρόμι του αέρα»: a wind-blown junction/crossroads (free translation)
● «Στήλη των νέων»: “Youth column”.
● «Τελειόφοιτος Φιλολογίας»: philology graduate
● «τέχνη πολύτροπη»: multimodal art
● «τι είναι αυτός ο “δυτικός κόσμος”, τι αξίζει… έπειτ’ από τόσες ριζικές μεταβολές, τι μπορεί να προσφέρει στο μεταπολεμικό άτομο…;»: what is this “western world”, what be its merit… following so many radical changes, what can it offer to the post-war individual…?
● «Τιμιότατο να ‘σαι Ελληνας – Να ‘σαι ο Γιάννης Ρίτσος»: “It is most honourable to be a Greek – To be Giannis Ritsos”.
● «το σχήμα της ρευστής εποχής μας»: the form of our volatile era
● «τον αναμένοντα κουρασμένον σημερινόν άνθρωπον»: the anticipative, tired person of the early-1960’s (free translation)
● «τρομερόν χειμώνα»: terrible winter
● «ψυχή»: spirit

THE NEW TYPE: EMERGENCE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS MILIEU

The clash between the “residual” and the “modern” which we have described above was inevitable, and it was so determined by the specific circumstances of the period. Thus, when we speak of “residual” and “modern”, we do not in whatever way mean to “value” either of these as either “bad” or “good”. Both expressed their own logic and cohesion, both were “carried” by historical subjects for objective, historical reasons. And if there was any element of the ‘irrational’ in what was “carried”, it could have applied to both “old” and “new”. Further, even elements of so-called ‘irrational behaviour’ can be shown to be functional in relation to the social environment within which they operate – it is in this sense that we would fully reject the Pareto sociological model referred to above.

Now, this clash was – for the period we are discussing – the dominant contradiction within the Greek social formation, cutting across and permeating social strata in ways which by-passed any simple Capital-Labour contradiction (Greece, in any case, was characterized by a complex combination of modes of production). And we say that such clash was dominant because, as we look back in history, we realize that it was this socio-cultural clash that would most determine the form of social stratification in modern-day Greece. It would, as it progressed, yield the middle class milieu: we speak of ‘milieu’ because middle class “values” and the middle class style of life would become dominant as an ideology (not in the narrow political sense) for all social strata of the popular masses, whether these worked in a small factory such as A&M, in a large clothes manufacturing plant such as the Thiva-based Dourida factory, or simply ran their own entrepreneurial operations (as did the ex-Maraki worker, Zigoyiannis, who would, at some point in time, shuttle workers to the Dourida factory with his private bus service). Again, that this clash was to yield such a milieu is not to be evaluated as either “good” or “bad” – it yielded a “form of life” which demands that it be examined in absolute objectivity.

This dominant clash, we are saying, did not happen in a social void, permeating as it did all social strata. But although it was to yield a dominant middle class milieu, it would – at first – affect different social strata in specific ways: it could only but have been received by different social strata in their own specific ways, and that obviously given their different social circumstances. The young “Amalia-type” could not possibly have received an advertisement – and undertaken the possible consumption that went with it – in the way that a daughter of her boss Maraki, would.

At first, from the 1950’s and up to the early-1970’s, the most intense form of the clash was located within the old-young interface (though the form of such interface varied according to the social stratum concerned). Such intensity would take a very specific form in the case of the young “Amalia-type” – that “type”, amongst females, would spearhead either the rise of middle class “values” amongst working people, or would be the progenitor to the rise and spread of the new Greek middle classes as such (shop-keepers, freelance professionals, etc.). Whether wage-labourers or freelancers, all would ultimately adopt – or truly wish to adopt – styles of the European or American middle classes. But, at the same time, these popular masses would combine such taste with their “Greekness” (in varying degrees of intensity): at least for the period we are discussing, the new “Amalia-type” carried the old-new and/or “traditional”-“foreign” clashes deep within itself, if only because such “type” had grown up within such on-going clashes. This, we are suggesting, would make of Amalia a historically “New Type”, albeit only relatively speaking. By the 1980’s, this “New Type” would become so powerful that it would directly assert its presence within Greek State structures – its consumerism went hand-in-hand with such power. By then, advertizing would even glorify such power (it had no choice but do so).

Such “New Type” is neither a figment of our imagination and nor is it our own historical ‘discovery’. The emergence of such “New Type” – and its emergence precisely given that socio-cultural clash we have been describing – had been noted as early as 1957 by I.M. Panagiotopoulos (but who, as we have mentioned above in discussing Greek “intellectuals”, would himself join the 1970’s “Left” bandwagon and, ignoring the new realities, would simplistically reduce the phenomenon of advertizing to manipulative propaganda). In July 1957, in an article entitled «Οι σύγχρονοι κοινοί τόποι» and published in Nea Hestia  (No 720, op. cit., pp. 900-902), he would in fact be much struck by the emerging new realities, by the “residual” vs. “modern” clash, and would draw his conclusions as to what was happening to the post-war Greek “type” of person. In this extremely important text – to be later ignored by both himself and others – he would write:

«Η ζωή μας έχει καταντήσει μια σειρά απροσδόκητα.
Πώς να κερδίσει κανείς τον κατάλληλο προσανατολισμό,
όταν τα περιστατικά παρουσιάζονται αντιμαχόμενα
κάθε οργανωμένη συνείδηση; Αυτό είναι το πρόβλημα.
Όσο παλιώνουμε, ολοένα και μεγαλύτερο δείχνεται
το ρήγμα, που μας χωρίζει από τους μεταγενέστερους.
… Πρόκειται για βαθύτατες διαδοχικές τομές … Ίσως ποτέ
 δεν ήταν οξύτερη η διαμάχη ανάμεσα σε κείνο που
 αντιπροσωπεύει η παράδοση και σε κείνο που
 διατυπώνει τ’ αναγκαία νέα αιτήματα. Υπάρχει λοιπόν
 κ’ εδώ ένα απροσδόκητο… Ας συνομολογήσουμε, πως
 αυτός ο αιώνας δημιουργεί ένα νέο ανθρώπινο τύπο»
(my emph.).

It is within this historical framework, delineated by Panagiotopoulos in 1957, that the “Amalia-type” must be understood – and it is the transitional instabilities (those «διαδοχικές τομές») which would be reflected in advertizing discourse itself.

We have said that there would be a radical shift in the thinking of Panagiotopoulos by the 1970’s – and yet, all he would really be doing by 1977 is to still accept the existence of the «νέο ανθρώπινο τύπο» but this time he would simply feel sorry for it. Adopting an ahistorically static position as to what people ‘should’ be like – and forgetting the objective «ρήγμα» which he had seen occurring – he would see in such “New Type” a “loss of self”, bent as it was on continually renewing its various material means. In 1977 (cf. Ο σύγχρονος άνθρωπος, op. cit., pp. 70-71), he would write:

«Έτσι, θύμα αυτής της μηχανορραφίας, ο άνθρωπος
της εποχής είναι υποχρεωμένος, ακόμη και για τη
διάσωση της ατομικής του αξιοπρέπειας, ν’ ανανεώνει
τα ατομικά μέσα της μεταφοράς του, τα έπιπλά του,
τα σκεύη του, ν’ αλλάζει τρόπο ζωής, να γίνεται άλλος…
Η μέριμνα για τη συνεχή απόκτηση υλικών αγαθών,
κεντριζόμενη από την εμπορική διαφήμιση,
κατακαλύπτει το χώρο του εσωτερικού βίου…»
(my emph.).

For the “Amalia-type”, as also for very many Aliartian residents in the 1960’s, this need to “renew” furniture, etc. (which was not at first continual), did mean “becoming someone else” and preserving “self-respect”, but not at all in the way Panagiotopoulos would mean it in 1977. As has already been alluded to above, Aliartian residents did “renew” their furniture by getting rid of the tree-trunks on which they had to sit and start buying manufactured chairs. Likewise, they would gradually “renew” their pieces of newspaper which they used in the toilet and start buying toilet paper (shall come back to the crucial issue of hygiene). Thus, this process of «να γίνεται άλλος», gradually yielding that «νέο ανθρώπινο τύπο», was a historical reality – that “type” which would emerge was not a victim of imaginary prototypes manipulatively engineered by advertizing companies. Such “New Type” was not suffering a “loss of self” – it was discovering a new one.

But examining Panagiotopoulos’ 1977 text a bit closer allows us to go further – he speaks of a «συνεχή απόκτηση υλικών αγαθών» and, while this would not have applied to the “Amalia-type” in the very early-1960’s, it certainly would have applied by, say, 1968. What does this reality tell us? It tells us that the “Amalia-type” was gradually not merely surpassing past poverty – such “type” was also gradually accumulating (and/or renewing) its material means and goods, and this would have meant a gradual change in life-style and “worldview”. This “worldview” was that of the emerging Greek middle classes. It is true to say that such “continual renewal” may have been a mere wish for many people of the popular masses – but such a dream was to adopt the style of life of the middle classes, and certainly not of some “proletarian culture”. In fact such latter “culture” had never existedin Greece in any significant way, as it had in England – for instance – and as that has been described by E.P. Thompson’s The Making of the English Working Class (Penguin Books, 1991, first published in 1963). And it would be an outright mistake to confuse the widespread “lumpen culture” in Greece at the time we are examining, as also in the pre-war years, with the “proletarian” tradition – cf. our paper on the “Mathioudaki Case”, but especially the excellent Τα παιδιά της πιάτσας [Streetwise Characters] by N. Tsiforos (Ερμής, Αθήνα, 1991).

The fact that the “Amalia-type” was the progenitor to the middle class milieu is absolutely crucial in helping us to understand how that “type” would relate to the world of advertizing – we shall therefore have to dwell on the extent to which that “New Type” we have been referring to could in fact have expressed middle class “values” – i.e. the extent to which changing material conditions would allow it to adopt such “values”.

With reference to the years immediately following World War II, and speaking of the whole of Europe (with Greece included), the periodical Paragogikotis [Παραγωγικότης] would point out that the generalized poverty and the crisis in the retail trade would allow for the actual exploitation of consumers (in Greece during the war years especially, we also had strong currents of black market racketeering). Such conditions of exploitation obviously stifled whatever consumer power and consumer consciousness, and by implication were not conducive to the rise of any middle class “values”. In 1956, the periodical would note:

«… η γενική ένδεια, η οποία επεκράτει εις το
λιανικόν εμπόριον, είχε νεκρώσει τον συναγωνισμόν
και είχεν επιτρέψει κατά κάποιον τρόπον την
εκμετάλλευσιν του καταναλωτού, ο οποίος ήτο
υποχρεωμένος, κατά την διάρκειαν των χρόνων
αυτών, να αγοράζη ό,τι ηδύνατο να εύρη»
(cf. Paragogikotis, No 13 –
Athens – June-August, 1956, p. 26).

Such generalized poverty in Greece, directly evident to Koeppen in 1961 (op. cit.), was – and as suggested above – a transitional phenomenon. In fact, we notice such transitionality as we observe Greece through the eyes of Koeppen himself – on the one hand, he could write:

«Όχι πλούτος, φτώχεια!... Και ελεεινά τα αγόρια
που στέκονται εδώ κι εκεί, πεινασμένα, πρόσωπα
γερασμένα κιόλας στα δεκατρία τους…»
(p. 31).

And at the same time, as if speaking of some other country or some other era, he would continue describing what he saw around him as follows:

«… οι νεαροί με ρόδινα μάγουλα…»
(p. 32).

It seems, then, that even amongst the popular masses, poverty was unevenly spread. Such a reality would gradually even out upwards, for the vast masses of people. As the decade of the 1960’s unfolded, we had a move from “exploitation” based on the poverty of consumers (the 1956 Paragogikotis observation) to a so-called “exploitation” of consumers based on their relative “affluence”, and which lay the foundations for the rise of middle class “values”.

We use the term “affluence” keeping in mind the very specific qualification we noted above when contrasting the Greek reality to Galbraith’s Affluent Society – and yet the economic development in 1960’s/early-1970’s Greece was rapid enough to make even that rather important Greek philosopher, Christos Malevitsis, fall into the trap of using Galbraith’s work as a theoretical tool in understanding Greek consumer behaviour early in 1972. Of course, his almost verbatim reproduction of Galbraith’s thinking would lead him to draw conclusions about Greek consumerism which are somewhat reminiscent of the Greek anti-consumer “intellectualist” bandwagon we have discussed above. But what remains of interest is that his falling into the Galbraith trap is simply symptomatic of the awe people felt at the time on seeing the material realities of Greece alter so deeply and, from a long-term perspective, so rapidly. In his Προοπτικές (Εκδόσεις Δωδώνη, Athens, 1972, p. 88), Malevitsis would write:

«…τα χαμηλά εισοδήματα διατίθενται για
την κάλυψη των άμεσων βιοτικών αναγκών –
τροφή, ενδυμασία, στέγη – όπου (στην απαραίτητη
ποσότητα κι όχι στις πολυτελείς εκτροπές) η
διαφήμιση δεν τις μετακινεί. Μόλις όμως αρχίζει
 να αυξάνει το εισόδημα επάνω από το στοιχειώδες
 επίπεδο διαβίωσης (και τούτο είναι χαρακτηριστικό
 της εποχής μας) ολοένα και μεγαλύτερο ποσοστό
αυτού του εισοδήματος διατίθεται βάσει ευμετάβολων
παρορμήσεων. Εδώ παρεμβαίνει η επίδραση της
διαφήμισης και αλλοιώνει τις προτιμήσεις του
καταναλωτή κατά τις κερδοφόρες επιθυμίες των
κατασκευαστών…» (my emph.).

We need not, by the way, see here any real contradiction between Malevitsis and the observations of the Paragogikotis quote cited above: the latter refers to conditions of poverty and how this leads to the “exploitation” of consumers by retail traders; Malevitsis simply tells us that consumers who merely stick to subsistence levels are not vulnerable to advertizing. Both may be quite accurate in what they say on this matter – and both would agree that soon most Greeks would be moving well beyond mere subsistence levels. In fact, what is of major interest here is that Malevitsis in the early-1970’s would fully agree with Panagiotopoulos’ «συνεχή απόκτηση υλικών αγαθών» in the late-1970’s: they would both see that, at least by the decade of the 1970’s, the “average Greek” (with the “Amalia-type” included) would be earning an income which allowed one to accumulate or renew material goods, or which allowed for the satisfaction of “impulses”. Thus, both would be identifying a “type” of person who was not working merely so as to subsist – he was not just some “labour-power” producing and reproducing itself ad infinitum, but rather someone capable of spending his income on so-called “luxury” goods (how and if this could lead to consumer “exploitation” remains an open question). The accumulative acquisition of such goods may have done little to alter whatever was one’s ‘political’ orientation – the “Amalia-type” was herself almost ‘apolitical’ in the strict sense of political ideology – but it would have done much to convince people of the value of private property, be that a pair of stockings or a house of one’s own. It is at this point that we would have the birth of middle class “values” amongst consumers.

For Malevitsis, then, the higher incomes and the capacity to spend money beyond basic needs, was that which characterized Greek society when writing in 1972 – «τούτο είναι χαρακτηριστικό της εποχής μας». How such money was spent by consumers, and the role of advertizing in such spending, are ‘facts’ of social history that need to be researched in a manner that lies beyond any ethical evaluation – but that higher incomes were changing the socio-cultural “values” of the popular masses, is certainly a verifiable fact. On the other hand, one need admit that such «χαρακτηριστικό» cannot apply to the 1960’s exactly as it did in the 1970s – the spread of consumerism was always uneven and not exactly linear for very many Greek families, although the massive emigration at the time would help those who remained behind to find jobs easier. Generally speaking, then, one may say that the Malevitsis text does signal the triumph of the middle class milieu and the peripheralization of working class immiseration.

In 1959, Nikos Tsiforos would observe the rising consumerism and the ubiquitous “Dream” of the vast majority of Greeks to join that «καλή αστική τάξις» – he writes:

«Πήρανε κι’ αυτοκίνητο, ένα τόσο δά Οπελάκι,
καλό και φιγουράτο, πήρανε και έπιπλα παρδαλά
με Στρωματέξ, γίνανε εκείνο πού λέγεται
 “καλή αστική τάξις”…» (cf. Ελληνική κρουαζιέρα,
op. cit., p. 43, my emph.).

Writing of the late-1950’s, Tsiforos would also go on to describe how a simple worker – but who in any case had acquired some kind of «τέχνη» while selling his “labour-power” – would finally decide to establish his own smallish pork meat factory, hiring as wage-labourers some of his ex-colleagues. This case – that of «Αριστείδης», as Tsiforos calls him (and to whom we shall return below) – is a highly representative “type” of that “average Greek” who would move from being a seller of “labour-power” to that of a buyer of “labour-power”. Strictly speaking (or in Marxian terms), that would make of him a ‘small capitalist’, but at least in terms of socio-cultural “values”, all it would really have meant for «Αριστείδη» was that he could now somehow taste the vestiges of a middle class style of life (something itself not very far removed from the “style” of at least many skilled workers). Tsiforos writes:

«Ο Αριστείδης με την τέχνη του, “δεν ανοίγομεν
μικρόν τι εργαστήριον βιοτεχνικόν με αλλαντικά;”
… πήρε και κάνα-δύο πατιράκια παλιούς συναδέλφους
που ξέρανε την δουλειά, άνοιξε η επιχείρηση…
χωρίς να το καταλάβη βρέθηκε με λεφτά ο
Αριστείδης…» (ibid., pp. 73-74).

Of course, this “successful” new member of the Greek middle classes, and who had belonged to the class of wage-earners a little time back, may have quite easily regressed to his previous social status a few years later, as so often happened with so many freelancing small-time entrepreneurs – but such social mobility would nonetheless happen within a steady socio-cultural framework, that being the ubiquitous “Dream” we have referred to. That such mobility was always accompanied by a steady “Dream” somehow takes care of a highly interesting question as regards the ‘reception’ of advertizing discourse by someone such as an «Αριστείδης» (or a Zygoyiannis, the A&M Mill worker). How would «Αριστείδης»-qua-worker have ‘received’ the message of an advertisement and how would «Αριστείδης»-qua-manufacturer have ‘received’ such message? That which would determine the form of the ‘reception’ would have been the only steady element – i.e. that middle class “Dream”. But that such “Dream” hid within it the contradictions of social mobility (and therefore insecurity) would be factors that advertizing discourse would have to take into account – were it not to have somehow done so, a ‘communication crisis’ could have ensued between buyer and seller (or advertiser). Again, this points to the ‘balance of compromises’ that advertizing discourse would have to make so that it deal with the internal contradictions of the up-and-coming Greek middle classes. Matters would be further complicated when a “type” such as «Αριστείδης»-the-manufacturer would himself turn advertiser (as he would, according to Tsiforos), and would find himself competing with foreign giants advertizing products related to cured meats (we shall definitely have to come back to this).

This “Greek Dream” that we talk of would constitute a generalized social consciousness amongst the various strata of the popular masses, and it would fire their imagination in more ways than one. People would “dream” of moving away from their position as wage-labourers to setting up their own entrepreneurial operations (and thus objectively coming to belong to the middle classes), and many would even “dream” of becoming capitalist “millionaires” – Koeppen (op. cit.) would observe this in 1961:

«Μια ώρα για να γίνεις εκατομμυριούχος,
ευτυχισμένος σαν τον πλούσιο Ωνάση.
Στα όνειρά σου» (p. 33).

Of course, apart from possible exceptions, becoming a “millionaire” was an unreachable dream, and therefore belonged to the wildest of fantasies – and yet, it was not at all so for the thousands who departed for places such as America. Just one case in point is that of “Marcos”, who had come to belong to the circle of friends of the Aliartian barber in the 1970’s. This man left Greece in the early-1960’s and settled in South Africa. On departing, his single-minded purpose was just that: to become a “millionaire”. Prior to emigrating, he had been working as a wage-labourer in some small bakery and could hardly make ends meet, and that, despite the fact that he had no family of his own. In South Africa, he would gradually establish his own bakery, remain single so as to restrict personal expenses to a bare minimum, and worked day and night. He expanded his business throughout Johannesburg and beyond. By the early-1980’s, he had made enough money so as to buy himself a small island in the Aegean («σαν τον πλούσιο Ωνάση»).

We know that for those who had stayed behind, the “Greek Dream” could be realizable, though of course only in part. But the “fantasy” of “wealth and happiness” was a real component part of popular social consciousness – it was not at all any “false consciousness”, since upward social mobility was both psychologically wished for and, within certain reasonable limits, materially possible. Advertizing discourse in Greece at the time cannot be understood without taking such ‘psycho-material matrix’ into consideration. Unlike “Marcos”, the “Amalia-type” and her family would never have been able to buy an island for themselves, but they could have bought themselves their very own house – the care Amalia would take in ‘decorating’ her “Home” was, as we shall further discuss below, much inspired by the advertizing of a «ΠΕΙΡΑΪΚΗ-ΠΑΤΡΑΪΚΗ».

The observations of a Malevitsis and a Panagiotopoulos, the perceptive descriptions of a Tsiforos and a Koeppen, the real cases of a Zygoyianni and the consumer capacities of the young “Amalia-type” (though perhaps not that exceptional case of a poor young “Marco” becoming a millionaire) – all such, need to be directly contrasted to the philosophical pearls of dialectical wisdom churned out by the hermetically sealed academic chairs of the likes of a Horkheimer and an Adorno. These would insist:

«Η πολιτιστική βιομηχανία εξαπατά αδιάκοπα
τους καταναλωτές στερώντας τους αυτό που
αδιάκοπα τους υπόσχεται» (op. cit., p. 231).

We do know that Amalia Eleftheriadou would remain a “White-Collar” employee at the A&M Mill Headquarters till the early-1970’s: her relatively low remuneration as a “Clerk” and the “Bureaucratic Despotism” exercised on her by her boss could have frustrated her middle class “Dream” day in and day out for as long as her movements were confined behind those tall factory gates. But outside those gates, in the so-called sphere of ‘reproduction’, that «πολιτιστική βιομηχανία» would gradually allow her to become an active consumer – it would, by and large, fulfill a “Dream” the content of which would be inscribed (in its various contradictory ways) within advertizing discourse. Such advertizing content would include ‘models’, ‘styles’ and ‘prototypes’ of living which the “Amalia-type” would wish, here and there, to identify herself with – like the vast masses of Greek working people, she wanted to see herself as a potential member of the new middle classes.

It is precisely this sphere of life of the “Amalia-type” – that which happened outside the factory gates – which the Greek “Left” (like the Frankfurtians) could not possibly swallow. For the “Left”, such ‘outside’ reality was being imposed on blinded proletarians by the capitalist «πολιτιστική βιομηχανία». Consider, for instance, how Constandina Pantazi-Tzifa, in her book, Η θέση της γυναίκας στην Ελλάδα (Athens, 1984, Νέα Σύνορα, Εκδόσεις Α. Α. Λιβάνη) would present the overall reality of Greek women even as late as the 1980’s – she writes:

«Στη χώρα μας, η βιομηχανία της διαφήμισης
εμπνέεται, τις περισσότερες φορές, από τα πιο
εξεζητημένα αμερικανικά πρότυπα και
 απομακρύνεται όλο και περισσότερο από την
 πραγματικότητα, μεταφέροντας μια νοοτροπία
και δημιουργώντας “μοντέλα” που επιβάλλονται
και διαμορφώνουν τα άτομα και το περιβάλλον
τους, σύμφωνα με τα κριτήρια αξιών κατάλληλων
για τη βιομηχανική επικοινωνία…»
(p. 91, my emph.).

Were we to accept Pantazi-Tzifa’s observation that advertizing discourse has had this tendency to “distance” itself from the Greek reality («απομακρύνεται», etc.), then we would have to go one step further and conclude that such discourse would be operating in an almost complete social vacuum – but if that be the case, then either the recipients of such discourse were themselves almost completely ‘vacuous’, or the advertizing discourse would not be communicating its message to people. But we know that advertisements did help sell products, as we also know that the “Amalia-type” would, to some extent, accept certain American “stereotypes” and/or “models”, seeing in these, as she did, an element of “modernity”. One suspects that Pantazi-Tzifa fails to grasp the whole of the “Amalia-type” reality because she restricts her perspective to that of the workplace (as would any vulgar ‘Marxist’).

That the middle class “Dream” was gradually being realized is explainable, and such explanation would also apply to the “Amalia-type”. With reference to real economic growth in the period of the Military Dictatorship, Nikos Poulantzas provides us with the most reliable – and most objective – picture. Some “anti-Junta” hotheads like George N. Giannopoulos would, in 1976, write:

«η αύξηση της πραγματικής αγοραστικής δύναμης
του εργάτη βιομηχανίας, ήταν ασήμαντη στην
περίοδο της δικτατορίας… [το] χρηματικό εισόδημα
του μισθωτού αυξανόταν σ’ αυτή την περίοδο
με πολύ βραδύτερο ρυθμό απ’ ό,τι το εισόδημα
του ιδιοκτήτη ή του κεφαλαιούχου» (cf. his «Οι
εργάτες και οι αγρότες στο καθεστώς της στρατιωτικής
δικτατορίας», in Η Ελλάδα κάτω από στρατιωτικό
 ζυγό, Εκδόσεις Παπαζήση, Athens, 1976, pp. 136-181
& pp. 182-207).

To add insult to injury, yet another “anti-Junta” hothead, Ilias Nikolopoulos, would draw the following ‘scientific’ conclusion, based on the above quote, in 2010 – he notes:

«… με αποτέλεσμα η σχετική θέση των εργατών
να χειροτερέψει από το 1967 και μετά» (cf.
his «Κοινωνικοπολιτικές διαστάσεις του αγώνα
κατά του καθεστώτος της στρατιωτικής δικτατορίας»,
in Tetradia [Τετράδια], No. 57-8, 2010, p. 84).

This is not a matter of insulting the Colonels (Hobsbawm has even written of their «πολιτική ηλιθιότητα», op. cit., p. 447) – it is, however, a matter of causing injury to historical facts. In his The Crisis of the Dictatorships [greek edition: Η κρίση των δικτατοριών, Θεμέλιο, 2006), Poulantzas provides us with a number of concrete data which clearly show that the consumer power of the popular masses in the period of the Greek Military Dictatorship was definitely growing, and which would determine both consumer patterns and even political behaviour. He writes:

«Σύμφωνα με τις στατιστικές του OCDE, η μέση
ετήσια άνοδος των ωρομισθίων και των τιμών των
 ειδών κατανάλωσης, μεταξύ 1966 και 1971, ήταν
… στην Ελλάδα 8,8% και 2,1% ... [Thus] η βελτίωση
της αγοραστικής δύναμης είναι σαφής στην…
Ελλάδα… Ένα πρόσθετο αποδεικτικό στοιχείο –
μολονότι πρόκειται για δείκτη κατά προσέγγιση –
είναι η άνοδος του μέσου κατά κεφαλήν εισοδήματος,
ιδιαίτερα στην Ισπανία και την Ελλάδα (το 1964,
500 δολάρια κατά κεφαλήν για την Ισπανία και
590 για την Ελλάδα … η τελευταία ξεπέρασε σήμερα
[1975] τα 1.500 δολάρια, ενώ η Ισπανία τα πλησιάζει).
… Εκείνο που μας επιτρέπει να μιλάμε για πραγματική
βελτίωση της αγοραστικής δύναμης, είναι η
ιδιάζουσα θέση των χωρών αυτών στη ζώνη
εξάρτησης, κατά τη σημερινή φάση, καθώς
βέβαια και το εξαιρετικά χαμηλό επίπεδο της
προηγούμενης αγοραστικής δύναμης των μαζών …
Αν λοιπόν η βελτίωση δεν οφείλεται, ούτε στο ελάχιστο,
στα δικτατορικά καθεστώτα, είναι ωστόσο
γεγονός ότι δεν κατάφεραν … να την ανακόψουν:
χαρακτηριστική περίπτωση η Ελλάδα, όπου η βελτίωση
είχε πρωτοεμφανιστεί στις αρχές της δεκαετίας του ’60,
πολύ πριν από το καθεστώς των συνταγματαρχών,
κι ωστόσο συνεχίστηκε και μ’ αυτό. Εδώ εντοπίζεται
ένας παράγοντας που συντέλεσε σ’ έναν κάποιο
περιορισμό της πολιτικής ανάπτυξης των αγώνων»
(pp. 66-67, his emph. throughout).

There are at least three basic observations made by Poulantzas above which we should always keep in mind when talking of the 1960’s/early-1970’s period:

• We had a clear-cut real improvement in the per capita income of the “average Greek” (and that, whatever the general inequalities). This real improvement would mean that the style of life and the “worldview” of the “Amalia-type” would be directly affected – and such real improvement would of course be welcomed by the vast majority of the popular masses and that, despite the socio-cultural contradictions that would ensue as discussed above;
• Such real improvement in material conditions would, in the minds of people, constitute an unheard of and previously unimaginable state of affairs, and that, given – as Poulantzas so accurately states – «το εξαιρετικά χαμηλό επίπεδο της προηγούμενης αγοραστικής δύναμης». This would fire the popular imagination and thereby give birth to “The Middle Class Dream”, which was that of the “New Amalia-type”, even amongst wage-earners.
• Despite what the “Left” would want us to believe – and despite how it would decide to write its own history – the real revolution of the period was essentially in the field of culture, sexual behaviour and patterns of consumption – Poulantzas, who was himself a communist theoretician, had no choice but to admit the bitter truth: that «κάποιο περιορισμό της πολιτικής ανάπτυξης των αγώνων». As we know, direct political interest on the part of the “Amalia-type” was itself characterized by at least such a «κάποιο περιορισμό»: what was to galvanize the mind and body of an Amalia Eleftheriadou lay elsewhere.

Perhaps we should here also mention the work of Roupa (op. cit.), which also includes specific statistics enabling one to explain the rise of consumerism in the 1960’s – and which forces her to make admissions such as the following:

«[there had been a] βελτίωση του εισοδήματος
μεγάλου μέρους του ελληνικού λαού –
μέσα σε μια γενιά το Α.Ε.Π. τριπλασιάστηκε…»
(p. 255).

Now, the 100% increase in GDP during the 1960’s, which she elsewhere notes (p. 269), must surely have constituted the basic reason behind the rise of consumerism – and therefore concepts such as “patriotism”, “foreign influence” and “national character” which she wants to consider as alternative explanatory (or “manipulative”) factors lying behind consumerist patterns, are only of secondary interest, though such factors could determine the forms of such patterns.

The objectively measurable real improvement of material conditions – the real increase in the “average” per capita income – would allow people to buy things, to accumulate them and to renew them: but Roupa comes to see such capacity as a “compulsion” imposed on people by the “manipulative” strategies of advertizing discourse – she writes:

«Αρκετές διαφημίσεις έγιναν ψυχαναγκαστικές
και παρουσίασαν την αποχή από την κατανάλωση
ως πράξη επιτιμητική και τιμωρητέα»
(p. 266, my emph.).

We do not at all mean to doubt the existence of such “compulsive” advertizing discourse in the 1960’s, etc. (it is an example of that type of advertisement which we shall present as “provocatively interventionist”), but to argue that people consumed because of such “compulsive” advertizing discourse verges on the ridiculous: try to imagine the young Amalia Eleftheriadou working eight hours a day, six days a week at the A&M Headquarters, and then practicing some sort of religiously-inspired «αποχή από την κατανάλωση». No, Amalia did not belong to either a Christian Orthodox monastic order or to an Orthodox Communist anti-consumerist sect. It is quite true that neighbours would “compete” amongst one another as to who would buy the first fridge, and it is as true that those “left behind” could be looked down on by the rest – but such practices were a product of the objective rise in GDP and reflected the new “popular values” of a middle class cultural milieu made possible by the increase in per capita income. There was, therefore, “compulsion” – but that was as much a popular grassroots social practice.

The Roupa position, of course, could concede that buying as such would be ‘proper’, but not so when it came to buying (what Galbraith had called) “superfluous-artificial” goods (op. cit). This brings us to that rather complex question of what it means to buy “luxury” goods, and which cannot possibly be understood without relating it to the up-and-coming middle-class “values” of the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Examining the relationship between Greek films and the issue of consumerism in the late-1950’s and the early-1960’s, Roupa says that such films placed an emphasis on material goods, the renewal of furniture, and other “luxuries” meant to achieve “personal satisfaction”. She critically observes:

«… στηρίζουν την πλοκή τους στη βελτίωση
της ζωής και την προσωπική ικανοποίηση
μέσα από την κατανάλωση και την κατοχή
υλικών αγαθών… [Η] έμφαση δίδεται στην
αλλαγή της επίπλωσης και στην… υιοθέτηση
πολυτελούς τρόπου ζωής» (p. 264).

The question of “material luxuries” raised here is extremely important in trying to comprehend what we have called the Greek middle class milieu – i.e. whether such ‘milieu’ would in fact mean the ultimate satisfaction of certain “superfluous-artificial needs” (or at least the mere craving for the satisfaction of such needs).

We may begin with some general observations. First, we would argue that it is extremely difficult (though perhaps not impossible through the meticulous research of the history of a single product and the developments of its own specifications) to estimate, within historical time (not necessarily at all “linear”), when a “luxury good” is a “false need” and at what point in time such “false need” has gradually turned real – i.e. has become expressive of the new needs of a new “type” of person, whose very “nature” has undergone mutations through the capacity to consume new types of products. One may counter-argue, secondly, that “luxury products” always remain “false” – but in such case a highly paradoxical question arises: if the “luxuries” enjoyed by the ‘dominant classes’ throughout all history have been “false”, then why is it that they would always fight tooth and nail – even to the point of waging wars – so that such “luxuries” be monopolized on their behalf? If their “motives” have been “false”, then we are faced with a “false” history (which would be ludicrous). We may therefore fairly safely adopt the position that any “luxury” becomes a real need when its possessor feels it so within a particular socio-historical context: all other criteria must be rejected as either ‘metaphysical’ or ‘ahistorical’, or both. It is within such framework that we shall have to consider the so-called “artificial” tastes of the emerging Greek middle class milieu of the period.

We know that it is Galbraith who has been the doyen of that concept of “superfluous” or “artificial needs”, and we know how influential his thinking had been in Greece and all over the Western world at the time. In his The New Industrial State (op. cit.), he would very articulately unfold his arguments which, in hindsight, seem either devoid of any real historical sense or are unsuited to the Greek case of the period under discussion. One representative passage is the following:

“… goods that are related only to elementary
physical sensation – that merely prevent hunger,
protect against cold, provide shelter, suppress
pain – have come to comprise a small and diminishing
part of all production. Most goods serve needs that
are discovered to the individual not by palpable
discomfort that accompanies deprivation, but by some
psychic response to their possession. They give him
a sense of personal achievement, accord him a feeling
of equality with his neighbours, divert his mind from
thought, serve sexual aspiration, promise social
acceptability, enhance his subjective feeling of health,
well-being or orderly peristalsis, contribute by
conventional canons to personal beauty, or are otherwise
psychologically rewarding” (p. 206).

One could assess such mode of thinking from a number of critical perspectives. Firstly, his understanding of what constitutes “palpable discomfort” is statically ahistorical: that which could cause “discomfort” to a middle class New Yorker in the 1960’s cannot be randomly equated to what “discomfited” a coarse, weather-beaten peasant of Aliarto in the 1940’s. And similarly, even his reference to “equality” is devoid of any socio-historical content, and is therefore either to be rejected as a useless ‘abstraction’ or to be accepted as a concept which only applies to certain concrete social formations. Secondly, it is not at all clear why “hunger”, “cold” “shelter”, etc. are all more real (or, as Galbraith puts it, more “elementary”) than are “sexual aspiration”, the “subjective feeling of health”, or – even – the issue of “personal beauty”. All these latter so-called “psychological” states are real, ‘material’ social practices, and which have been historically determined in a variety of different forms throughout human history. Thirdly, and applying such critical observations to at least some aspects of the Greek case, we may ask:

• Would, for Galbraith, the buying of a fridge, a stove, a washing machine, etc., in Greece in the 1960’s, have constituted consumption of “necessary” goods meant to ease “palpable discomfort”, or were these just “luxury” goods meant to give people “a sense of personal achievement”? Did not, say, a fridge, serve absolutely necessary needs at the time, while at the same time – given the circumstances – also function as a “status symbol” (“psychic response”)? Surely here, the abstract, ahistorical categorization of commodities into “necessary” and “luxury” would be quite ludicrous for the Greek case.
• Was not the question of “personal beauty” in Greece in the 1960’s, a real socio-cultural practice amongst females that went well beyond the “Industrial State” but was also a necessary expression of it? We well know that “personal beauty” for females had been as “psychologically rewarding” in, say, Minoan culture (1600 BC) as it was in the 1960’s: for a 1960’s young woman in Greece, “beauty” (and the accessories that would accompany it) would come to constitute a necessary “reward” of the “Golden Age” which redefined her relationship to herself and others. One needs here a social history of “personal beauty”, obviously pre-dating the “Industrial System” (cf. our paper on “female beauty” as a socio-cultural practice in the 1960’s/1970’s).
• Were not the “sexual aspirations” of the young in the 1960’s as real and as necessary as the need to eat and clothe oneself, given the post-war reality of the Greek sexual revolution? Was not the mini-skirt a necessary “luxury” for many young girls by the late-1960’s? Maybe not and maybe yes: but it was these young girls – as historical subjects – who would decide for themselves.
• Finally, was it not a real necessity for the “average Greek” to continually increase his consumer power so as to bridge the dramatically wide income gap between himself and the Greek social elites? Was his need for some relative “social equality” not an absolute social necessity? Or was it merely “some psychic response” meant to “accord him a feeling of equality with his neighbours”? These latter questions clearly bring to light the completely different social conditions that prevailed in Greece vis-à-vis the USA.

One may therefore at this point draw the following general conclusion: the struggle, on the part of the “average Greek” in the 1960’s, for “palpable comfort” (buying a fridge), and his capacity to increase his consumer power, as also his ability to ‘indulge’ in socio-cultural practices emphasizing “beauty” and “sex” – all these, albeit perhaps “luxuries”, were at the same time historical necessities. Being so, they were not at all “superfluous-artificial needs”, as Galbraith and his interpreters in Greece would want us to believe. Put together, they all constituted the historically necessary elements – both ‘material’ and ‘psychological’ – which would galvanize the rise of the Greek middle class milieu.

Such conclusion would allow us to argue that the consumer patterns of the “Amalia-type” were never simply a product of “manipulation” – or, as Galbraith would say, of “persuasiveness” and the “management” of consumer demand from “above”. And, to be absolutely fair to Galbraith himself, one should note that, here and there, his work does allow for varying degrees of “manipulation”/”persuasiveness”/”management”, depending on historical circumstances – and which would allow the social researcher to gauge, not only degrees of “management” from “above”, but also degrees of “management” coming from “below”, and depending on the historical periodization. Such historical sensitivities in Galbraith’s The New Industrial State are rare and definitely do not constitute an organic part of his analyses – and yet, he can once in a while, admit:

“When goods were less abundant, when they
served urgent physical need and their acquisition
received close thought and attention, purchases
were much less subject to management” (p. 220).

In 1960’s Greece, goods were definitely “less abundant” in comparison to the case of the USA at the time, and Amalia would struggle hard within the Headquarters of the A&M company to be able to buy herself a pair of stockings, a bottle of perfume or a tube of toothpaste. The acquisition of such so-called “luxuries” would of course “receive close thought and attention” on the part of the “Amalia-type” – that “close thought and attention” was precisely how Amalia Eleftheriadou would relate to the advertisements that bombarded her. At least in its transitional phase, therefore, the up-and-coming Greek middle class milieu of the 1960’s/early-1970’s would, up to some point, “manage” its own consumer patterns of behaviour. It is quite true that there was much “frenzy” – as has so often been said – amongst the Greek youth of the period, but this was not something “engineered” or “managed” from some “systemic forces” coming from “above”: such “forces” had to take into consideration a youthful grassroots “frenzy” which had no choice but to delimit and “manage” itself given its “less abundant” material conditions.

We shall end this sub-section with the observations of Pavlos Floros, an important Greek “intellectual” who belongs to the so-called «γενιά του ’30» and who, as a “cosmopolitan”, was able to compare and contrast Greece with the rest of Europe and draw conclusions as to what had really happened to the Greek people by the late 1960’s. In a 1967 article entitled «Γυρισμός» and published in Nea Hestia (No 967 – 15.10.1967), Floros would make the following truly astounding observations with respect to the anthropologically mutated “New Greek”:

«Η πρώτη εντύπωση από την ανθρώπινη
μορφολογία: Ράτσα αφάνταστα στιβαρή
και ρωμαλέα. Δεν είταν έτσι το 1919 και
το 1922, μήτε το 1940. Ο μέσος όρος του
αναστήματος, του ύψους, φαίνεται πως
μεγάλωσε. Η εξήγηση για τη μεταμόρφωση;
Ο εξολοθρεμός των ανωφελών κουνουπιών,
η καλοπέραση από το 1953 κ’ εδώ, η εκλαΐκευση
της υγιεινής και της πολιτισμένης κατοικίας…»
(pp. 1364-1367).

And further, he would observe –

«… την οικείωση του απλοϊκού ανθρώπου,
επαρχιώτη μικροαστού, καλλιεργητή ή
τσέλιγκα, με τις ανέσεις του συγχρόνου βίου
και της ευεξίας, με τον οικιακό πολιτισμό
και την υγιεινή» (ibid.).

There was a positive material content in all advertizing discourse of the period which offered real material goods that were necessary, at times absolutely necessary, for this new Greek «ανθρώπινη μορφολογία». Whatever the form of advertizing discourse – whether it be “provocative-interventionist”, or “compromisingly adjusted” to local conditions, or something in-between, or just simply “neutral” – it would offer the necessary goods of “modernity” that expressed this historically novel «μορφολογία». As Floros suggests, these goods included products related to hygiene, home facilities and comforts, technological devices, etc. – all of which would come to constitute what he calls an «οικιακό πολιτισμό». Thus, before we examine the extent to which Greek consumer demand was being “managed” from “above” and the extent to which advertizing discourse was itself being “managed” from “below”, we need to consider the relationship between advertizing and the new material goods available for the “New Type” of Greek – this constituting, we are suggesting, the positive material content of all advertizing discourse at the time.

GLOSSARY:

NOTES:
● «ανθρώπινη μορφολογία»: human morphology
● «αποχή από την κατανάλωση»: consumer abstinence
● «γενιά του ‘30»: the generation of the 1930’s
● «Η Ελλάδα κάτω από στρατιωτικό ζυγό»: “Greece under the military yoke”.
● «Η θέση της γυναίκας στην Ελλάδα»: “The place of woman in Greek society”.
● «καλή αστική τάξις»: good bourgeois class
● «κάποιο περιορισμό της πολιτικής ανάπτυξις των αγώνων»: a certain limitation in the political development of the struggles
● «Κοινωνικοπολιτικές διαστάσεις του αγώνα κατά του καθεστώτος της στρατιωτικής δικτατορίας»: “Sociopolitical dimensions of the struggle against the regime of the military dictatorship”.
● «να γίνεται άλλος»: to become someone else
● «Οι εργάτες και οι αγρότες στο καθεστώς της στρατιωτικής δικτατορίας»: “Workers and peasants in the regime of the military dictatorship”.
● «Οι σύγχρονοι κοινοί τόποι»: “The modern common grounds” or “commonalities” (free translation).
● «οικιακό πολιτισμό»: domestic culture
● «ΠΕΙΡΑΪΚΗ-ΠΑΤΡΑΪΚΗ»: “PEIRAIKI-PATRAIKI” – “PEIRAIKI”, from Pireaus; “PATRAIKI” from Patras. Greece’s largest textile producer, 1919-1996.
● «πολιτική ηλιθιότητα»: political idiocy or fatuity
● «πολιτιστική βιομηχανία»: “culture industry”, term often used by the old Frankfurtian School
● «Προοπτικές»: “Prospects”.
● «σαν τον πλούσιο Ωνάση»: like the rich Onassis
● «συνεχή απόκτηση υλικών αγαθών»: continual purchasing of material goods
● «τέχνη»: skill
● «το εξαιρετικά χαμηλό επίπεδο της προηγούμενης αγοραστικής δύναμης»: the exceptionally low level of the preceding purchasing power
● «τούτο είναι χαρακτηριστικό της εποχής μας»: this is characteristic of our epoch

NEW-FOUND MATERIAL COMFORTS AND THE POSITIVE MATERIAL CONTENT OF ADVERTIZING DISCOURSE

All categories of advertizing discourse, and including those which one could say were highly ‘manipulative’, did have what may be referred to as a positive material content – by this we mean that most advertisements helped to inform and introduce people to the newly available material comforts of “modernity”. All promised what Ernst Bloch had called (for his own reasons) the “material of hope” of the post-war years. Greek “intellectuals” would see this and reject both the ‘materials’ and the ‘hope’: they would generally look down on the material “triumphs” of people, especially in the period of the Military Dictatorship. For Manolis Anagnostakis, even an absolutely necessary “luxury” such as the fridge was presented as «πράγματα ανιαρά» – in a 1970 poem which appeared in Δεκαοχτώ Κείμενα [Eighteen Texts, Κέδρος] and entitled «Ο Στόχος», he would write:

«(Επιμένω να διηγούμαι και μάλιστα
πολύ ωμά, πράγματα που
τα ξέρετε όλοι…
Πράγματα ανιαρά, που δεν κινούν πια
διόλου το ενδιαφέρον σας
Όπως… το ψυγείο Κελβινέϊτορ)»
(p. 131).

We note that Anagnostakis places this stanza of his verse within brackets – for him, presumably, the fact of buying and using a Kelvinator fridge constituted a boring little “parenthesis” of life – what really mattered, and which was the purpose behind the Δεκαοχτώ Κείμενα, was to fight the “Junta” regime. Unwittingly or not, he was in fact placing the “Amalia-type” itself – whose “Dream” was to possess a fridge – within such “parenthesis”.

If Anagnostakis would choose to place Amalia Eleftheriadou and her fridge (or her “dream-fridge”) within a symbolically-expressive “parenthesis”, D. N. Maronitis would go even further: he would throw the poor young lady, together with all her material comforts (or “wished-for” comforts) in prison. This may sound like an overstatement of his thinking but it is not so – this is what he would write in his own contribution to that collection of literary texts entitled Δεκαοχτώ Κείμενα of 1970:

«[There are] τρία είδη από φυλακές, μέσα
στις οποίες ζουν οι άνθρωποι του αιώνα μας,
είτε το καταλαβαίνουν είτε όχι… Η πρώτη
 διαθέτει ακόμη πολλές ανέσεις και τόσο
 διακοσμημένες πληγές, που δύσκολα ξεχωρίζει
 κανείς την αληθινή κραυγή από την
 κερδοσκοπία και την διαφήμιση» (pp. 135-
136, my emph.).

The thinking of the “Left-wing” Maronitis is certainly characterized by that ‘arrogance’ of many “Leftist intellectuals” which we have spoken of above – interestingly, his text in the 1970 Κείμενα carries the title «Υπεροψία και μέθη», and whoever it is he intends to throw such accusations at, these certainly boomerang back on his own stance. The ‘arrogance’ expressed in the quote referred to blinds him absolutely to any real, positive material content of advertizing discourse at the time: whatever real material comforts promoted by such discourse are reduced to mere «διακοσμημένες πληγές». Why so? His inflexible dogmatism blinds him to the real “material of hope” experienced by categories of people such as the “Amalia-type”, and as such “type” would relate to advertizing messages. Put otherwise, what he cannot at all see is the fact that the post-war “modern world” is successfully beginning to help people of all social strata overcome a great deal of the physical exertion that they were stuck in prior to the 1950’s. Freed from such physical exertion – obviously in a relative sense – the “Amalia-type” would not need to cry out the anguish of a prisoner («αληθινή κραυγή»): the young lady could now use her new-found free-time outside the A&M Headquarters to experiment with the new milieu that was unfolding.

We have noted above how Habermas would, by the mid-1980’s, come to reject whatever theory presented post-war “modernity” as an «επίπεδο και άχρωμο τοπίο ενός πλήρως διοικούμενου, υπολογιζόμενου και εξουσιαζόμενου κόσμου» (op. cit.). He would reject such interpretations of the new “forms of life” because none of these interpretations had really wanted to understand the real social revolution that had occurred when it came to limiting the physical exertion which people had to suffer in the past merely so as to survive. In an important passage in his The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, he would emphasize:

«Καμμιά τους [i.e. none of all such theories] … δεν
είναι ευαίσθητη ως προς το εξαιρετικά διφορούμενο
περιεχόμενο της πολιτιστικής και κοινωνικής
νεωτερικότητας. Αυτή η ισοπέδωση παρατηρείται
 επίσης και κατά τη διαχρονική σύγκριση νεωτερικών
 και προνεωτερικών μορφών ζωής» (greek edition, p. 416, my emph.).

What do all such theories not do at all when undertaking such a comparison of these different “forms of life”? Habermas continues:

«Δεν υπολογίζεται καν το ακόμη πιο υψηλό κόστος
 που έπρεπε παλιότερα να καταβάλλει η μάζα του
 πληθυσμού … στις διαστάσεις της σωματικής
 εργασίας, των υλικών συνθηκών ζωής και των ατομικών
 δυνατοτήτων εκλογής, της νομικής ασφάλειας και …
 της πολιτικής συμμετοχής, της σχολικής εκπαίδευσης
 κλπ…» (ibid., my emph.).

Thus, when comparing the post-war “modern times” to the past, one cannot possibly deny the real “progress” that had been achieved both materially and in terms of participation and personal choice, etc. Advertizing discourse would inscribe within itself this material lessening of physical exertion – and, further, in cases where we had a “provocative-interventionism” in any such discourse, the masses could exercise their own choice as to what to reject and what accept («ατομικών δυνατοτήτων εκλογής»). And even further – interpreting the element of the ‘political’ in its wider socio-cultural sense – the “Amalia-type” would have the capacity to “participate” in the forging of the “ideological discourse” of advertizing (and as we have discussed above). All such realities of the post-war period, but especially as regards the material delimitation of time and energy expended on physical exertion, would constitute the positive material content of all advertizing discourse in Greece at the time. The mass “response” to advertizing must be seen within such context. (Of course, the question of physical exertion had already been preoccupying the American female well prior to World War II – cf. Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire, 1875-1914, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1987; Greek translation, Η Εποχή των Αυτοκρατοριών, Μορφωτικό Ίδρυμα Εθνικής Τραπέζης, Αθήνα, 2007, p. 333. The question of female exertion in the household would be tackled with concepts and practices related to the “scientific management” of the household.)

We may now consider samples of the very many advertisements which appeared in the 1960’s and which emphasized this possibility of escaping physical exertion. A 1967 issue of Romantso would carry the following advertisement promoting a fridge :

«Ξαναβρήτε την προσωπικότητά σας μέσα
στο σπίτι σας. – CANDY ρομπότ – σταματά
τη μπουγάδα – Τώρα με το CANDY έγιναν
όλα πιο εύκολα… Ένας από τους 4 τύπους
πλυντηρίων CANDY ταιριάζει οπωσδήποτε
στο νοικοκυριό σα ς… Πρώτα στην κατανάλωση
… ΤΑ ΠΛΥΝΤΗΡΙΑ ΠΟΥ ΣΑΣ ΛΑΤΡΕΥΟΥΝ»
(Ρομάντσο, No 1248, 31.1.1967).

This advertisement is comprised of a fairly complex discourse which demands that it be analyzed and somehow “categorized” along the “provocative” – “adjustment”, etc. scale. We shall not at this point attempt this here – we merely dwell on phrases such as «σταματά τη μπουγάδα» or «Τώρα … έγιναν όλα πιο εύκολα». The “Amalia-type” is asked to contrast the well-known reality of a «μπουγάδα» to the as real possibility of escaping its physical exertion through “robotic” technology, and which would also mean saving on extra free time.

Now, although this home device was, at the time, being sold in fifty towns all over Greece – apart of course from the cities of Athens and Salonika – it would most probably not as yet have belonged to a family such as that of Amalia Eleftheriadou. This is a mere assumption, but it is based on the fact that it was only by the very late-1960’s/early-1970’s that a sizeable proportion of the “average Boeotian” would venture into buying a washing machine for his home – though we know that by then many IZOLA workers (especially but not only) would buy themselves more than one washing machine (one for their home, another/others as dowry if they had daughters).

But even if the Eleftheriadou family did not possess a washing machine in 1967, it was still just such home device that the “Amalia-type” would have dreamt of, especially as she would project her life into the future, when she would establish her own home. We know that especially female working youths would, not only focus on their “frenzied” present, but also be thoroughly forward-looking. The “Amalia-type” would dream of her own future “Home” as a place that would have escaped from the physical exertions of doing the washing for her own family – the “CANDY” advertisement could only but have addressed itself to the problematic realities of the day within the 1960’s household, and Amalia would have definitely given such advertisement her “close thought and attention” (Galbraith) – i.e. would have attended at least to the positive material content of such discourse.

One may compare the «CANDY ρομπότ» offered to Greek housewives with that of the reality which they would need to escape from. Zyranna Zateli, in an excellent collection of stories which truly capture the atmosphere of the 1960’s (Περσινή αρραβωνιαστικιά [Last Year’s Fiancée], Εκδόσεις ΣΙΓΑΡΕΤΑ, July 1984, 1st edition), would write of the «μπουγάδα» taking place in 1961 as follows:

«… κατευθύνθηκαν προς το υπόστεγο
όπου ανάβαμε καζάνι και πλέναμε…»
(pp. 12-13).

Marika Zota, resident of the Boeotia village of Kleidi, would describe the old-time women’s job of washing clothes as follows:

«Για το πλύσιμο φτιάχναμε αλισίβα –
στάχτη, απ’ τη φωτιά που είχαμε. Έριχνες
τη στάχτη στο καζάνι, κόχλαζε το νερό,
κι ύστερα έπρεπε να ρίξεις νερό κρύο:
το νερό σταμάταγε να βράζει κι έμενε πάνω
πάνω στρώμα η αλισίβα…» (cf. 17η προφορική
μαρτυρία: Μαρίκα Ζώτα, περ. 65 χρονών,
από Κλειδί Βοιωτίας, 30.7.2009, interview at
Aliarto).

Further, Vangelio Kalomiri, resident of Aliarto since the age of 19 (and by 2009 in her late ‘60’s), would speak as follows about washing, and with a focus on the sexual division of labour within the household:

«Οι δικές μας οι εποχές ήταν αλλιώς…
Πού να βγει έξω ο άντρας, ν’ απλώσει
την κιλότα… Τι λες!... Η γυναίκα ήτανε για
το σπίτι, η γυναίκα για όλα… Ξέρεις τι δουλειά
έχω ρίξει εγώ;…» (cf. an open discussion with
Βαγγελιώ Καλομοίρη at Aliarto – Interview No. 20,
12.8.2009).

And Tsiforos, in his Άνθρωποι και Ανθρωπάκια (op. cit), tells us how the Greek grandmothers would do the washing before products such as ‘TIDE’ and “ROL’ would enter the Greek home:

«Η γιαγιά.
Έπλενε καλώς…
Χώρια τ’ άσπρα, χώρια τα σκούρα.
Έβαζε και ινδικόν (λουλάκι)»
(p. 243).

This movement from the use of the traditional «λουλάκι» or of the «αλισίβα» to the advent of the much more technologically advanced foreign-produced detergents would be advertized on a massive scale by various publications – for instance, the daily newspaper Akropolis [Ακρόπολις] would carry advertisements such as the following in 1965:

«ΝΕΟ ROL SPOTLESS…
ΛΕΥΚΟ ΧΩΡΙΣ ΛΕΚΕΔΕΣ»
(cf. Akropolis, 28.11.1965,
p. 15).

Greek housewives and their daughters – who usually helped with the housework – would be exposed to advertisements which directly offered them the real possibility of less strain when it came to washing clothes – the daily newspaper Apogevmatini [Απογευματινή] would carry the following advertisement in December 1965:

«ΥΠΕΡΑΥΤΟΜΑΤΑ ΠΛΥΝΤΗΡΙΑ. Κυρίες μου,
σας προσφέρουμε το υπεραυτόματο ΠΛΥΝΤΗΡΙΟ
που πραγματικά θα σας ξεκουράση (ΜΟΝΟΝ που
 δεν σιδερώνει)…» (cf. Apogevmatini,
14.12.1965, p. 7, my emph.).

The positive material content of advertising discourse pertaining to the practice of washing and to the appliance of the washing machine would be the clearly technical functions of such device, and how such functions would substitute the physical exertion of persons – however much such reference to “technical functions” could be interpreted as “manipulation” on the part of the advertizing sector to persuade a housewife to buy the product, the fact nonetheless remains that such promised “functions” (and their material implications) could be verified by the user, and which means that advertizing discourse was in this case absolutely falsifiable in everyday practice. In November 1965, the Akropolis carried an advertisement that read as follows:

«ΥΠΕΡΑΥΤΟΜΑΤΟ ΠΛΥΝΤΗΡΙΟ… gabry…
ΠΛΕΝΕΙ – ΞΕΒΓΑΖΕΙ – ΣΤΙΒΕΙ – ΣΤΕΓΝΩΝΕΙ…
μόνο του… 5 κιλά ρούχα…»
(cf. Akropolis, 28.11. 1965, p. 6).

The “Amalia-type”, using its “close thought and attention”, would inevitably focus on such specific functions – and would do so because these practically concerned the material conditions of the life of an Amalia Eleftheriadou: the latter would gradually accumulate enough money so as to buy and try out such device. Advertizing discourse can and does tell lies – on the other hand, ‘capitalist’ technology does not: were it not for such technology, each of the functions mentioned in the advertisement above would otherwise have to be done by hand (though it remains true that the last function, «ΣΤΕΓΝΩΝΕΙ», would not be fully substituted). Overall, however, the “Amalia-type” would “attend” to the tangible fact that much energy and time could be saved through such “technical functions”: the saving of such energy and time would constitute a necessary precondition for her own “freedom” (and as she would forge her own understanding of such “freedom”).

For those who, in the early-1960’s, could not as yet afford to buy a washing machine for their homes, advertisements would inform them of the existence of dry cleaning services – such services would especially be used for clothes to be worn on special occasions – we know that since the 1920’s and right up to the 1960’s «η τσάκιση είχε μεγάλη σημασία» (cf. madeincreta.gr). Dry cleaners were operating even as early as 1928 in Iraklion, Crete (ibid.), but would become accessible to the masses both in Athens and the “peripheries” from the 1950’s and through to the 1960’s and on. Especially when that very special «τσάκιση» had to be accomplished for male clothes, housewives could simply let such shops do the job for them. It was precisely such ‘service’ of meticulous cleaning and ironing that the following advertisement would promote in 1959-1960:

«ΤΑ ΧΙΟΝΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΑΛΠΕΩΝ
ΚΑΙ ΤΟΥ ΟΛΥΜΠΟΥ
ΔΕΝ ΘΑ ΣΥΓΚΡΙΝΟΝΤΑΙ
ΣΤΗΝ ΑΣΠΡΑΔΑ
ΜΕ ΤΑ ΡΟΥΧΑ ΣΑΣ
ΑΝ ΤΑ ΕΜΠΙΣΤΕΥΘΗΤΕ
ΣΤΑ
ΠΛΥΝΤΗΡΙΑ
“ΤΑ ΧΙΟΝΑΤΑ”
ΦΡΟΣΩΣ ΧΡ. ΜΥΛΟΝΑΚΟΥ
ΔΑΒΑΚΗ 51…
ΕΡΓΑΣΙΑ ΕΠΙΜΕΛΗΜΕΝΗ
ΥΓΙΕΙΝΗ ΕΞΑΣΦΑΛΙΣΙΣ
ΚΑΙ
ΤΙΜΑΙ ΥΠΕΡΛΟΓΙΚΑΙ»
(cf. Christos Papazoglou (Ed.), Η Καλλιθέα του
 χθες και του σήμερα [Kallithea of Yesterday and Today, Έκδοση Εφημερίδας
 Έρευνα Καλλιθέας), Kallithea, 2000, p. 333,
their emph.).

Perhaps a much more important home appliance than the energy-saving washing machine was the refrigerator. In his 1974 Άνθρωποι… (op. cit.), Tsiforos uses irony to try capture what the purchasing of a fridge would have meant to a Greek housewife in the 1960’s/early-1970’s period – he writes:

«… παρήγγειλε και ψυγείο καινούργιο.
Μικρό. Η δόση δρχ. 350… Εκεί μέσα
 τοποθέτησε τα όνειρά της…» (p. 262,
my emph.).

To suggest that the buying of a small fridge would lead a housewife to placing her ‘dreams’ therein seems like a sarcastic exaggeration. But if one considers what the “average” Greek home had thus far been using to preserve its foods, one could understand what Tsiforos is in fact getting at: very many homes, and right through to at least the mid-1960’s, had been using a «παγωνιέρα» for such purpose. This rather primitive ‘appliance’ was a fairly simple wooden box (albeit reinforced by insulation) wherein people would place a largish block of ice at its base – the ice-block usually being delivered to the house early in the morning (left on the doorstep) by people whose job it was to ‘manufacture’ such blocks of ice (cf., for instance, Giannis Xanthoulis, Το πεθαμένο λικέρ, Εκδόσεις Καστανιώτη, 1987, p. 55, where the use of the «παγωνιέρα» is referred to as a matter-of-fact reality in 1958).

Keeping such grim realities in mind (‘grim’, if one contrasts this to what was happening in parts of Europe and the USA at the time), one would conclude that the act of «Εκεί μέσα τοποθέτησε τα όνειρά της» was in fact a very logical response on the part of a Greek housewife who had just managed to buy herself a small electrically-powered fridge. It is, therefore, a historical fact of the period that ‘The Fridge’ had come to constitute a “Dream-object” that asked of the dreaming-subject to turn it into a “Reality”. Thus, by extension, we may say that to fully understand that “New Transitional Type” (of which the “Amalia-type” was a part), we shall need to as much understand how that “type” would relate to the new, electrically-powered fridge as a home appliance (or to such fridge as an image in an advertisement). For the young working Amalia, such relationship can best be described as an unreachable “Dream” that persistently urged her to make it unfold into a reachable “Reality”. It was not merely the necessary functions of such appliance that would constitute such “Dream”, and it was not merely its ‘aesthetic’ position within the household that mattered: both ‘technical functions’ and ‘aesthetics’ would compose a whole “Dream-image” that would dangle in her mind as would a pendulum. Such pendulum would, at times, smash itself against the rocks of the economically ‘unreachable’; at other times – or even simultaneously – it would smash itself against the rocks of a practical necessity for such device. Given the first opportunity – i.e. economic capacity (the installment of 350 drch.) – the “Dream” would become a “Reality”, and thus become an organic and irreversible part of Amalia’s everyday life. Above, we have referred to the case of the Aliartian barber and how, despite his hard work, he had never managed to buy a fridge for his family by 1963 – on setting foot in South Africa, his wife’s first “Dream”-demand was nothing else but that of buying an electric fridge (and which was of course very soon met).

Now, it was precisely this reality which we have been describing that would be inscribed in the positive material content of advertizing discourse promoting fridges at the time. We may here consider a representative advertisement which appeared in the weekly newspaper Paneuvoikon Vima [Πανευβοϊκόν Βήμα] in December 1965:

«Το όνειρο της δροσιάς! –
Το όνειρο κάθε γυναίκας! –
ΗΛΕΚΤΡΙΚΟ ΨΥΓΕΙΟ ΚΕLVINATOR –
Τέλειο σε όλα! – και με στιγμιαία απόψυξι (σε 1 λεπτό)! –
Πολυτελής εξωτερική εμφάνισις, γερή αθάνατη
κατασκευή, θάλαμος από STYRON, έξυπνη εκμετάλλευσις
εσωτερικού χώρου, ισχυρό ψυκτικό μηχάνημα,
μαγνητική πόρτα, αθόρυβη λειτουργία, και το
οικονομικώτερο σε κατανάλωση. – ΕΥΚΟΛΙΑΙ
ΠΛΗΡΩΜΗΣ…» (cf.  Paneuvoikon Vima,
25.12.1965, p. 2).

At first sight, one would say that the above advertisement is merely a run-of-the-mill sample of the type that tries to “manipulate” consumers with highfaluting promises about the product. And yet, on closer inspection, and keeping in mind what we have said above as regards the fridge as a logically-explainable “Dream-object” in the 1960’s, we realize that the discourse of such advertisement is organized around a positive material content meant to fulfill the real and logical needs of an “Amalia-type”. Such content, pointing to the necessary ‘technical functions’ and to the as necessary ‘aesthetics’, is composed of the following interrelated discourse concepts:

• the fridge as a “Dream” («Το όνειρο…»);
• such “Dream” possesses real technological perfections («Τέλειο σε όλα») – and these were perfections as such at that stage of technological development;
• such real ‘technical functions’ went hand-in-hand with a real ‘aesthetical’ luxury («Πολυτελής…»);
• such real “Dream” was economical to use («οικονομικώτερο σε κατανάλωση») and fairly easy to buy («ΕΥΚΟΛΙΑΙ ΠΛΗΡΩΜΗΣ»), and thus could constitute a reachable “Dream”.

Yet another advertisement promoting fridges, this time published in the daily  Apogevmatini, and also in December 1965, read as follows:

«SINGER – SLIM LINE – ΤΟ ΚΟΜΨΟΤΕΡΟ ΨΥΓΕΙΟ

• Πολυτελέστατη εμφάνισις
• Μεγίστη ψύξις εις ελάχιστον χρόνον
• Κινητά ράφια
• Αρίστη μόνωσις
• Μαγνητική αεροστεγής πόρτα
• Διπλή ψύξις
• Αυτόματος απόψυξις
• Ειδικόν σύστημα κυκλοφορίας του αέρος εις το εσωτερικόν

…SINGER – ΤΟ ΣΗΜΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΜΠΙΣΤΟΣΥΝΗΣ»
(cf. Apogevmatini, 13.12.1965, p. 8).

Here we have yet another excellent example of an advertisement which, while placing much emphasis on the question of “luxury”, nonetheless goes on to enumerate the series of practical functionalities which the particular fridge offers, and which constitutes the hard core of the positive material content of this advertizing discourse. What it enumerates, in other words, is an objective reflection of the real technological progress being “democratized” at the time and which facilitated the lessening of physical exertion amongst the popular masses, and which was also conducive to the general upgrading of the material conditions of life amongst the “average Greek” (such as the “Amalia-type”).

The positive material content of advertizing discourse at the time would take yet another and as important, form: apart from informing people about the new technology, it would also practically facilitate the movement from the old and “primitive” to the new and “modern”. As regards fridges in particular, advertisements would actually help great numbers of people to give up their wooden «παγωνιέρα» and buy themselves an electric fridge. Such facilitation of the renewal of household appliances, and especially as regards the fridge, is clearly evident in the following Apogevmatini advertisement of 1965, and which is only a representative sample of that type of advertisement in the decade of the 1960’s:

«ΜΗΝ ΚΟΥΡΑΖΕΣΘΕ ΑΔΙΚΑ. Για ηλεκτρικό ΨΥΓΕΙΟ…
ΕΛΑΤΕ αμέσως στα ΓΝΩΣΤΑ καταστήματα 74 ΑΧΑΡΝΩΝ
… Είναι τόσες οι ΕΥΚΟΛΙΕΣ που ΘΑ ΣΑΣ κάνουμε, που
δεν θα πρέπει ούτε στιγμή να μείνετε χωρίς ΗΛΕΚΤΡΙΚΟ
ΨΥΓΕΙΟ. ΠΟΙΟΤΗΣ ΚΑΤΑΠΛΗΚΤΙΚΗ… ΕΧΕΤΕ ΠΑΛΑΙΟ
ΨΥΓΕΙΟ; Ηλεκτρικό ή Πάγου, ΘΕΛΕΤΕ Ν’ ΑΠΟΚΤΗΣΕΤΕ
το τελευταίο ΜΟΔΕΛΟ;… Επισκεφθήτε μας προς το
συμφέρον σας… ΟΣΟ ΚΟΣΤΙΖΕΙ Ο ΠΑΓΟΣ και η δόσις
του ξύλινου ΨΥΓΕΙΟΥ ΣΑΣ ΠΡΟΣΦΕΡΟΜΕΝ ένα
ωραιότατο ΗΛ. ΨΥΓΕΙΟ… Όλος ο κόσμος τόμαθε –
Όλος ο κόσμος ξεύρη. Πως. Το ηλεκτρικό ΨΥΓΕΙΟ του.
Στην ΑΧΑΡΝΩΝ θα εύρη… ΟΙ ΜΙΜΗΤΑΙ ΜΑΣ είναι
πολλοί, αλλά μόνον ΕΜΕΙΣ ΑΝΤΑΛΛΑΣΣΟΜΕΝ τα
παλαιά σας ΨΥΓΕΙΑ…, αγοράζοντας τα ιδικά σας σε
τιμές απίστευτα υψηλές… ΠΑΡΤΕ ΤΑΞΙ με έξοδά μας
κι’ ελάτε στάς εκθέσεις μας…» (cf. Apogevmatini,
14.12.1965, p. 7, their emph. throughout).

This rather long and crudely-written advertisement appeared in the ‘small ads’ pages of the newspaper, but was repeated therein in a variety of versions, thus taking up most of the space of these pages. It would be published almost on a daily basis both in Apogevmatini and in various other publications – thus indicating the mass spread of its message amongst the popular masses. It is as important to note that similar types of advertisements (suggesting similar types of transactions) were of course also being published by other firms apart from «74 ΑΧΑΡΝΩΝ», and as that is revealed by the latter’s warning that «ΟΙ ΜΙΜΗΤΕΣ ΜΑΣ είναι πολλοί». As mentioned, all such advertisements would actively facilitate the progress from the use of blocks of ice to the electrically-powered fridges – they would facilitate the withdrawal of the “primitive” and allow for technological renewal. As in the case of the above advertisement, most would point to the fact that there would be little difference in cost between possessing the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ («ΟΣΟ ΚΟΣΤΙΖΕΙ Ο ΠΑΓΟΣ και η δόσις του ξύλινου…»), and would offer to buy the ‘old’ («ΕΜΕΙΣ ΑΝΤΑΛΛΑΣΣΟΜΕΝ τα παλαιά σας ΨΥΓΕΙΑ… αγοράζοντας τα ιδικά σας σε τιμές απίστευτα υψηλές…»). As we shall further see below in discussing other household appliances, what we have here was a generalized offer to renew things – and this, of course, reflects precisely what Panagiotopoulos had written in 1977 (op. cit.), observing that dominant practice amongst the “average Greek” «… ν’ ανανεώνει… τα σκεύη του…».

Another advertisement of this type would be much more specific as to the amount of cash the firm was prepared to offer for the buying back of “primitive” fridges still in use – we read:

«ΑΓΟΡΑΖΟΜΕΝ τα παλαιά ΨΥΓΕΙΑ του πάγου
ΜΕΤΡΗΤΟΙΣ 1.000 δραχ. έκαστον και σας προσφέρομε
ΨΥΓΕΙΑ ΗΛΕΚΤΡΙΚΑ όλων των εργοστασίων ΜΕ
ΠΟΛΛΕΣ ΑΤΟΚΕΣ ΜΗΝΙΑΙΕΣ ΔΟΣΕΙΣ και πενταετή
εγγύησιν…» (Apogevmatini, ibid.).

This is therefore yet a further example of advertisements facilitating the renewal of appliances and allowing for the purchase of new electric fridges through installments, etc. – as to the buying of the old, wooden fridges, this advertisement would further clarify:

«… όσο παλαιά και αν είναι…» (ibid.).

Finally, the following advertisement gives us some idea of the price of an electric fridge in the mid-1960’s:

«ΨΥΓΕΙΑ ΚΡΟΝΟΣ…
ΑΠΟ 165 Δρχ… ΤΟ ΜΗΝΑ...
6,5 Κ.Π. Δρχ. 6,100…
8,5 Κ.Π. Δρχ. 8,800…»
(cf. Apogevmatini, 6.10.1965, p. 6).

When Amalia Eleftheriadou would be officially hired as an «Υπάλληλος» at the A&M Headquarters by December 1966, we know she would be receiving a net daily wage of 65 drachmas; unless she did overtime work or worked on Saturdays, she would be earning a monthly income of 1.625 drachmas. Were she to have decided to buy a fridge for her family, she would know – based on the advertisement above – that of that 1.625 drachma earnings, 165 drachmas would have to be devoted to that fridge at the end of each month, reducing her monthly income to 1.460 drachmas – the ‘sacrifice’, it seems, must have been quite ‘manageable’, though we do not know what other economic needs and responsibilities beset her. Under fairly ‘normal’ conditions, and if Amalia would have decided to buy the less expensive 6,5 Κ.Π. fridge, it would have taken her about 3 years to settle all her bills for the purchase. Things would have been much easier if her family already possessed an old wooden fridge, which they could have withdrawn and made 1.000 drachmas by simply doing so – in that case, Amalia would have been able to settle all her bills in even less than 3 years. And things would have been still easier if family-members (like her brother and father) would combine part of their earnings so as to contribute to the buying of the 6,5 Κ.Π. electric fridge. What we are very simply suggesting is that the “Dream-fridge” was certainly a reachable “Reality” by the mid-1960’s, and that even as regards a badly-paid young female «Υπάλληλο». And the implication is that at least as regards the positive material content of advertisements promoting fridges – i.e. the technical functions of such appliances, the possibility of selling the “primitive” and buying the “modern”, and the real prices and conditions of sale of fridges –, all this had little to do with ‘false’ or “manipulated consciousness”: the material content of advertizing discourse directly reflected the real material conditions of life.

We may now examine the positive material content of advertizing discourse promoting the kitchen-stove of the period. We know that, next to doing the washing, Greek women also had to exert as much time and energy in doing the cooking for the family. Here, we simply note that social history should someday deal with the history of the cooking practices of the popular masses around the world (comparative studies would be invaluable in understanding such practices – social anthropologists have already contributed to such object of research, though mainly involving pre-capitalist societies). Greek social history, if it were ever to take off as a field of research, would also have to write of the history of the cooking practices of Greek women and trace the truly revolutionary ruptures in such practices as one compares how they did their cooking before and after the advent of the cooking-stove. Such rupture was inscribed in the positive material content of advertisements promoting this kitchen appliance in the 1960’s.

The daily newspaper Akropolis would, in November 1965, carry the following advertisement promoting the IZOLA [ΙΖΟΛΑ] kitchen-stove:

«ΝΕΕΣ ΚΟΥΖΙΝΕΣ ΙΖΟΛΑ… ΟΛΕΣ ΜΕ ΦΟΥΡΝΟ
… Με ΔΥΟ θερμοστατικές εστίες ταχείας
θερμάνσεως EGOWATT… Με μεγαλύτερο
φούρνο… Με δύο ταψιά εμαγιέ… Με ενδεικτικές
λυχνίες λειτουργίας εστιών… Με ηλεκτρική
σούβλα… Με χρονοδιακόπτη…»
(cf. Akropolis, 30.11.1965, p. 7).

This advertisement presents the Greek housewife with seven technical functions installed in the IZOLA kitchen-stove, and which presumably, put together, constitute the positive material content of its discourse – and which is therefore addressing itself to the practical needs of consumers. Now, it is very difficult for us to determine which of these “functions” would actually fulfill real practical needs, and which were merely ‘decorative’ dummies added so as to “manipulate” people into buying the product – these latter constituting some form of negative ‘material’ content. On the other hand, and as mentioned above, it would be the consumer himself who, in the last instance, would determine what ‘content’ would be ‘positive’ (truly helpful practical functions) and what would be ‘negative’ (useless little advertisement fibs) – in other words, the sheer usage of the appliance by the housewife herself would elucidate in verifiable practice what constituted “manipulation” and what not (that being the ultimate – though never absolute – ‘power’ of the “Amalia-type”). We in any case note that this particular IZOLA advertisement was definitely responding to the real needs of women to either cut down on time-consuming cooking practices, or to at least ‘manage’ the vital question of time involved in such practices – as to cutting down on time, we may note the function of «ταχείας θερμάνσεως»; as to time-management, we may further note the function of a «χρονοδιακόπτη».

Interestingly, advertizing discourse could go much further than simply enumerate the technical functions of a kitchen-stove: it would at times also dwell on the practical implications of such functions, and it would do so by describing the effect such functions would have on the everyday life of a woman, especially as regards the question of physical exertion and that of time-consumption. Here, advertizing discourse would narrate the lives of women who had chosen to make use of the particular appliance. Did such an approach constitute a “manipulation” of the imagination of women? Let us consider just such an advertisement which appeared in the Akropolis in 1965, and which was promoting the AEG kitchen-stove:

«Δεν την αλλάζω με καμμιά…
Γιατί έκανε διασκέδασι την φροντίδα του
μαγειρεύματος.
Γιατί μου έδιωξε κάθε σκοτούρα…
Γιατί με απήλλαξε από κάθε έγνοια και
συνεχή παρακολούθηση (Μαγειρεύει
μόνη της).
Γιατί λειτουργεί σταθερά και ασφαλώς.
Γιατί είναι… ευκολομεταχείριστη… AEG»
(cf. Akropolis 1.12.1965, p. 3, their
emph.).

This advertisement presents potential buyers with the supposedly very ‘human’ effects that the technological capacities of an AEG kitchen-stove would have on the life of its user – turns of phrases such as «έκανε διασκέδασι», «έδιωξε…», «απήλλαξε», etc., may easily be said to be emotionally-laden, highly subjective estimations of what technical functions can do to people and which may play psychological games on the imagination of an exhausted and frustrated Greek housewife. This, of course, seems to question the extent to which such advertizing discourse carries any positive material content worth considering. But such an interpretation of this advertizing discourse would be forgetting two vital factors which would determine the relationship between buyer and seller: firstly, the role of the buyer as a subject who is offered the opportunity to test whatever advertizing claims in practice; and secondly, the ability of such subject to compare and contrast her own cooking practices before and after the use of the AEG kitchen-stove. More accurately, and as regards the latter factor, the subject would be able to ‘measure’ her own experiences as cook in the past, when – as happened at Aliarto in the early-1960’s – she would have to laboriously light a fire invariably in her yard, fix a pot over it and tend to the cooking (or, at best, use “primitive” gas-stoves connected to gas-cylinders, or use that «παλιά γκαζιέρα πετρελαίου» of the 1950’s). And she would then instinctively go on to ‘measure’ such past in relation to her post-war present, when she would be able tο let the kitchen-stove, now naturally indoors, more or less do its own job («Μαγειρεύει μόνη της»), and without having to tend to it continuously (that «συνεχή παρακολούθηση»). Put in a nutshell, we may say that the experiential effects of the technological functions of the electric kitchen-stove as presented in the advertizing discourse could be compared with the experiential effects of such functions in real life – to the extent that elements of the advertizing discourse were exaggerating the experiential effects, the user was free to critically qualify the advertizing message empirically. Thus, positive material content would be differentiated from negative waffle, and which would help the consumer become more prudent when it came to his/her next purchase.

As in the case of fridges, so also with cooking appliances, there would be a generalized tendency to renew old gas-stoves with the new electric and/or “automatic” kitchen-stove. In 1965, the Apogevmatini would carry an advertisement promoting precisely such “robotic” nature of the new cooking appliance:

«Θέλετε ΚΟΥΖΙΝΑ ELCO ROBOT; Ελάτε –
ΑΧΑΡΝΩΝ 74…» (cf. Apogevmatini,
14.12.1965, p. 7).

And this advertisement would immediately go on to urge people to exchange whatever old cooking appliance they happened to possess for a new cooking “robot”. Apart from the real needs of people – and as these were determined by the historical context – this generalized and continual renewal of things, which we are saying characterized the period, went hand-in-hand with a continual technological development which continually renewed itself – many advertisements of the period would carry messages that went as follows:

«Όμως η αλήθεια είναι μία… ο εφευρέτης
[of whatever particular product] συνεχώς επί
30 χρόνια το βελτιώνει» (cf. Akropolis,
5.12.1965, p. 4).

As to why developments in technology per se would be such as to continually renew itself – and thus finally ‘force’ even the Greek consumer to get rid of old appliances – a French analyst, Serge Antonioli, writing in a 1979 issue of Δελτίον ΣΕΒ, would explain as follows:

«… η τεχνολογία που κυριολεκτικά “καλπάζει” σε
κατακτήσεις, [το αγαθό που διαρκεί πολύ] το
απαξιώνει … λειτουργικά και επιβαρύνει με πρόσθετο
κόστος τη μακρά χρήση του» (cf. Δελτίον ΣΕΒ,
No 411, 30.9.1979,
p. 28).

Such continual technological development, yielding a renewal of technology, and thus a continual renewal of things, would be persistently pointing to the possibility of substituting the housewife in toto – i.e. freeing the individual (such “individual” being the “triumph” of the post-war years, as Hobsbawm would put it) from the daily drudgery of work done in the kitchen. Consider the following advertisement promoting kitchen-stoves in the mid-1960’s:

«Πλήρης αυτοματισμός… με την
Φλαμίνα Σουπερμάτικ… Αυτόματος
έναρξις και διακοπή της λειτουργίας…
 Εκτελεί τις επιθυμίες σας με χρονομετρική
 ακρίβεια όταν εσείς απουσιάζετε. Ενεργεί
 μόνη της… Δεν κινδυνεύει να κάψη το
φαγητό χάρις στην αυτόματη εστία EGO,
 που σκέπτεται μόνη της και μαγειρεύει
 χωρίς επίβλεψη. Αυξομειώνει ή διακόπτει
το ρεύμα, δημιουργεί σταθερή θερμοκρασία,
εξοικονομεί ρεύμα… flamina Supermatic
ΠΙΤΣΟΣ…» (cf. Akropolis, 12.12. 1965,
p. 4, my emph.).

Concepts such as «όταν εσείς απουσιάζετε», «σκέπτεται μόνη» and «χωρίς επίβλεψη» – all of which are consummated in that “EGO” mechanism of the appliance – were essentially introducing Greek women to a continuum of possibilities whereby large chunks of their real time would be freed from material necessity, and which was till now restraining their minds and bodies around pots over open-air fires, or around “primitive” and at times rather dangerous gas-stoves attached to gas-cylinders, or around those wobbly «γκαζιέρες πετρελαίου» which continually demanded one’s constant attention. In fact, many women at Aliarto and in the villages of Thiva and Levadia would be literally terrified of the gas-cylinder and would often express their preference for the open-air fire – on the other hand, they well knew that doing their cooking in the yard would mean getting up very early in the morning and finishing their cooking-job by lunch-time (something which would in any case be practically impossible for women who entered the ranks of working people at, say, the Dourida, the Michaelidis, the IZOLA or the A&M plants). Working women such as the “Amalia-type”, and especially the married workers such as Maria Giannou at the A&M Mill, would ultimately have no choice but to buy an electric-powered kitchen-stove for their selves. But such an appliance would not merely facilitate their working as wage-labourers: its “robotic” functions would enable them to free themselves of much physical exertion outside work-hours – something which would prove especially invaluable to the young “Amalia-type”, and given the socio-cultural revolution of youth at the time.

Interestingly, the advertisement above would refer to the «αυτόματη εστία» of the “flamina Supermatic” as “EGO” – it was obviously insinuating that the “Amalia-type” would henceforth be able to possess a double ego: on the one hand, the “ego” of the flesh-and-blood Amalia Eleftheriadou would no longer have to be physically present in the kitchen while the cooking was taking place, and would no longer have to think about or even care-for what was happening therein. On the other hand, this selfsame Eleftheriadou would be the possessor of yet another “ego” well outside of her (as an individual), and which would –  independently of her person – act and think for her but by itself in fulfilling the job of cooking («Εκτελεί τις επιθυμίες σας… σκέπτεται μόνη της»). This promised double-ego, that of the person who is free to live and create, and that of the selfsame person who possesses the technical means to satisfy all material necessities, was of course never to be fully realized in the post-war period: the “Amalia-type”, whether as a wage-labourer or as a freelance professional, would in the majority of cases be faced by some ceiling delimiting her economic and consumer capacity, thus rendering such “Dream” of a double-ego veritably utopian. And yet, the 1960’s and 1970’s would constitute a time when the “Amalia-type” would be able to come to possess and use that «αυτόματη εστία EGO» in important dimensions of her everyday life – one such vital dimension being the practice of cooking. One would not, as Roupa (op. cit.) has pointed out, ever see the “abolition of the housewife” – but the ‘mediaeval’ conditions of life of the pre-war Greek woman-as-cook would be over once and for all.

To further examine positive material content in advertizing discourse at the time, we shall need to examine what Galbraith (op. cit.) had called “goods … related … to elementary physical sensation” – goods, in other words, which “protect against cold” and which, for him, had “come to comprise a small and diminishing part of production”. To understand the role of such goods in Greece – and their promotion through advertisements – we should perhaps first consider what weather conditions were like in Greece in the 1960’s and then consider such goods in such meteorological context. We are not at all suggesting that the weather conditions of Greece were in any way exceptional in comparison to, say, those of the USA – but we do need to keep in mind how those particular weather conditions would have affected the “average Greek” who was only just beginning to taste the fruits of technological modernity, and whose usual protection against the cold had been limited to the fireplace (as at Aliarto, especially in the early 1960’s).

Let us consider a number of typical winter months in the region of Boeotia and its environs in 1965. We note that temperatures in the area on October 10 ranged from a mild maximum of 24°C to a minimum of 14°C. By November 28, temperatures would drop to a maximum of 18°C and a minimum of 10°C. Then, by December 3, temperatures would continue to drop further to a maximum of 15°C and a minimum of 9°C. December 4 would see rainfalls throughout the area, and by December 8, while maximum temperatures would have risen slightly to 19°C, the minimum would drop to 5°C. But then, four days later on December 12, newspapers would be reporting the advent of a «ΣΦΟΔΡΟΤΑΤΗ ΚΑΚΟΚΑΙΡΙΑ» and people would be saying that real winter had set in, commenting on its rather late arrival. The Aegean would be beset with wind forces ranging from 32-38 M.P.H. (7 on the Beaufort scale) and even went on to a fresh gale of 39-46 M.P.H. (8 on the Beaufort scale) – with ships out at sea experiencing a variety of problems. By December 14, the minimum temperature would rise slightly to 6°C, but the maximum temperature would not exceed 10°C. Between December 15 and 17, maximum temperatures would range from 12°C to 13°C, but minimums would be stuck at 1°C. And then, by January 6, 1966, all hell would truly break loose: newspapers would be writing of a «Δριμύτατον ψύχος» throughout the country, with heavy snowfalls everywhere (including Athens). Temperatures would be freezing, being usually stuck at 0°C, and rarely raising their head to 6°C at the very most. By January 8 of that year, Boeotia itself would be receiving very heavy snowfalls, villages in the environs would be cut off from local centers, and the cold north winds would be scathing the faces of those workers who could still make it to factories such as that of Douridas, Michaelidis and Marakis. Temperatures on January 8 would start from 0°C and go well below freezing point. Such weather conditions would continue throughout that month with snowfalls and heavy storms in various parts of Boeotia – in fact temperatures would drop even further by January 28 and 29.

Now, it was directly to such real and harsh weather conditions that the advertizing industry would be responding – it would be such reality, in other words, which would ‘feed’ the positive material content of advertisements promoting heating appliances at that time of year. We have noted above that, by November 1965, temperatures would start to fall (from 24°C to 18°C maximum, etc.), and would thus inaugurate the gradual setting in of winter cold. It was absolutely natural for producers of heating appliances to have immediately grabbed the opportunity – exactly by November of that year – and advertized their goods to a freezing population, most of which – especially in places such as Aliarto – still had to depend on the burning of wood so as to warm themselves (use of fireplaces, or “primitive” «ξυλόσομπες» – the Aliartian barber would only be able to buy such «σόμπα» by early 1963). In November 1965, the Akropolis would carry the following advertisement:

«…ΚΙ’ ΕΣΕΙΣ ΔΑΜΑΣΤΕ ΤΟ ΚΡΥΟ… μια ζεστή
συντροφιά μέσα στον άγριο Χειμώνα…
ΘΕΡΜΑΣΤΡΑ MASTER… ΤΕΛΕΙΑ ΕΙΔΗ ΓΙΑ ΤΕΛΕΙΟ
ΝΟΙΚΟΚΥΡΙΟ» (cf. Akropolis, 28.11.1965,
p. 6, my emph.).

Locating this particular advertisement within the time and place in which it was published, one realizes how deeply real it is in relation to the needs of such time and place: very simply, it quite spontaneously responds to the socio-climatic environment of which it is here an organic part («μέσα στον άγριο Χειμώνα…»). On the other hand, one cannot fail to notice that this advertisement also goes on to add to such real response that quite ‘ideologically’-laden phrase «ΓΙΑ ΤΕΛΕΙΟ ΝΟΙΚΟΚΥΡΙΟ», and which seems to want to play with the wishful thinking and the emotional world of women. But even such “manipulative” intentions should not be seen as a purely external ‘intervention” imposed haphazardly on housewives – as mentioned, the “Amalia-type” at least (and especially given her young age) would actually dream of a “perfect home” for her future family – in fact, even within conditions of poverty, housewives would nonetheless create their own cozy little “hub” which constituted a self-created space relatively autonomous of the harsh reality of life outside of it (cf. our paper on the Meletiou family, and which includes references to the literary work of Dimitris Hatzis on this issue). In any case, merely evoking images of the «ΤΕΛΕΙΟ» in such a discourse would be to reduce it to an ineffective empty shell were there to be an absence of its crux, which is its positive material content – such crux, of course, being the thing sold during a heavy winter-time to ward off the cold. We therefore have here some sort of balance between the real (the heater) and the only half-real (the “dream”).

We need to try and empathize with some Aliartian mother and her children crouching in front of a fireplace on that Saturday of 8th January, 1966, when heavy snow would begin to cover her little hovel of a place (which was once, as sometimes happened, used as a barn) and with temperatures at below zero – the question raised is how she would have most probably responded to the following advertisement which had continually been published in the pages of Apogevmatini at least since November 1965 and which went as follows:

«ΠΡΟΣΕΞΑΤΕ… ΚΑΤΑΠΛΗΚΤΙΚΗ ΕΥΚΑΙΡΙΑ…
ΘΕΡΜΑΣΤΡΕΣ – 10.000 ΘΕΡΜΙΔΩΝ –
ΕΥΡΩΠΑΪΚΟΥ ΤΥΠΟΥ ΜΕ ΚΑΥΣΤΗΡΑ ΚΑΙ
ΤΑΜΠΕΡ ΕΥΡΩΠΗΣ – ΜΟΝΟΝ ΔΡΧ. 1.950…»
(cf. Apogevmatini, 9.11.1965, p. 2).

Would the mother have focused her attention on the product’s “European” make or on its thermal capacity («10.000 ΘΕΡΜΙΔΩΝ») as such? Further, would she have dwelt on such “European” make or on that «ΜΟΝΟΝ ΔΡΧ. 1.950»? Any mother whose children are threatened by cold and whose husband is persistently working hard so as to make ends meet, would naturally have ‘bracketed’ all the “frills” of the advertisement and would have given that strategic word «ΜΟΝΟN…» her “closest thought and attention” – what would have directly concerned her, in other words, would be material matters involving palpable things such as the need for cash and the need to deal with cold. Here, specific material conditions of a meteorological nature – as also of a clearly economic one – would have called for a very specific response on her part, and the positive material content of this advertisement (thermal capacity and cash needed) would have counter-responded to the questions posed by the mother’s “thought and attention”. The immediate conclusion one may jump to is what we have referred to as the ‘bracketing’, on the part of the consumer, of whatever “manipulative frills” in the discourse, and which would have made the impact of such “frills” to simply ‘fade away’. And yet, and as in the case of the «ΘΕΡΜΑΣΤΡΑ MASTER» advertisement above, such ‘bracketing’ would never be total and the advertizing company would not be haphazardly throwing any alien concept right in the face of the Aliartian mother. If, as we have said, the “Amalia-type” would dream of a «ΤΕΛΕΙΟ» home of her own, she would also – as would the “average Greek” – be harbouring a “European Dream” of sorts (at least as regards life-standards), and thus the reference to the «ΕΥΡΩΠΑΪΚΟΥ ΤΥΠΟΥ» cannot possibly be reduced to a mere “manipulative frill” aimed at disorientation. We would therefore again have here some degree of balance between, on the one hand, the heater, its thermal capacity and its price, and on the other, the “Euro-dream”. For that mother on that Saturday of early January 1966, it would be the material conditions of cold that would make her tilt her “thought and attention” towards the former and not much to the latter side of the scale (a balancing mechanism would be facilitating precisely such free play). The advertizing industry was truly ‘communicating’ with her, but just as she was with it, for it would be she who would be ultimately determining the specific tilt of the balance.

Speaking of people’s “close thought and attention” devoted to the question of the need for cash so as to deal with the cold, we may here briefly consider real consumer capacity to actually buy electrically-powered heaters. A January 1966 advertisement would make the following announcement:

«Ελάτε να σας ΖΕΣΤΑΝΟΥΜΕ… με τη μεγαλύτερη
ποικιλία θερμαστρών… από 100 δρχ. μηνιαίως…
ΠΟΛΛΕΣ ΔΟΣΕΙΣ…» (cf. Apogevmatini,
5.1.1966, p. 7).

Were Amalia Eleftheriadou to have decided to pick and choose whatever heater she wanted from the variety mentioned in the above advertisement, and given her daily earnings of 65 drachmas at the time, she would have to work, roughly speaking, about one and a half days per month at the A&M Mill Headquarters so as to be able to pay that installment of 100 drachmas. And were she to have also decided to buy a fridge with an installment of 165 drachmas per month, she would have to devote about four of her 25 work-days per month to settle her dues for both appliances. Despite the relatively hard material conditions of the 1960’s, therefore, things promised by advertisements would be relatively reachable. And we can say this with some certainty as we bear in mind that, with specific reference to the early-1960’s, the current “Dreams” even of the youthful “Amalia-type” were, in the last instance and with respect to material matters, realistic dreams. The “realism” of people right after the end of the Civil War and for some years on is brought to our attention by an interesting little booklet published in 1950 by the «ΣΥΛΛΟΓΟΣ ΤΟ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟΝ ΦΩΣ» [The Greek Light Association] and entitled Για μια καινούργια Ελλάδα» [For a new Greece]. Speaking of what it called «Το δεύτερο όνειρο» [“The Second Dream”] (and which concerned the amelioration of material conditions), it would say this as regards the wishes of the Greek people:

«Ονειρεύεται τώρα μιάν Ελλάδα άξια…
Και βολικός άνθρωπος καθώς είναι, δεν
έχει μεγάλες απαιτήσεις, ούτε καν στο
όνειρό του. Δεν ζητά από την Ελλάδα να
γίνη από την μια στιγμή στην άλλη παράδεισος.
Δεν ζητά κρεμαστούς κήπους, αλλά λίγα
απλά πράγματα» (p. 8).

That the “average Greek” at that particular period of time harboured “realistic dreams” only apparently contradicts what we have identified as the “Amalia-type’s” wish for the «ΤΕΛΕΙΟ» (be that a fridge, a sitting room or a husband). An Amalia Eleftheriadou was both “frenzied” enough as a youth (as regards, for instance, her sexuality), and “realistic” enough as a working person, to set herself manageable goals for her short-term present and long-term goals for that «ΤΕΛΕΙΟ» in her looming future. That ability to be both a “realistic” and a “utopian” “Dreamer” was precisely symptomatic of what we have identified as her transitional nature as a “New Type”. Thus, she could both compromise with the ‘grandiose’ messages of advertisements in her short-term present (thus remaining indifferent to them) and fight for the realization of such very messages in long-term manageable units of the ‘reachable’ in what was being promised (one may assume that the older generations were themselves perhaps more of that «βολικός άνθρωπος» centered around more short-term goals). Thus, both the “Amalia-type” and that youngish mother with her freezing kids in that winter of 1966 would have certainly focused their attention on advertized heaters to warm their bones there and then, and would have eyed that reference to the “European” as a more long-term target. Unlike the particular mother, however – who had to take care of her two kids and let her husband be the sole breadwinner – Amalia Eleftheriadou was in some way more privileged: being single and belonging to a family with two other working members (father and brother), they could all three have pooled their resources and bought their family both a fridge and a heater right at the same time. We have noted that installments for household appliances could range from minimums such as 165 drachmas to 100 drachmas and, in the absence of any other serious emergency expenses, even Amalia’s meager income would be enough to allow her to venture into such purchases. As regards the question of pooling incomes within family units, we may simply note here that this was a very common practice at the time: we have seen such pooling practices in examining the case of the Meletiou family (op. cit.), and which is also evident in literature referring to the 1960’s – one example of this is Loula Didika’s little novel, entitled Τα ανθρώπινα κουρέλια [Human rags], published in Athens in 1963, and which describes the pooling of family resources as follows:

«Μάνα, πατέρας, και δυο αγόρια δούλευαν
όλοι και μάζευαν κάθε Σάββατο το μεροκάματο,
αλλουνού μεγάλο κι’ αλλουνού μικρό. Όμως όλα
τα κανόνισαν τόσο νοικοκυρεμένα, που έβαζαν
κάτι και στην πάντα… – Για να πάρουμε ένα
οικοπεδάκι, όπως έλεγαν… Από τώρα σκέπτονται
την προίκα που θα δώσουν μια μέρα στο
στερνοπούλι τους, που είναι κοριτσάκι» (p. 39).

This state of affairs, we should say, characterized large numbers of the “average Greek family” amongst the popular masses, and allows us to understand how it would be possible for even “poor” Aliartian families – such as that of Amalia – to at some point attain a certain consumer capacity to enable them to finally buy (and at times even renew) electric appliances for their home.

Still on the question of heating, we shall need to emphasize the primary importance that Greek parents would place on the matter of keeping warm, especially when it came to their children. We have already pointed above to that almost psychotic obsession, on the part of the 1960’s Greek parents, to feed (or even over-feed) their children, and which was a direct psychological consequence of that «τρομερόν χειμώνα» of 1941-2. Similarly, and very naturally so, the Greek parent would almost automatically connect whatever harsh winter-period of the 1950’s and 1960’s to that tragic winter. Thus, that almost psychotic obsession with food always went hand-in-hand with that as persistent obsession to protect children from the cold. The Aliartian barber would remember how, as a youth in the 1940’s, he always had to don whole sets of clothes, one set on top of the other, whenever he had to go out, and which would keep him from moving freely. His mother, he would muse, would actually force this on him, covering up his body with layers of clothing «σαν κρεμμύδι». And this could even more or less apply to when he was indoors and had to limit his movements around the warmth of the fireplace. Directly related to this, we may here quote a text published in the periodical Romantso (τεύχ. 1248, 31.1.1967, p. 24), and entitled «Το κρύο άλλοτε και τώρα». Amongst other observations, it states:

«Έτσι, δεν μπορούμε, να καταλάβουμε γενικώς
τα βάσανα του χειμώνα προπολεμικώς.
Στα σπίτια τρέμαμε, σαν κολασμένοι,
και πολλές νύχτες κοιμόμασταν ντυμένοι».

Now, this generalized obsession to ward off the cold at all costs would continue through to the 1960’s and even the 1970’s – advertizing companies had of course full knowledge of such real obsession and would ‘tap’ it by promoting a variety of products the central function of which was to keep people as warm as possible. One could of course say that advertizing discourse in this case was exploiting such mass popular ‘weakness’ – and yet, one would also have to acknowledge that advertisers were not themselves ‘manufacturing’ such obsessive need for warmth. Thus, the content of such discourse would essentially be of the “positive material” type, responding as it was to a pre-given reality. One such advertisement, published in December 1965, would promote a blanket with, inter alia, special heating-powers – it read as follows:

 «… απ’ αυτόν τον χειμώνα… κουβέρτες CRYLOR
 … μια Νέα δημιουργία χωρίς προηγούμενο…
 Όλες οι κουβέρτες ζεσταίνουν… η CRYLOR –
 ανάλαφρη και απαλή – ζεσταίνει περισσότερο
… Όλες οι κουβέρτες πλένονται, αλλά πώς
γίνονται… Η CRYLOR πλένεται εύκολα στο
ηλεκτρικό σας πλυντήριο, στεγνώνει αμέσως
και γίνεται καινούργια… Η κουβέρτα CRYLOR,
λουσάτη και απρόσβλητη απ’ τον σκώρο, διαθέτει
και το ακαταμάχητο πλεονέκτημα – χάρις στην
ειδική τεχνική επεξεργασία – ΝΑ ΜΗΝ ΜΑΔΑΗ
ΚΑΙ ΝΑ ΜΗΝ ΧΝΟΥΔΙΑΖΗ… Για το σύγχρονο σπίτι…»
(cf. Akropolis, 5.12.1965, p. 4, my emph.).

This advertisement presented the consumer with a whole list of ‘special’ qualities which would presumably make the particular blanket – which was of French make – superior in comparison with others. But what is of interest here is that the creator of this advertizing discourse, being aware of the Greek ‘weakness’ to keep as warm as possible, places the question of warmth right at the top of the list of the various ‘special’ qualities of the product. Such strategically-placed message was obviously meant to immediately attract the attention of Greeks at a time of year, December, when temperatures would be dropping to 9°C, and then to 5°C, then down to 1°C, and which would yield that «ΣΦΟΔΡΟΤΑΤΗ ΚΑΚΟΚΑΙΡΙΑ» we have noted above.

It would be quite wrong to assume that this CRYLOR advertisement constituted an isolated case – we shall present two further samples of that type of advertizing discourse which directly reflected both the socio-climatic conditions of Greece in the 1960’s as also the pre-given mass obsessive need to be protected from the cold. Again in December 1965, we could see an advertisement such as the following:

«Η ΑΤΟΜΙΚΗ ΣΑΣ ΚΕΝΤΡΙΚΗ ΘΕΡΜΑΝΣΙ…
ΑΝΔΡΙΚΑ ΚΑΙ ΓΥΝΑΙΚΕΙΑ ΕΣΩΡΟΥΧΑ –
THERMOFAN (ΘΕΡΜΟΦΑΝ)… Δημιουργούν
ένα θερμό στρώμα αέρος, που απομονώνει
το κρύο και την υγρασία…»
(cf. Akropolis, 8.12.1965, p. 5).

In the winter of 1964, the periodical Romantso would run the following advertisement:

«ΠΡΟΦΥΛΑΧΘΗΤΕ ΑΠ’ ΤΟΝ ΧΕΙΜΩΝΑ…
Κλείστε τον έξω από το σπίτι
με ΤΕΖΑΜΟΛ
Στις πόρτες, τα παράθυρα
τοποθετήστε Τεζαμόλ.
Το Τεζαμόλ
είναι σπογγώδης ταινία που
κολλά αυτομάτως με ελαφρά πίεσι.
Έτσι εμποδίζει τον παγωμένο αέρα
και την υγρασία να μπαίνουν μέσα.
Χρησιμοποιήστε το αμέσως!...»
(cf. Romantso, No 1138,
22.12.1964, p. 45).

We may next consider the question of advertizing promoting furniture: the positive material content of advertizing discourse promoting various pieces of furniture would take its own very specific form: unlike the household appliances we have thus far examined, furniture does not of course directly involve questions of saving on time and energy, of preserving food-stocks or of protecting the body from the cold. In other words, whatever positive material content in advertisements promoting furniture would not place much emphasis on the technical functionality of an artifact (though that too could also be addressed at times) – two factors were to play a central role in the crux of ‘positive content’ here: first, simply informing people who still used home-made, “primitive” furniture of the cheap availability of technologically manufactured tables and chairs (that is, urging them to go beyond the low «σοφρά» and beyond tree-trunks, etc.); second, and most important for those who were already moving beyond the primary stage of the “primitive”, introducing people to the new ‘aesthetics’ of household furniture. But when we speak of an ‘introduction’ to ‘aesthetics’ we do not mean it in the sense of an imposed “manipulation” of mass taste so that people buy useless “luxuries” – as already suggested above, mass ‘aesthetic taste’ and the desire for so-called “luxuries” was part and parcel of what we have identified as the historically-determined middle-class milieu. At least as regards furniture, therefore, ‘aesthetic taste’ constituted a real and palpable psycho-somatic relation to particular objects of furniture – and advertizing discourse had no choice but to promote that. Such psycho-somatic relationship to the “modern” ‘aesthetic taste’ – as that was inscribed in furniture – was a self-defining characteristic of the middle class milieu and was or had to be reflected in the positive material content of 1960’s/1970’s discourse – it was precisely this reflection which constituted the very specific form of advertizing discourse when it came to pieces of furniture.

To give us some idea of the ‘aesthetics’ inscribed in furniture – and as this was expressed in advertizing discourse – we present here an excellent sample published in 1974 in the weekly periodical Epikaira (and a section of which we have elsewhere used in discussing the ‘mechanization’ of Greek society) – the full advertisement read as follows:

«πολύτιμα έπιπλα από μέταλλο και ξύλο…
Ένας αιώνας πείρα
στην κατεργασία του ξύλου
μας οδήγησε σε νέες λύσεις για
την αισθητική αξιοποίηση του μετάλλου.
Έτσι ξαναδώσαμε στο δύσκολο αυτό υλικό
την χαμένη του ευγένεια.
Δημιουργώντας στα μέτρα του ανθρώπου:
σε μια εποχή που όλοι βιομηχανοποιούν,
εμείς προσωποποιούμε.
ΒΑΡΑΓΚΗΣ» (cf. Epikaira, No 322,
3-9.10.1974, p. 2, my emph.).

We are suggesting that the middle class milieu would define itself as such through its relationship with the ‘aesthetics’ of the new furniture designs – the «ΒΑΡΑΓΚΗΣ» advertisement tries to materialize just such relationship: the manufacturers would inscribe an «αισθητική» and an «ευγένεια» into the furniture which would be reflected in the person using such objects («προσωποποιούμε»). We well know, of course, that what the period was really all about was the mass manufacturing of artifacts (the advertizing discourse would itself admit that reality– «όλοι βιομηχανοποιούν») – but what we need to understand about the ‘aesthetics’ of the period – an important issue brilliantly analyzed by Hobsbawm (cf. his  The Age of Extremes, op. cit., esp. sections IX, X and XI) and to which we shall return below – is that there was an interplay of two forces in the 1960’s and 1970’s:

• Whatever manufactured object would be mass produced precisely as that production would fulfill the needs and tastes of a new mass category of people – i.e. that new social category constituting the “New Amalia-Type”. Put otherwise, the new ‘aesthetic taste’ could only but have been collective just as the new middle class milieu, being a milieu, was itself a collective phenomenon.
• However, and right at the same time, each and every individual participating within such a milieu would also see – and relish in – the triumph of his own person, picking and choosing artifacts from an increasingly wide range of designs which he would feel expressed his own supreme individuality – that, of course, is exactly what the «ΒΑΡΑΓΚΗΣ» advertizing discourse was getting at with its emphasis on «προσωποποιούμε» (and we have already noted the emphasis placed on the “EGO” in examining the purely technical functions of the flamina Supermatic kitchen-stove above). On this question of individual expression through the ‘aesthetics’ of a particular product, we should perhaps note that this was to take almost unheard of proportions by the early-1980’s. And to further understand how the early post-war  ‘aesthetics’ in artifacts and their advertizing discourse would in fact express the individual of the middle class milieu then, it would be useful to briefly dwell on the end-product of this process in its latter, more mature stage: the 1980’s explain the 1960’s («Δεν είναι η ανατομία του πιθήκου που εξηγεί την ανατομία του ανθρώπου, αλλά η ανατομία του ανθρώπου που εξηγεί εκείνην του πιθήκου», as Louis Althusser would point out – following Marx – in his «Το μέλλον διαρκεί πολύ», Ο Πολίτης, 1992, p. 244). One contemporary study dwelling on the question of consumerism in the 1980’s is that of Wolfgang Streeck, who makes the following observations:

“By the 1980’s, accelerated product design … made
it possible to customize … commodities … to an
unprecedented extent, subdividing the large and
uniform product runs of industrial mass production
into ever-smaller series of differentiated sub-products,
in an effort to get closer to the idiosyncratic preferences
of ever-smaller groups of potential customers…
Product differentiation matched manufactured
goods … more closely to individual consumers’
particular utility functions. At the same time, it enabled
and encouraged consumers to refine that function, by
developing or paying more attention to their individual
wants, on top of the common needs served by
standardized products” (cf. W. Streeck, “Citizens As
Customers”, NLR, 76, JULY-AUG 2012, p. 31).

We may therefore conclude that the post-war ‘aesthetics’ inscribed in commodities such as furniture would commence a process which would ultimately yield at least a relative convergence between the cultural-aesthetic practices and/or “idiosyncratic preferences” of the middle classes and the positive material content of advertizing discourse: such content would come to be much determined by the supremacy of the middle class individual, and that would also apply to the case of Greece in the 1980’s. The 1960’s would be the progenitor to such process: what has been referred to as the “diversified quality production” (ibid.) of the 1980’s was a consequence of the fact that, gradually through the years following the 1960’s decade, a certain market saturation would be reached in the variety and range of so-called ‘standard products’ (that there was such variety/range in the 1960’s, at least in the Greek case, was ensured by the existence of competitive manufacturing capital).

What specific form would furniture ‘aesthetics’ take in the 1960’s and early-1970’s? Again, there would be a variety of forms and their range would also be determined by their price. Here, we shall merely consider one such form which, while basically for the higher “wage-brackets”, would nonetheless appeal to the young and its particular style would be popular enough to be reproduced in cheaper varieties. The Epikaira would carry the following advertisement in 1974:

«Το έπιπλο είναι αυτό που δίνει την προσωπικότητα
σε ένα σπίτι. Σήμερα ο άνθρωπος προσπαθεί να
αποφύγη την λεγομένη “βαρειά” ατμόσφαιρα και
να βρεθή σε ένα περιβάλλον χαρούμενο και νεανικό.
… Αυτό ακριβώς συνειδητοποίησε η “URETHANE HELLAS”,
η οποία στο άριστα εξοπλισμένο εργοστάσιό της,
κατασκευάζει έπιπλα πραγματικά για νέους ανθρώπους.
… Οι άνθρωποι της εποχής μας, που συνδυάζουν το
μοντέρνο με το απλό, οι σύγχρονοι άνθρωποι,
ενθουσιάζονται κυριολεκτικά με τα σύνθετα έπιπλα
από πολυουρεθάνη, που κατασκευάζει η “URETHANE
HELLAS” και τα οποία αποθαυμάζουν στην Μητροπόλεως
85. Δίκαια άλλωστε, διότι τα έπιπλά της, που τα χαρακτηρίζει
η κομψότητα και τα οποία φέρουν την σφραγίδα του
μοντέρνου, είναι κατάλληλα για πολλές χρήσεις… Κομψά
σύνολα για χώλ, σαλόνι …[etc.]…, δίνουν μια χαρούμενη
νότα στο περιβάλλον και την αίσθηση του ωραίου, που μόνον
η “URETHANE HELLAS” μπορεί να χαρίση σε ένα σύγχρονο
σπίτι…» (cf. Epikaira, op. cit., p. 7).

This advertisement helps to give us some idea of the aesthetic material content of advertizing discourse promoting furniture and as that was materialized in the real artifact – and it is especially useful since, being published in the early-1970’s, it represents a final consummation of styles as these had first sprouted in the decade of the 1960’s. A closer reading of it allows us to draw the following conclusions with respect to the question of ‘aesthetics’:

1. As we have seen with the «ΒΑΡΑΓΚΗΣ» advertisement above, which places an emphasis on «προσωποποιούμε» and which had allowed us to draw certain conclusions about the role of the middle class milieu of supreme individuality – so here too, we see that the «URETHANE HELLAS» advertisement itself sees ‘aesthetics’ as a value which brings the individual person to the forefront – here, this happens by giving an individual’s own home its special  «προσωπικότητα» through particularly designed pieces of furniture.
2. It further relates ‘aesthetics’ to youth: «έπιπλα πραγματικά για νέους ανθρώπους» – it thus addresses itself to and is itself a cultural product of the youthful “New Type” of person born in the post-war years and in the process of maturing in the 1970’s, and which – as a social collectivity – was the vanguard of a «νεανικό» socio-cultural revolution gradually yielding a new type of «περιβάλλον».
3. It thus naturally places emphasis on “modernity” and on the “contemporary man”: notice phraseology such as «την σφραγίδα του μοντέρνου» or «το μοντέρνο», and «Οι άνθρωποι της εποχής μας» or «οι σύγχρονοι άνθρωποι». It therefore more or less directly suggests that their own furniture-design has either by-passed or gone well beyond the pre-war “old”, “traditional” and “primitive” type.
4. Such “modernity” had yielded its own very specific furniture-design: its style was characterized by simplicity and a smart elegance: «το απλό» and «η κομψότητα».
5. Such “modernistic simplicity” was itself the epitome of a sense of the ‘aesthetically beautiful’: notice the phrase «την αίσθηση του ωραίου».
6. By the early-1970’s, such ‘aesthetic beauty’ in furniture would be achieved through the use of new, technologically-manufactured “synthetic” materials which would go beyond, not only wood, but also those of Formica and Nylon, which had been so popular in the 1960’s (as has been discussed above). Technological developments since then would mean that, by now, people would have access to the «σύνθετα έπιπλα από πολυουρεθάνη» – such new material being a new type of plastic.
7. Interestingly, all such super-modern ‘aesthetics’ would nonetheless be re-establishing and re-structuring that bastion and dominion of the Greek middle class milieu, it being the “Greek Home” – though by now that relatively autonomous spatial “hub” we have referred to above would be “protecting” the individual in a rather new architectural interior and from a new external environment. As we have seen above, the «URETHANE HELLAS» advertisement would speak of such external reality as follows: «Σήμερα ο άνθρωπος προσπαθεί να αποφύγη την λεγoμένη “βαρειά” ατμόσφαιρα και να βρεθεί σε ένα περιβάλλον χαρούμενο και νεανικό». We know that the use of the term «χαρούμενο» is in itself meaningless and would have hardly convinced anyone of his personal “happiness” – but the discourse is so sensitive to the question of the individual’s «προσωπικότητα» that it would apply such attribute – as already noted above – to the “protective hub” itself.

We have spoken above of a new architectural interior, and we of course meant this with reference to the new furniture-designs that were gradually sprouting throughout the 1960’s and whose style was reaching some degree of consummation by the 1970’s – we have chosen to use the term architectural because it was rather popular at the time. We simply present here a 1971-72 sample of a simple advertisement to verify this point:

«εσωτερική
αρχιτεκτονική
έπιπλα – ΚΟΥΒΔΟΣ –
ΚΕΝΤΡΙΚΑ ΓΡΑΦΕΙΑ:
ΕΡΓΟΣΤΑΣΙΟΝ:
ΕΚΘΕΣΙΣ…»
(cf. Άστυ Καλλιθέας, 1884-1972,
Εκδοσεις: Εφημερίδος Η
 Καλλιθέα, p. 289).

Now, in examining the question of advertizing discourse promoting furniture, we have said that the positive material content of such discourse would be a primarily ‘aesthetic’ material content: whatever technical functionality regarding furniture would take second place. And yet, and especially as regards the “poorer” popular masses, that “hub”-“home” we have been referring to was most often a ‘spatial dominion’ very much limited in terms of square meters, and people who would decide to renew its ‘internal architecture’ would have to keep this reality in mind. In fact, as one re-visits Aliarto and walks around in search of the old dwellings still remaining since the 1960’s, one is struck by how truly small many of these were and wonders how it was really possible for a whole family to have been able to fit in them (the Aliartian barber’s second rented house in the area, and housing four family-members, would not have come to much more than 50-60 square meters). Blocks of flats being built in the wider Athens area in the 1960’s (such as at Egaleo, Petroupoli, etc., and which were to house many ex-Boeotians) were themselves as miniscule. A resident of the Athens suburb of Kokkino Mylo in the early-1960’s, the then newly-wed Anna Papaspiropoulou, would describe the otherwise relatively spacious house she initially lived in as follows:

«Το σπίτι είχε δυο κρεβατοκάμαρες, μια κουζίνα,
ένα σαλόνι… Και ζούσαμε τόσοι άνθρωποι. Η πεθερά
μου κι ο πεθερός μου, οι δυο κουνιάδοι μου, ο
αδελφός του πεθερού μου κι εμείς. Μπροστά, στο
σαλόνι, είχαμε τρεις καναπέδες, στον κάθε καναπέ
κοιμότανε κι ένας άνθρωπος. Εμένα η πεθερά μου
μου ‘δωσε την κρεβατοκάμαρα. Αλλά ζούσαμε καλά
όλοι μαζί…» (cf. 22η προφορική μαρτυρία, κυρία
Άννα, Κόκκινος Μύλος, 9.12.2011).

The relatively “poor”, wage-earning Greek would therefore often opt for pieces of furniture which would combine ‘aesthetics’ with simplicity and multi-functionality (for a historically perceptive discussion of such combination in “modern” furniture, cf. Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes, op. cit., pp. 239-240). Advertizing discourse would often respond directly to such material-functional needs regarding furniture and would thus further enrich the positive material content of its discourse. We may here consider the following sample of advertizing discourse which appeared in the early-1970’s:

«έπιπλα για μικρούς χώρους
‘ΚΟΜΦΟΡ ΛΙ’…
Στην έκθεση ΚΟΜΦΟΡ… είδαμε έπιπλα
πρωτότυπα, για μικρά σπίτια, που
μεγαλώνουν και μακραίνουν, ανάλογα
με τις ανάγκες του χώρου. Ο δημιουργός
τους κ. Χατζάκης διαθέτει διπλώματα
ευρεσιτεχνίας. Επίσης ξεχωρίσαμε ένα
καναπέ που γίνεται ο ίδιος μονό και διπλό
κρεββάτι, μια πολυθρόνα… που γίνεται
ξαπλώστρα, ένα πτυσσόμενο κρεββάτι
τοίχου και πολλά άλλα σε πρωτότυπα σχέδια»
(cf. Epikaira, op. cit., p. 27).

Perhaps we should also add here that the «URETHANE HELLAS» advertisement discussed above, while definitely emphasizing the primary role of the ‘aesthetic’ element in the products it is promoting, would nonetheless also point to their “multi-functionality” somewhere along the line of its discourse («για πολλές χρήσεις»).

As in the case of certain other home appliances (fridges, kitchen-stoves), so too pieces of furniture would themselves enter the generalized wave of exchanges/renewals which we have said was a mass trend characterizing the decade of the 1960’s. Of course, for those many Aliartians who in the early-1960’s were only just beginning to move from their “primitive” tree-trunks and their «σοφρά» to Formica furniture, there was nothing really to give in exchange of the new. On the other hand, at least for people belonging to the upper middle classes – or, in any case, for those who belonged to the old and fairly well-established middle classes dating back to the pre-war years – such renewal of their furniture was already happening. Here, we may remind ourselves of the Koumandareas quote presented above and which speaks precisely of such furniture renewing in 1963 – «Η μισή πόλη …  άδειαζε από σαβούρα – δηλαδή κονσόλες, βιενέζικες καρέκλες και μπουφέδες – για να γεμίσει με φορμάικες και νάυλον» (op. cit.). But soon, by the mid-1960’s and on, the rest of the popular masses would be jumping on the bandwagon and would turn a rivulet of exchanges into a veritable torrent of renewals as the years went by and the “average Greek” could devote more of his “thought and attention” to ‘aesthetic taste’ and a bit less to material survival. In other words, sometime after people were able to make their first purchases of manufactured furniture and as their consumer-power would gradually increase, their ‘aesthetic taste’ and imagination would be galvanized, giving birth to new middle class ‘ambitions’. Especially as regards furniture (basic carrier of ‘aesthetics’ in a home and expressing its owner’s «προσωπικότητα»), this would prompt an on-going revolution of renewals in many households, and which could also be accompanied by additions to the household gear. Furniture companies would be facilitating the process and the material content of advertizing discourse would, as in the case of fridges and kitchen-stoves, be the primary mediator of such process. Consider the following 1965 sample advertisement:

«ΕΠΙΠΛΑ ΚΛΑΣΙΚΑ ΜΟΝΤΕΡΝΑ ΔΑΝΕΖΙΚΑ
… Θα σας πάρουμε τα ΠΑΛΙΑ ΩΣ ΠΡΟΚΑΤΑΒΟΛΗ
και θα εξοφλήσετε το υπόλοιπον με 100 ΔΡΧ.
ΤΟΝ ΜΗΝΑ…» (c.f. Ακρόπολις, 5.12.1965,
p. 13, their emph.).

Furniture renewal would demand furniture production – at least as regards local furniture manufacturing, and with reference to merely wooden furniture, official statistics (cf. the “Statistical Yearbook Of Greece, 1972”, op. cit, pp. 355-356) merely point to the explosion of the phenomenon – we simply present below the GDP for “wood and furniture”, for the years 1964-1971:

Million drachmas at 1971-72 prices:
1964       1965       1966       1967       1968       1969       1970       1971

1.332       1.562      1.702      2.087     2.241      2.649      3.033      3.467

Keeping in mind that such figures merely concern furniture made of wood, and thus exclude all artifacts made of “synthetic” materials, and also keeping in mind that this picture excludes all imported goods (GDP being the total value of final products produced within the national boundaries), we may nonetheless draw the tentative conclusion that GDP regarding “wood and furniture” had increased by 2.135 million drachmas within a period of just eight years. Advertizing discourse was both a cause and a product of such a truly historical phenomenon: its positive material content would be its mirror-image.

Perhaps the most obviously positive material function of advertizing discourse in the period we are discussing is evident in the promotion and circulation of sewing machines (introduced to the “periphery” by the early 20th century) – in this very special case, that which would be promoted would be a machine used by very many women to either supplement family income, or to actually fully support a family, or to act as substitute for the buying of clothing. Sewing machines, in other words, were productive property and could function as one of the central means of family-income, thus constituting some form of ‘home-industry’ for many families. And, as we have seen with other home-appliances, advertizing would play a primary role in the promotion and circulation of such invaluable ‘tools’. Their circulation within the Greek female population – and which could include wage-earners such as the “Amalia-type” – would take place, inter alia, through exchanges and renewals. Consider the following very simple (but also very popular) sample of an advertisement in 1965:

«Αγοράζονται και πωλούνται κατ’ οίκον…
άπαντα τα μεταχειρισμένα είδη…
Ραπτομηχαναί…»
(cf. Apogevmatini, 14.12.1965, p. 7).

This type of advertisement – more like a notification of services (buying/selling) – tells us little to nothing about the manner of discourse in which a sewing machine would be promoted: but it is precisely such absence of whatever ‘technique’ which verifies its straight-forward positive materiality (below, we shall be examining more ‘structured’ advertisements promoting sewing machines and which did effect a certain ‘balance’ between, on the one hand, functionality, degrees of technical perfection and efficiency and, on the other, the ‘aesthetics’ or the brand-name of the machine). But this advertisement-notification does give us some idea, not only of the generalized renewal of things in the mid-1960’s which we have noted, but also of the fact that the sewing machine was itself part and parcel of this wave of renewals.

It really could not have been otherwise: we know that sewing machines were very popular amongst Aliartian females, young and old, and especially given their function as productive property or as machines for the production of home-made clothing (for a verification of this in the area of Aliarto, cf. 31η προφορική μαρτυρία, Χρυσούλα Βελέντζα, 97 χρονών, Μούλκι, Αλίαρτος, 19.7.2013). Specifically as regards the use of the sewing machine as a form of ‘home-industry’ in the early-1960’s, Anna Papaspiropoulou (op. cit.) provides us with an excellent picture of such economic activity – this is what she had to say:

«Περάσαμε δύσκολα στην αρχή [i.e. on getting
married, aged 16, 1963], … αλλά δε θέλαμε να
ζητήσουμε απ’ τους γονείς μας. Αλλά σιγά σιγά,
τα καταφέραμε. 67 δραχμές αυτός μεροκάματο
στην οικοδομή, 43 εγώ, το πιάσαμε τελικά το
κατοστάρικο … [I worked] φασόν… Από τις 7 το
πρωί μέχρι τις 12, 1 το βράδυ. Αλλά δούλεψα
και στο εργοστάσιο … στου Βακαλόπουλου [a
textile mill]. Και με την κοιλιά μέχρι τον λαιμό,
πήγαινα στη δουλειά. Ύστερα μπορέσαμε και
πήραμε και ραπτομηχανή, και δούλευα στο σπίτι,
φασόν. Μπήκαμε κι εμείς σιγά σιγά σε μια σειρά.
Αλλά τι δουλειά! Γιατί έπρεπε να βγει παραγωγή,
σου δίναν τα υφάσματα και σου λέγαν ως την
Παρασκευή πρέπει να παραδώσεις. Για να
παραδώσεις έπρεπε να δουλεύεις όλη μέρα.
Αφού και τώρα ακόμα, όταν κάθομαι στην καρέκλα,
πονάνε τα πόδια, εδώ στους γοφούς. Με βοήθαγε
κι ο άντρας μου όταν δεν είχε δουλειά. Είχαμε καλή
συνεννόηση με τον άντρα μου. Ψαλίδιζε, τα
δίπλωνε… Έπρεπε να βγει το μεροκάματο. Γιατί
τότε είχαμε πάρει το οικόπεδο…».

Both the then sixteen year-old Anna at Kokkino Mylo and the then young Chrisoula at Moulki, as also many Aliartian women, would use their sewing machines (often bought second-hand) to supplement family income by working in their homes: most would belong to the “Amalia type” in terms of age and objective class position. Interestingly, even since the 1930’s/1940’s, advertisements would play an important role in simply informing people of the existence of training “workshops” where parents could send their daughters so as to prepare them as competent dressmakers – in this case, such advertizing discourse would basically be fulfilling a social role, and this would also apply through to the 1960’s. Between 1938 and 1940, we would have the circulation of the following type of advertisement:

«ΚΟΠΤΙΚΗ – ΡΑΠΤΙΚΗ
ΚΙΚΗΣ ΧΕΛΜΗ
ΕΡΓΑΣΤΗΡΙΑ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΩΝ ΣΠΟΥΔΩΝ…
Γονείς προτού αποφασίσετε που θα
εμπιστευθήτε τα κορίτσια σας και τα
χρήματά σας, αποτανθήτε εις τον
ΟΙΚΟΝ μου, όστις θα σας εξυπηρετήσι
με όλην την ειλικρίνειαν ήν έχει ως βάσιν
της όλης σταδιοδρομίας του επί μίαν
8ετίαν… Αναλαμβάνω υπευθύνως την
τελείαν εκμάθησιν της ΚΟΠΤΙΚΗΣ διά
του Γαλλικού Σωματομετρικού συστήματος
ΕΝΤΟΣ 3-4 ΜΗΝΩΝ, διά δε τας πρακτικάς
μοδίστρας ΕΝΤΟΣ ΜΗΝΟΣ… Η διδασκαλία
γίνεται παρά της ιδίας κ. Χέλμη.
Οικοτροφείον οικογενειακόν.
Ζητήσατε έντυπον κανονισμόν»
(cf. Η Καλλιθέα…, op. cit., p. 327).

Finally, as regards the use of the sewing machine so as to produce home-made clothing and thereby save on expenses, Didika (op. cit.) presents us with the following 1963 picture (but which happens to be rather melodramatic):

«Από το τρίτο δωμάτιο ξέφευγε από την
μισάνοιχτη πόρτα δυνατό φως… Το είδε η
Κατίνα και σκέφθηκε. – Δουλεύει η Βαγγελίτσα.
Δουλεύει η δεκαπεντάχρονη κοπελλίτσα…
Αλλά την φορά αυτή δεν ράβει ξένο φόρεμα,
ετοιμάζει ένα δικό της. Παντρεύεται μια φίλη της
και είναι από τις πρώτες καλεσμένες… Φτηνό το
ύφασμα και λυπάται γι’ αυτό. Την παίρνει και το
παράπονο, καθώς σκέπτεται πως άλλες κοπέλλες,
σαν αυτήν, έχουν την ντουλάπα τους γεμάτη, απ’
ό,τι ακριβό υπάρχει… Καταπίνει ένα δάκρυ της,
διώχνει μακρυά τις κακές σκέψεις της ζήλειας της,
που καραδοκούν να δηλητηριάσουν την ψυχή της
και ρίχνεται στο ράψιμο… Θα το κάνη πολύ όμορφο,
μια φίνα μοδίτσα και θα της πηγαίνη θαύμα!...
Της επιβλήθηκαν οι σκέψεις της αυτές. Κάθε πικρόχολη
έννοια παραμέρισε και σιγοτραγουδώντας συνεχίζει
το ράψιμό της» (p. 40).

Now, it is important to observe that this type of activity, on the part of any young «Βαγγελίτσα», could be – and very often was – accompanied by a particular form of advertizing discourse which would aid, abet and guide her in the sewing of a particular “fashionable” dress – the advertisement would, not only promote a particular fashion house, etc., but would at the same time offer very specific instructions on how to make the particular piece of clothing (and could include a «ΠΑΤΡΟΝ» as well). At least in the 1960’s and 1970’s, many popular periodicals would at times try to promote a product by presenting its various attributes in the form of an “article” – in similar manner, popular periodicals would offer women practical instructions on the making of a dress and then at some point would go on and advertise the particular clothing company related to that type of dress. Such form of advertizing discourse, taking the form of an “article”, could be said to be “manipulative”. And yet, what we also had here was, not merely a general positive material content in the discourse (generally advising women), or not merely an ‘aesthetic’ content (suggesting latest fashions), but a very specific practical material content: stitch-by-stitch, the dressmaker would follow patterns and instructions offered free of charge, such practice being extremely popular at the time. We present below a 1967 sample of that type of advertisement (which appeared on a regular basis in many popular periodicals):

«ΠΑΛΤΑ… Όσες από τις αναγνώστριές μας
πρόκειται να ράψουν τώρα ένα παλτό, ας
διαλέξουν ανάμεσα από τα μοντέλα μας
αυτό που θα τους ταιριάζη καλύτερα. Είναι
όλα μοντέλα του μεγάλου ιταλικού οίκου
ENTE ITALIANO DELLA MODA… [instructions/
patterns/designs, etc., would usually follow]»
(cf. Romantso, No 1248, 31.1.1967,
p. 87).

It is of some interest to note here that periodicals offering Greek women instructions and patterns on the making of dresses also included – at least as regards the mid-1970’s – foreign publications. For instance, the West German “burda moden”, focusing on women’s fashion, would also include an insert «ΜΕ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΜΕΤΑΦΡΑΣΗ», which presented the Greek female reader with extremely detailed instructions and «ΠΑΤΡΟΝ» for dressmaking. The German-language periodical itself was filled to capacity with a variety of advertisements related to clothing and other artifacts having to do with the home. Readers in Greece were also encouraged to subscribe to it, via the «ΑΜΕΡΙΚΑΝΙΚΟΝ ΠΡΑΚΤΟΡΕΙΟΝ ΤΥΠΟΥ Α. ΣΑΜΟΥΧΟΣ». (cf., for instance, “burda moden – macht Mode zumMitmachen”, 4.4.1976, with Greek-language insert No. 4 [32 pages] included). As detailed instructions on the making of dresses were also presented by the Greek women’s periodical Ekeini [Εκείνη], established in 1975.

Of purely historical interest is the fact that, while such practices involving popular women’s periodicals as described above were extremely widespread among Greek women with an access to a sewing machine in the 1960’s and 1970’s, such practices in Greece can be traced back to the 1940’s, the 1930’s and even – in some way – to the nineteenth century.

As regards the 1940’s, Pavlos Matesis, in his novel, Η μητέρα του σκύλου» (Εκδόσεις Καστανιώτη, Athens, 1990, p. 218), writes:

«Η μαμά της έπλενε τα πιάτα και
η Ραραού χάζευε ένα περιοδικό,
αγόραζε περιοδικό η κυρία Φανή για
να βλέπει νέα σχέδια πλεξίματος».

Writing of the period of the 1930’s, and with reference to the island of Corfu, Spiros Plaskovitis puts the following words in the mouth of a young lady at that time:

«Προσπαθούσα να κεντήσω… Είχα αγοράσει
ένα περιοδικό απ’ το περίπτερο – αυτό ήταν
όλο, γιατί δεν κατάφερα παραπάνω από
πεντέξι βελονιές…» (cf. Spiros Plaskovitis,
 Η πόλη, [The City,Κέδρος, 1980, pp. 172-173).

Finally, with reference to the nineteenth century (1887), Haridimos Papadakis makes the following observation in his (rather crude) study of Greek women residing in Rethymno, Crete:

«Τις ημέρες της εξόδου πάντως, στολίζονται
κοκέτικα, ενημερωμένες καθώς είναι για την
τελευταία μόδα, από τα εικονογραφημένα
περιοδικά που τους φέρνουν οι μοδίστρες
τους. Δεν τους είναι άγνωστα ούτε τα τελευταία
καπελάκια του συρμού…» (cf. H.A. Papadakis,
 Οίκοι ανοχής στην «πολιτεία της ανοχής»,
Rethymno, 2013, p. 83).

The sewing machine did not, for Greek women, lessen physical exertion or expand on free time: as is quite obvious, it added to physical exertion and at times – as in the case of Anna Papaspiropoulou – it absolutely took up all of her free time (but which would not at all prevent the Papaspiropoulos couple from frequently entertaining themselves at tavernas till the small hours of the morning and then directly head straight to work – cf. the interview above). Its invention and final circulation amongst women in Greece by the early 20th century and on would oblige very many women to spend a great deal of their time bent over it. But, on the other hand, the fact that the working of this machine brought in cash (or lessened expenses when it came to clothing) would mean that it was also one important means whereby the family could spend more cash on time/exertion-saving devices such as the washing machine and the kitchen-stove, and which would help much to free women from the extremely burdensome household duties of the not too distant past. (For Papaspiropoulou, working the sewing machine would directly contribute to the buying of a plot of land and to the final building of her first very own “Home”).

This new “form of Greek life” in the early post-war period was therefore, for many women belonging to the popular masses, riddled with contradictions and it was so because – at least for the period of the 1960’s and early-1970’s – it was as we have seen an essentially transitional period. But the hard work women had to do – whether bent over a sewing machine at home or bent over a desk at the A&M Headquarters or doing both of these – was nothing new to the Greek popular masses: they had long managed to forge ‘techniques’ of life combining work with play (to be further examined below). That which was truly new was the «τεχνικαί εγκαταστάσεις» which were entering their lives and revolutionizing people’s relationship with themselves, with others and with the objects around them: the exertion and time these «εγκαταστάσεις» saved would ultimately come to constitute the «χρονική μήτρα» and the «ιστορικότητα» of a new, popular middle class milieu in Greece (we use these terms in a loosely Poulantzian sense). The dependent development of the Greek capitalist system at the time was able to ‘offer’ the popular masses (but only given the pressures of the latter) better material-technical conditions of everyday life – it was, in other words, able to fight what Habermas (op. cit.) had called the «υψηλό κόστος που έπρεπε παλιότερα να καταβάλλει η μάζα του πληθυσμού… στις διαστάσεις της σωματικής εργασίας… [etc.]». In time, the “luxury” of the home appliance would become a “necessity”, and the Greek business world would have to prepare both itself and society for this newly- looming world – as we shall see below, such ‘preparations’ would above all include the form advertizing discourse itself would have to take.

As early as 1956, the periodical Paragogikotis to which we have referred above, and which was the central organ of the business world in Greece (ΣΕΒ), would try to explain to its readers – basically manufacturers – what was in fact happening or was about to happen in Greek society: i.e. that soon the consuming public would be demanding good quality products and «τεχνικαί εγκαταστάσεις» which would no longer be seen as “luxuries” but as a “necessary” means to lighten the burden of housework. Given that in the decade of the 1950’s such developments were only just beginning to emerge in Greece, the periodical of ΕΛΚΕΠΑ would try to explain the new obligations of Greek manufacturers by introducing them to what was happening in Europe at the time – more specifically, it would present to them the “Danish Model”, and which would itself include the rise of organized consumer power, itself presented as a functional structure in post-war capitalist society meant to press manufacturers for the proper promotion and appropriate manufacture of what by now had become absolutely necessary home appliances (as suggested, and as we shall see below, this would have a major impact on the form that modern advertizing discourse would have to necessarily take – apart from its positive material content –, even in Greece).

In an extremely perceptive text which would foresee the radically altered mass definition of what would constitute “material necessity” in Greece itself, Paragogikotis  would present the situation of 1950’s Denmark as follows:

«Κατά την διάρκειαν των παρελθόντων ετών,
η Επιτροπή Αγοραστών ειργάσθη επίσης εντόνως
 δια να ελαφρύνη τας οικιακάς εργασίας και να
δώση συμβουλάς εις τας οικοκυράς… Η Επιτροπή
Αγοραστών είναι τοιουτοτρόπως ο εκπρόσωπος
εκείνων, οι οποίοι ζητούν πλέον συγχρόνους
 κατοικίας, και επιδιώκει να κάμη τας αρχάς και
 τον πληθυσμόν να εννοήση, ότι αι τεχνικαί
 εγκαταστάσεις εις ένα σπίτι όπου η μητέρα σπανίως
 έχει βοηθόν, ενώ συνήθως εργάζεται εκτός της
 οικίας της, δεν είναι πολυτέλεια αλλά ανάγκη»
(cf. Paragogikotis , No 13,
Athens, July-August, 1956, p. 29, my emph.).

This is ΣΕΒ speaking in the mid-1950’s – what does it see coming and what was it in fact then doing? As the coordinating organ of Greek capital – and given its structural bird’s eye view – it is basically advising Greek manufacturers to align themselves to the new demands and the new real needs of the popular masses. Put otherwise, ΣΕΒ was helping both the manufacturing industry and its concomitant promotion industry to adjust to what was happening to Greek civil society – of course, its reference to the “Danish Model” should not be seen as ‘accidental’: ΣΕΒ was much aware of the looming “Euro-tastes” amongst the Greek popular masses and was therefore introducing such ‘Europeanism” to Greek manufacturers and promoters of products.

But, then, the question one need pose is to what extent was the physical burden of the Greek housewife of the 1960’s truly being lifted? To what extent was the “Amalia-type” herself truly able to satisfy her “Euro-tastes”? Alternatively, one need consider the extent to which the Greek middle class milieu “Dream” was in fact “reachable” in the 1960’s and early-1970’s. By that time, the “Amalia-type” would be fully aware that very many of the household appliances being promoted were already no longer mere “luxuries” for her – but what she also knew (and which ΣΕΒ would for its own reasons choose to ignore) was that the Collective Bargaining Agreements clinched between her Union (the Ομοσπονδία Ιδιωτικών Υπαλλήλων Ελλάδος) and ΣΕΒ itself, would be such as to seriously limit her consumer capacity (cf. our paper on remuneration scales for female “White-Collar” employees). This would practically mean that, yes, quite a variety of perhaps “necessary” household gadgets and appliances would, in the 1960’s at least, remain “unreachable” for Amalia Eleftheriadou.  The «χρονική μήτρα» which would give birth to the middle class milieu would, at the time, only carry an embryo; the «ιστορικότητα» of the phenomenon was only just starting to raise its head, and that could only unfold in conditions which involved both socio-cultural clashes and what we have elsewhere referred to as “wage-wars” (cf. our paper on the internal industrial relations structures and practices of the Α&Μ Mill factory). Thus, while the wage-labourer “Amalia-type” did possess a certain consumer power as described above, there were to still remain limits to such power – such limits are best understood if contrasted to, say, an Athenian family belonging to the relatively “upper strata” of the popular middle classes in the period under discussion. One such was that of Maria Theodoraki who worked part-time at the Athens racecourse center and whose husband was a public schoolteacher – this is what she has to say as regards the family’s buying of various family appliances:

«Αγοράσαμε πλυντήριο το 1954, όταν μέναμε
ακόμα στο Κερατσίνι. Το θυμάμαι, γιατί τότε ο
παππούς σου [she is referring to her husband –
interview conducted by her granddaughter]
φόραγε δυο ζευγάρια κάλτσες το χειμώνα, το ένα
πάνω από το άλλο. Κι επειδή εγώ είχα τα παιδιά,
μου είχε φέρει μια γυναίκα, μια πλύστρα, να
πλένει τα ρούχα. Εκείνη όπως τις έβγαζε ο παππούς
σου τις κάλτσες, και τα δυο ζευγάρια μαζί, έτσι
τις έπλενε κι έτσι τις άπλωνε. Και μια μέρα που τις
είχε απλώσει εκεί στην αυλή, του λέω “για δες,
τι είναι αυτά;”. Με παίρνει και μου λέει “Πάμε σ’ ένα
φίλο μου να πάρεις πλυντήριο”. Αυτός ήταν από
τους πρώτους που έφερε πλυντήρια – και
κουζίνες και ψυγεία είχε. Τότε πήραμε πλυντήριο,
και πήραμε και κουζίνα, με τέσσερα μάτια. Τα
πήραμε με δόσεις. Τότε δούλευα κι εγώ στον
Ιππόδρομο, ήταν κι ο παππούς σου δάσκαλος, δεν
ήταν ακριβά. Ό,τι θέλαμε δίναμε κιόλας, γιατί
αυτός ήταν φίλος του παππού. Λίγους μήνες μετά
πήραμε και ψυγείο, αυτό που φέραμε κι εδώ [i.e.
Kallithea] όταν μετακομίσαμε, το 1967-8. ΙΖΟΛΑ πρέπει
να ήταν. Πιο πριν είχαμε ένα ψυγείο ξύλινο, με πάγο.
Παίρναμε μια κολόνα πάγο, ή το ¼, ας πούμε, όσο
χώραγε. Από τον πόλεμο και μετά είχαμε τέτοια
ψυγεία. Μόλις έφυγαν οι Γερμανοί, τότε άρχισε ο
κόσμος να παίρνει απάνω του. Όλα με δόσεις τα παίρναμε»
(cf. Telephonic interview with Maria Theodoraki, aged 88,
20.7.2014).

Considering all that has been agued above thus far, we may say that an important and quite representative advertizing discourse presented by Roupa (op. cit.) and to which we have already alluded, contains both real truths and as real falsehoods as regards the amelioration of the problem of physical burden – published in 1957 in the periodical Eikones [Εικόνες], it would make the following rather dramatic statement:

«Καταργείται η νοικοκυρά»
(cf. Eikones, No 78, April 22-28, 1957;
& Roupa, op. cit., p. 260).

At this point, it is only fair to dwell on the falsehoods of such discourse. The household appliances and their technical functions we have noted above would help a Greek woman to somewhat “abolish” herself as housewife when, for instance, it came to tasks such as washing, cooking or lighting a fire in the fireplace in winter-time. But given the reality of those Collective Bargaining Agreements clinched for a female «Υπάλληλο» (and also given the usual infringement of even such Agreements by the A&M employer), there were quite a number of remaining household tasks which an Amalia Eleftheriadou simply could not afford to substitute with machines – and which had become absolutely “necessary” appliances for young women such as Anna who slaved away over her sewing machine, or Amalia who would also slave away at Headquarters beneath the military-style “despotic” control of her boss, Marakis. One task that the majority of Greek women still had to manually deal with in the 1960’s and 1970’s was that of dish-washing (a task which the majority of Greek males would religiously shy away from, given the sexual division of labour which still dominated both home and workplace at the time, despite the on-going sexual revolution amongst youth). And yet, the dishwasher had made its advent in the Greek market in the period under discussion. Consider the following advertisement which appeared in 1971 and which was presumably addressing itself to the “average Greek”:

«EL – SH
ΡΑΔΙΟΗΛΕΚΤΡΙΚΑ ΕΡΓΑΣΤΗΡΙΑ
ΠΛΥΝΤΗΡΙΑ ΠΙΑΤΩΝ
SIEMENS
ΤΥΠΟΥ: LADY-S
Θ. ΦΟΥΝΤΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ & ΥΙΟΣ…»
(cf. Άστυ Καλλιθέας…, op. cit., p. 269).

This advertisement, also accompanied by a picture of the particular dishwasher, makes no attempt whatsoever at ‘persuading’ consumers about the need for such an appliance: its laconic discourse-content is simply ‘positive’, ‘material’ and therefore straight-forwardly honest. For an Amalia Eleftheriadou, the catch lay elsewhere: it was an unreachable commodity – and which could not therefore “abolish” her regular dish-washing tasks. Being so, its practically “necessary” attributes would, for the “Amalia-type”, seem a “luxury”, and which implies that it was also economic capacity which would historically define what be a “necessity” and what a “luxury”. Time, social pressure and concomitant developments at the political level would gradually re-define all this, by the mid-1970’s and on.

As with the laborious task of washing dishes, so also with the as tedious task of sweeping and mopping floors, physical exertion could have been diminished through the use of an electric appliance. But like the dishwasher, so also the vacuum-cleaner was most probably an unreachable dream for the “Amalia-type” in the mid-1960’s. And yet again, the vacuum-cleaner was available to Greeks by at least then. One can only guess how Amalia Eleftheriadou, or her mother, would have eyed the following 1965 advertisement:

«Σκουπίζει –
Σφουγγαρίζει –
Γυαλίζει –
Αλείφει –
Ξύνει…
PROGRESS – ΣΚΟΥΠΕΣ – ΠΑΡΚΕΤΕΖΕΣ…»
(cf. Akropolis, 30.11.1965, p. 2).

Appliances such as the above, precisely because they would come to be seen as fulfilling real needs, and given the gradual rise in consumer power, would, in the long run, form part of the «τεχνικαί εγκαταστάσεις» of very many Greek households – they would constitute the palpable material infrastructure of the middle class milieu. It was on the basis of such infrastructure – but “in” it and “around” it and “with” it – that the socio-cultural practices of the milieu would be enacted: the technico-functional appliances would not constitute the ‘base’ on which the socio-cultural practices (as a presumed ‘superstructure’) would take place. Technical functions would determine ‘aesthetics’ just as the latter would determine the former: they would together – as a combinatory whole – come to comprise the very “spirit” of the Greek middle class milieu. In the 1960’s, such “whole” would remain incomplete, given the array of as yet “unreachable” goods. As such, the “spirit” of the middle class milieu in the 1960’s would be characterized by a transitional “primitiveness” in itself.

Perhaps the most important terrain of everyday life where the “primitive” would clash with the “modern” in the 1960’s would be around the issue of hygiene – to be more specific: the “spirit” of the middle class milieu would ultimately also come to be determined by what would happen in the Greek toilet. Saying this might sound terribly provocative: the social sciences have traditionally focused on the study of formal institutions such as the State, the Church, etc., or on formal economic transactions as these happen within and between companies, and so on, so as to try to understand the level of ‘development’ of a social formation. And they have done well – but if one is to truly understand any level of ‘development’ amongst the popular masses, one would have to examine their popular practices as such – one such practice is the use of the toilet, and it is of central importance since it may be taken to be an index of “civilization”. Now, any reference to “civilization” may again be seen as provocative: for most historians who had worked on African social history in the 1970’s and 1980’s, the concept of “civilization”, of “being civilized”, etc., had rightly been rejected as symptoms of an arrogant – and therefore biased – “Euro-centrism”. However, one can avoid all biased value-judgements and still accept that certain human practices can be measured along a scale of relative “civilization” within the context of the “modern” world and according to a number of set criteria. Above, one such central criterion has been the degree of physical exertion one has to apply so as to survive. Yet another must surely be that of hygiene and protecting the body from disease, etc. This brings us to the question of what was happening as regards the Greek toilet in the post-war period and the role of technology and advertisements with respect to such reality.

Writing of the period under discussion, George Mihailidis (op. cit.) provides us with the following picture pertaining to Greek toilets round about the decade of the 1960’s:

«Το θυμόμουν καλά το σπίτι… Το έζωνε μια
πλίθινη μάντρα … και πέρα η σκάλα που
ανέβαζε στο σπίτι, δυο δωμάτια με κουζίνα
 κι ο καμπινές χώρια στη γωνιά της μάντρας»
(cf. G. Mihailidis, Tα φονικά, op. cit., p. 178,
my emph.).

What Mihailidis is describing – the “primitive” outdoor toilet – was a generalized phenomenon of the period, and went far back in time. In an interview conducted with a group of Aliartian pensioners, Alekos Karamitros – who had been a worker at the A&M Mill – would explain that even the father-in-law of his boss – Iordanis Abatzoglou – would, in the 1940’s, himself have an outdoor toilet. At the time, Iordanis happened to be the Aliartian owner of a «πετρόμυλο/ριζόμυλο» (to be later expanded and modernized by Marakis into the flour-producing factory of which Amalia Eleftheriadou would be an employee), and could not therefore be said to have belonged to the “poor” popular masses. And yet, when it came to the question of the toilet, his practices would not differ much from those of the rest. Karamitros would relate the following story which took place in war-time Greece:

«Τότε ο Ιορδάνης είχε τρία τέσσερα δωμάτια,
ένα μακρόστενο σπίτι, και η τουαλέτα ήταν
έξω. Οι Ιταλοί [occupying forces] ήταν όλοι
μαζεμένοι στον περίβολο, και η υπηρέτρια
που είχανε, η Μαρία, δεν τολμούσε να βγει
να πάει προς νερού της. Πήγε στην κουζίνα
να κάνει κακά γιατί φοβόταν. Την ανακάλυψε
όμως η Αναστασία [Iordanis’ wife], και άρχισε
να τη χτυπά μ’ ένα ματσούκι. Άκουσε τις φωνές
ο Μαράκης, “Τι έγινε κυρία Αναστασία;” τη
ρωτάει – “κυρία Αναστασία”, έτσι την έλεγε –,
το και το του λέει. Βγήκε έξω ο Μαράκης,
άρπαξε τον Ιταλό [one of the group] και τον
έφερε σβούρα» (cf. 23η προφορική μαρτυρία,
ΚΑΠΗ Αλιάρτου, ομαδική συνέντευξη-συζήτηση
με συνταξιούχους κατοίκους Αλιάρτου,
6.7.2013, πρωί).

When the toilet would be outdoors – as it would be so for the majority of Greeks right through to the 1960’s – getting to it could often turn out to be quite ‘adventurous’. Children would have to face the terrors of the dark if they needed to use the toilet after sunset (one of them had seen a ghostly image in the Aliartian skies); the Aliartian barber’s wife would once safely get there but then come screaming out of it on seeing a snake curled right in the centre of the place; male eyes would often ogle at swaying female bodies footing their way to the toilet; on rainy days one would have to wait for the rain to subside; on hot summer days the smell would attack the nostrils, and so on. Thus, the little story about Maria above was just one amongst thousands like such, during but also long after war-time Greece. Importantly, and at least by the 1960’s, walking to the outdoor toilet would seem to be seriously violating one’s personal privacy – i.e. it would be violating the individual’s right to one’s own private world, something which the young “New Type” would come to really treasure (and which was a defining characteristic of the middle class milieu).

But as the decade wore on, things would begin to change. Of course, for Marakis the small-time capitalist, the contrast between the 1940’s and the 1960’s would be absolutely dramatic as regards the issue of the toilet. The A&M Archives include a plan of the Marakis villa (which was right opposite the factory itself) – it had been prepared by professional designers on 20.11.1964, and was presumably meant to help locate appropriate areas in the house for the installation of an air conditioning system. But what this house-plan also reveals, as regards hygiene, stands in sharp contrast to circumstances in the 1940’s: by now the Marakis family had access to three indoor luxury toilets, each of which also had its own bidet. One of the three was a very spacious room and was entitled «ΛΟΥΤΡΟ ΞΕΝΩΝ» in the plan.

Things would not be that easy for the popular masses – but Nikos Tsiforos, in his Άνθρωποι… (op. cit.), would be describing the advent of the new so-called toilet-related “luxuries” amongst the “average Greek” by the early 1970’s as follows:

«…έδειξε το μαγαζί του, … είδη λουτρού,
με καμπινέδες ροζ, με μπιντέδες βεραμάν,
με του κόσμου τ’ αγαθά, σε απλά γερμανικά
χρώματα της “Φάρμπεν Ιντουστρί”, το
μαγαζί που άρχισε από ένα τίποτα και μεγάλωσε
μαζί με την μεταπολεμική Αθήνα και προμήθευσε
στις καινούργιες πολυκατοικίες, λουτρά μεγαλεία,
 εκεί που πρώτα, ήτανε μια μάντρα, και στην
 άκρη είχανε κτίσει κι ασβεστώσει μια παράγκα
 και για να πας τον χειμώνα φτερνιζόσουνα από
 την μύτη, φτερνιζόσουνα κι από κάτω» (p. 133,
my emph.).

The real “civilizing” progress from what Tsiforos describes as an outdoor «παράγκα» to what he calls the «λουτρά μεγαλεία» does of course suggest some tinge of irony in the story. These developments, which had in fact commenced by the mid-1960’s, were not an easy matter for the popular masses – the problem was not merely economic: for very many people, such radical changes in hygiene practices would constitute a real culture-clash within popular habits, especially though not exclusively in the Greek “periphery” (and hence the Tsiforos irony). Xanthoulis (op. cit.) captures precisely such unfolding clash in the late-1950’s – referring to the year 1958, this is how he puts it:

«Σήμερα, αύριο, το πολύ μεθαύριο κι
έπειτα θα γινόμασταν πολλά μικρά
διαμερίσματα με... “λουτροκαμπινέ”,
 αυτήν την άγνωστη αλλά αηδιαστική
 λέξη, που μου ’φερνε στο νου την εικόνα
 ενός τεράστιου σκατού στη μέση της
 μπανιέρας» (cf. Το πεθαμένο λικἐρ,
op. cit., p. 74, my emph.).

Such emotional response to what was coming – accurately reflective of the clash of hygienic cultural practices – was an inevitable product of the transitionality of the period, and we of course know that the technology of the modern toilet (as also its ‘aesthetic’ dimensions) would ultimately become a universal need amongst all Greeks. But to further understand the cultural rupture that such technology and its promotion would effect within the popular masses, we may also consider how a young Aliartian would respond on first seeing an indoor toilet in the early-/mid-1970’s, and which fully verifies the Xanthoulis description. Vasilis Halimoudras, an Aliartian resident born in 1966 (and who is perhaps one of the best informed minds regarding, inter alia, the cultural practices of the Aliartian «Ευρυτάνες»), had this to say in an interview conducted in 2009:

«Είχα πάει μια φορά στο σπίτι ενός συμμαθητή
μου. Πλούσιος αυτός, το κάθε παιδί είχε το δικό
του δωμάτιο, κι αυτό εμένα μου έκανε μεγάλη
εντύπωση. Καθώς λοιπόν περπατούσαμε στο
διάδρομο κι εγώ χάζευα με ανοιχτό το στόμα
γύρω μου, βλέπω ένα δωμάτιο με νιπτήρα, λεκάνη,
όλα έλαμπαν. “Εδώ τι είναι;” ρωτάω – πού να
καταλάβω εγώ, πρώτη φορά έβλεπα τουαλέτα
στη ζωή μου. “Τουαλέτα” λέει αυτός. Εγώ δεν
ήξερα καν τη λέξη. “Εδώ κάνετε μπάνιο;” “Όχι
μόνο μπάνιο, εδώ κατουράμε”. Και μόλις το ακούω
εγώ αυτό, πώς μου φάνηκε, “Ιιιι! Εδώ κατουράτε;
ΜΕΣ ΣΤΟ ΣΠΙΤΙ ΚΑΤΟΥΡΑΤΕ;”…» (cf. 15th interview,
Aliarto, 22.06.2009).

Both in the Xanthoulis case, as also with Vasilis, the indoor toilet, even as an idea, would shock: the very word «λουτροκαμπινέ» was an «άγνωστη αλλά αηδιαστική λέξη»; «εγώ δεν ήξερα καν τη λέξη», says Vasilis. Prior to the advent of the modern toilet in Greece, the act of emptying one’s bowels went hand-in-hand with the as “primitive” methods of washing clothes (at Aliarto, many women would do their washing at the «Στεμένια» springs), preserving foods (prior to the «παγωνιέρα», people would use a “safe” called a «φανάρι-τροφίμων»), cooking outdoors, and so on and so forth. Such natural act of emptying one’s bowels, therefore, would remain more or less absolutely natural, at least in the sense of remaining untouched by any technological infrastructure. It is therefore not too difficult for us to guess what Marakis would want to mean when he would write a personal letter to one of his employees (his senior Practical Mechanic) and lodge the following complaint in 1963:

«Αθήναις 28.5.[19]63

Κύριον Μιχαήλ Χαρτάκην – αρχιμ[ηχανικός]

“Αυστηρά – Προσωπική”

Μιχάλη,

Κράτησε αυστηρά πειθαρχία και σεβασμόν εις
τον μύλο και εις το χημείο που παρευρίσκεσαι
πάντοτε – διότι το τελευταίο κατήντησε καφενείο –
γαλακτοπωλείον – κουρείον και λουτρό.
Απηγόρευσα την είσοδον οιονδήποτε εντός…
[Signed] Μαράκης» (cf. A&M Archives, my emph.).

The boss Marakis most probably does not mean that his particular accusations be taken literally (and especially that wry reference to «λουτρό») – but his missive does show how a gentleman who happens to possess three toilets in his villa would look down on common plebeians who happened not to have even heard of the word «λουτροκαμπινέ» or «τουαλέτα». As we know, a person such as Vasilis Halimoudras would himself look back at his own past hygiene practices and laugh at how natural these were – and how ignorant he had also been about developments in that sphere of life. To fully understand the profundity of the technological revolution that would uproot whatever “primitive” naturalness still lingering on around Greek popular hygiene methods, we may take a brief look at the history of traditional toilet practices and then go on and contrast this to 1960’s advertizing discourse on the matter: the positive material content of advertisements concerning the toilet would play a major role in creating what we have above referred to as the anthropologically altered “New Type”.

Very schematically – and rather tentatively we should add – the movement from “primitive” hygiene practices to “modern” practices can be summarized as follows with regard to the popular masses:

• During the decade of the 1950’s – as also of course in the pre-war years – the vast majority of the popular masses used either a stone or a bunch of leaves (or both) to clean themselves following defecation. Minority “élite” groups within the general category of the popular masses (teachers for instance) would themselves use toilet roll-paper by the late-1950’s;
• By the late-1950’s and early-1960’s, people were gradually beginning to use strips of newspaper, which would be hanging on hooks;
• From the early-1960’s, we gradually also had the use of «ένα είδος φτηνού κωλόχαρτου, όχι σε ρολό αλλά σε μάτσο χαρτιά» (cf. telephonic interview with Dr. B.Th., 12.08.2013);
• By the mid-1960’s, the “modern” roll-paper was being introduced to the popular masses by a variety of advertisements – people would now “naturally” find it convenient to move from the «μάτσο χαρτιά» to the thinner and much softer «ρολό»;
• On the other hand and according to another source (cf. telephonic interview with Ms. K. K., born 1959, 13.08.2013): «Σ’ ένα χωριό έξω απ’ το Αγρίνιο, χρησιμοποίησαν ρολό χαρτί υγείας από το 1970 και μετά. Πιο πριν [they used] εφημερίδες σε γάντζους, πέτρες και χόρτα»;
• We may generally say that the use of “modern” toilet-paper became an established practice in places such as Aliarto by the late-1960’s – the product was brought to the attention of residents of the “periphery” by advertisements such as that of “MELTEX” (to be examined further below in discussing “balances” within the content of discourse), and which was circulated by popular periodicals such as the Romantso in 1967 and through to the early-1970’s. Yet still, its usage took place within outdoor toilets – it was only by the very late-1960’s and the early-1970’s that the process of locating toilets indoors would gather some momentum, and such process would itself be uneven in the rural or semi-rural “peripheries”.
• Interestingly, when the Aliartian barber had come to visit Greece from South Africa in the 1970’s, he was faced by an uncomfortable reality which he had long forgotten. As a permanent resident of Johannesburg, he lived in a small flat which nonetheless included an indoor toilet with all its necessary facilities. While visiting his homeland, he would also spend some days at his brother-in-law’s house in the village of Domvraina. He found that the toilet he had to use was a shabby little hut perched on a hill and which had no electricity. When he complained about this to his brother-in-law (who by the way was a KKE member), this was the answer he would receive: “Does your bum need light so as to shit?” (Translated). On returning to South Africa, the particular rhetorical question was to circulate amongst the barber’s compatriot immigrants with some degree of haughtiness. But back in the early-1960’s, the barber’s own Aliartian toilet had itself been a totally “primitive” structure: it amounted to four poles forming a miniscule square and covered all round by bush, while a leaking sheet of corrugated iron formed its roof. The floor was a level surface of shrubs and stones.

These historical developments – which remain to be further verified for their accuracy – show the real socio-cultural drama of a people trying to enter the new post-war “modern” world. And while for many professional historians such data may be ignored as ‘trivial’ (the role of the Stephanopoulos government in the 1960’s, for instance, would be considered more ‘historically significant’), these very ‘trivial’ developments – regarding the conditions in which one defecates – would actually secrete within themselves, not only the levels of remuneration clinched in Collective Bargaining Agreements, but also the socio-cultural clashes in the minds of people between the old, traditional habits of “primitive” hygiene and the new, “modern”, technologically-supported practices protecting people from disease, etc. The latter practices would be a tangible material progress (in the Habermas sense) which would constitute the absolutely necessary hygienic/sanitary-cultural infrastructure for the functioning of the middle class milieu “ego”, and especially for that up-and-coming young “ego” of the “Amalia-type”. The popular middle classes would be introduced to modern hygiene per se in a variety of ways – but the most powerful and most widespread means would be the positive material content of advertisements in the 1960’s. (Obviously, these would be the most effective because manufacturers producing appliances and gadgets related to the toilet would of course use highly effective techniques so as to sell on a mass basis.)

For a verification of the role of advertizing in this field, we may consider the following sample promoting a device related to the toilet in 1965:

«ΤΩΡΑ… ΕΛΥΘΗ ΤΟ ΠΡΟΒΛΗΜΑ ΤΗΣ ΚΑΚΟΣΜΙΑΣ
ΤΩΝ W.C. ΧΑΡΙΣ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΛΒΕΤΙΚΗ ΣΥΣΚΕΥΗ EXODOR
… Δηλούμεν υπευθύνως και εγγυόμεθα ότι
απορροφά και εξουδετερώνει την κακοσμίαν
εν τη γενέσι της. Εξασφαλίζει πολιτισμένην
εμφάνισιν, καθαρήν ατμόσφαιραν, υγιεινές συνθήκες
(και αυτός ακόμη που χρησιμοποιεί το W.C. δεν
υφίσταται την κακοσμίαν που αναγκαστικά
δημιουργείται)… Πώλησις στα καταστήματα ειδών
υγιεινής και στην αντιπροσωπεία EXODOR…
Πράκτορες δια τας επαρχίας» (cf. Apogevmatini,
6.10.1965, p. 6).

Reading such an advertisement out of its historical context would most probably be a rather indifferent exercise – but if one keeps in mind what has been said above about the outdoor toilet and its concomitant practices, one realizes the extent of the technological revolution which was underway in uprooting whatever vestiges of the “natural” and the “primitive”. In fact, little to no trace of the “natural” remains bar the human act of defecation itself – this was to be an altogether new form of human behaviour and a new experience of hygiene which would come to complete the “New Type”. The discourse of this advertisement is centered on the following three absolutely new concepts, heretofore unheard of as regards the Greek popular masses:

• The emphasis on modern-day “obvious” hygiene: «καθαρήν ατμόσφαιραν» and «υγιεινές συνθήκες»;
• The now “natural” need to obliterate what was once an absolutely “natural” fact of life in the outdoor toilet, i.e. the «κακοσμίαν» – here, as in all things concerning “modernity”, we would have a radically new definition of the “natural” (and thus of “Nature” per se) in the minds of the Greek popular masses themselves;
• For the very first time in Greek popular practices, the naturally necessary and raw act of defecation would be directly related to “civilization” («πολιτισμένην») and to ‘aesthetics’ («εμφάνισιν»).

The advertisement above also allows us to make two other observations: first, it introduces Greeks to the “global”, more genteel term “W.C.”, rather than using the perhaps more banal «τουαλέτα» (or the even more unrefined term, «καμπινές»). More importantly, we note that the toilet product being promoted – and therefore also the concepts which accompany it – would be circulating all over the country, given the network of agents extending to the “periphery”.

Re-locating the toilet indoors would be both expensive and a complex technical matter, and which can explain the relative delay in the process. To facilitate such process, a series of advertisements would appear which had just one simple object in mind: to inform people of the availability of the technological means to undertake the implementation of the task, and to assure them that any economic problem could be regulated.  Consider the following short and simple ‘notification’ of the availability of technical services which appeared as early as 1959-1960 (and which was most probably addressed either to Athenians or to the more well-off residents in the “periphery” such as the family of Halimoudras’ friend) – it read as follows:

«ΣΠΥΡΙΔΩΝ ΛΑΡΙΤΖΑΚΗΣ…
Τελεία εξυπηρέτησις δι’ υδραυλικάς
εγκαταστάσεις,… και είδη υγιεινής
με ΕΥΚΟΛΙΑΣ ΠΛΗΡΩΜΩΝ»
(cf. Η Καλλιθέα…, op. cit., p.333).

But it was especially by the early-1970’s that there would be a proliferation of such advertisements. By then, the whole structure of the W.C. would begin to undergo a complete change for very many “average” Greek families – what used to be merely a private spot for defecation and urination (without a single trace of any superfluous “luxury”), would now include all the necessary appliances to maintain the body clean and beautiful: the bath-tub and the washbasin would now be added. A 1971-1972 advertisement, entitled «ΥΔΡΑΥΛΙΚΑ ΕΙΔΗ ΥΓΙΕΙΝΗΣ», would include a full-page illustration of a W.C. which includes all the modern-day paraphernalia – the mirror would play a central role in such room, allowing the “New Type” to reflect on the final triumph of such “type’s” unique individuality(cf. Άστυ Καλλιθέας, op. cit., p.138). Cleanliness and hygiene would be promoted as the essential pre-conditions for personal beauty – even as early as 1966, the Akropolis would be carrying advertisements advising people on what they should be doing in their toilets apart from satisfying their natural needs. Usually depicting a young lady in front of her washbasin, advertisements would further promote the toothpaste – consider the following:

«Για λευκά και γερά δόντια χρειάζεται
μόνον… Kolynos… και λίγη φροντίδα…»
(cf.  Akropolis, 15.1.1966, p. 30).

It is quite true that very many advertisements promoting various “brand-name” toothpastes would belong to that category of highly “manipulative” discourse which we shall examine below as being “provocative-interventionist”. But it is as true that the vast majority of the Greek people in the 1950’s and 1960’s would find themselves suffering from tooth decay at a fairly early age and many would later either be more or less toothless or would take to wearing false-teeth. All had little idea of dental hygiene and very many would completely ignore their teeth. Some would rinse their mouth after eating with a glass of water to which a pinch of salt had been added. As many would become conscious of their teeth only after the pain caused by gingivitis would become unbearable and then they would take to rinsing their mouth with “ouzo”. Thus, whatever the degree of “manipulation” in toothpaste advertisements, they would all be helpful in introducing people to dental hygiene, and this would constitute their positive material content. The necessity for the use of toothpaste was a new “natural” given – the “manipulation” was itself an inevitable phenomenon caused by the competition between different manufacturers. (Concerning the emergence of the “modern” in-door Greek toilet and all that went with it, we might as well refer here to a literary work partly devoted to this matter and published in 1970 – cf. Μ. Hakkas, Ο μπιντές και άλλες ιστορίες, 2η Έκδοση, Κέδρος; translated in English in 1997 by A. Mims, Heroes’ Shrine for Sale or The Elegant Toilet, Kedros.)

. . . . . . . . .

The washing machine, the fridge, the kitchen stove, the electric heater, etc., as also that wholly new room within the house which would substitute the outdoor toilet – all of these things put together would radically change the material and cultural reality of Greece in the course of the post-war years. The changes in material infrastructure, we have suggested, going hand-in-hand with changes in socio-cultural practices, would together form one combinatory whole, and which would be the middle class milieu as such. In turn, this would yield a new sense of time and a new sense of entertainment. We have, throughout this paper on Amalia Eleftheriadou and her milieu, placed great emphasis on the youthful revolution of the 1960’s and how this would give birth to new entertainment practices – here, we very briefly wish to record how the advent of the modern technological appliances promoted by advertizing – as also advertizing itself – would release a new “modern” comprehension of time, on the part of the popular masses, which would combine very hard work with as much ‘hard play’ outside the workplace (sometimes within it as well – cf. 12η προφορική μαρτυρία: Γιωργία Κρεμμυδά, Aliartos, 10.5.2009).

Asimakis Panselinos (op. cit.) contrasts the pre-“modern” to that of the “modern world” by making the following stark observation with respect to the question of entertainment:

«Η διασκέδαση δεν είχε πάρει ακόμα
τα νόμιμα δικαιώματά της στη ζωή»
(p. 25).

We have already referred to Papanoutsos above (Πρακτική Φιλοσοφία, op. cit., p. 220), who had supported that the new technological appliances and their gradual wide usage by the “average Greek” would provide for «ευκολίες ζωής, άνεση και ψυχαγωγία». And we have already mentioned how the extremely hard-working Anna Papaspiropoulou at Kokkino Mylo would combine all-night entertainment with extremely hard work both at home and at the factory. The Aliartian barber, himself an extremely hard-working person who would often illegally operate his barber-shop at Aliarto on Sundays, would nonetheless as often crawl back home in the small hours of the morning in a state of intoxication after having entertained himself in various tavernas with friends. And Vangelio Kalomiri (op. cit.) would relate how she and her husband Spiros would regularly entertain themselves at Aliarto:

«Αλλά ήταν καλός άνθρωπος ο Σπύρος…
Και πέρασα κι ωραία μαζί του…
Τα πρώτα δέκα χρόνια με πήγαινε και
για καφέ, και στις ταβέρνες…
Σε όλες τις ταβέρνες του Αλιάρτου εμείς
πήγαμε πρώτοι… Πώς…» (cf. 20th interview,
op. cit.).

Advertizing discourse at the time would itself ride the wave of this popular need for entertainment in a variety of ways. We present below a rather non-representative sample of such advertizing – and we do so because it interestingly expresses a rather satirical disposition as regards the relationship between entertainment and Party politics in 1965, which was of course a highly turbulent period. Published in the “conservative” newspaper, Akropolis, this lengthy but highly amusing advertisement – it is about amusement – went as follows:

«ΚΟΣΜΙΚΗ ΤΑΒΕΡΝΑ
Ο ΓΕΡΟΒΡΑΧΟΣ…
Ο ΓΝΩΣΤΟΣ ΣΑΣ ΚΥΡΙΑΚΟΣ ΣΑΣ ΠΡΟΣΚΑΛΕΙ ΓΙΑ ΕΝΑ
ΑΞΕΧΑΣΤΟ… REVEILLON
ΜΕ ΤΗΝ ΚΑΤΑΠΛΗΚΤΙΚΗ ΡΕΒΥ ΠΙΣΤΑΣ
ΓΙΟΡΤΙΝΟ ΨΗΦΟΔΕΛΤΙΟ
ΥΠΟΨΗΦΙΟΙ ΤΗΣ ΒΡΑΔΥΑΣ [:]
ΩΣ ΠΡΟΕΔΡΟΣ ΚΥΒΕΡΝΗΣΕΩΣ… ΣΟΥΛΗ ΣΑΜΠΑΧ
ΜΕ ΤΗΝ ΜΟΝΑΔΙΚΗ ΒΕΝΤΕΤΤΑ ΤΟΥ ΙΤΑΛΙΚΟΥ ΤΡΑΓΟΥΔΙΟΥ
ΩΣ ΥΠΟΥΡΓΟΝ ΕΞΩΤΕΡΙΚΩΝ… RENNA FILIPPINI
ΩΣ ΥΠΟΥΡΓΟΝ ΔΗΜ. ΣΧΕΣΕΩΝ… ΤΟΥΛΑ ΛΑΜΑΡ
ΩΣ ΥΠΟΥΡΓΟΝ ΠΑΙΔΕΙΑΣ… ΑΝΝΑ ΓΑΛΑΝΗ
ΩΣ ΥΠΟΥΡΓΟΝ ΔΗΜ. ΤΑΞΕΩΣ… ΑΝΤΖΕΛΑ ΔΟΥΚΗΣΑ
ΩΣ ΥΠΟΥΡΓΟΝ ΑΝΕΥ ΧΑΡΤΟΦΥΛΑΚΙΟΥ… ΑΝΔΡΕΑ ΜΑΚΟΥΛΗ
ΔΙΑΠΕΠΙΣΤΕΥΜΕΝΟΙ ΠΡΕΣΒΕΥΤΑΙ ΤΟΥ ΤΟΠΟΥ ΜΑΣ [:]
ΧΡΗΣΤΑΚΗΣ ΣΤΑΘΑΤΟΣ – ΜΙΡΑΝΤΑ ΜΟΣΧΟΥ
ΜΕ ΤΟ ΜΠΟΥΖΟΥΚΙ ΤΟΥΣ
ΥΠΟΥΡΓΙΚΟΝ ΣΥΜΒΟΥΛΙΟΝ ΕΝ ΧΟΡΩ [:]
ΜΟΡΦΗΣ                      ΤΑΣΣΟΣ ΚΥΡΙΑΚΟΣ
ΗΡΩ ΣΙΜΟΝΟΒΙΚΗ      ΜΑΡΟΥΣΚΑ ΜΑΡΤΕΝ
ΒΟΥΛΗ ΤΟΥ ΓΕΡΟΒΡΑΧΟΥ Η ΟΡΧΗΣΤΡΑ ΣΤΑΥΡΟΥ ΡΟΥΧΩΤΑ
ΕΠΕΡΩΤΩΝ ΒΙΟΛΙΣΤΗΣ… ΣΩΤΗΡΗΣ ΜΠΟΝΤΟΣΗΣ
ΠΡΑΚΤΙΚΟΓΡΑΦΟΣ… ΜΙΛΤΟΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΙΔΗΣ ΑΔΩΜ
ΠΡΟΕΔΡΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΒΟΥΛΗΣ ΓΕΡΟΒΡΑΧΟΥ Η ΤΖΙΝΑ ΒΟΥΛΓΑΡΗ
ΔΙΑ ΝΑ ΠΑΡΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΗΣΕΤΕ ΤΗΝ… ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΑΣΙΝ ΤΗΣ ΒΟΥΛΗΣ
ΤΟΥ ΓΕΡΟΒΡΑΧΟΥ ΤΗΛΕΦΩΝΗΣΑΤΕ ΣΤΟ … ΔΙΑ ΤΟ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΙ ΣΑΣ.
ΔΙΕΥΘΥΝΤΗΣ ΤΗΛ. ΚΕΝΤΡΟΥ Ο ΚΥΡΙΑΚΟΣ»
(cf. Akropolis, 24.12.1965, p. 2).

This advertisement is ‘responding’ to and ‘playing’ with the dramatic events of that year: in the face of on-going political instability, it suggests that people simply entertain themselves by watching the «συνεδρίασιν της Βουλής του Γεροβράχου», which – it is implying – is much more pleasant and much more ‘competent’ as regards its purposes than is the Greek Parliament when it comes to its purposes. Like the advertisements promoting heating appliances which we have discussed above, and which were in direct response to the bitterly cold winter of 1965, so here too, this «ΚΟΣΜΙΚΗ ΤΑΒΕΡΝΑ-qua-ΒΟΥΛΗ» advertisement is a direct reflection of the political conjuncture of the period, albeit in typically Greek satirical form. People wanted a stable government and which would represent them democratically – instead, Prime Minister Papandreou resigns on July 15 of that year, the following day the government of Athanasiadi-Nova is sworn in, then the demonstrator Sotiris Petroulas is killed in clashes with the police that same month, by August the King makes continual attempts to set up a government without calling for elections, then we had the Stephanopoulos government by September 24, and then just four days prior to the publication of the advertisement in question, the ΕΡΕ leader withdraws his support of that government and a caretaker government takes over and the political crisis goes on like that till April 1967. But while all this was happening at the Party-political level, the as real everyday life of the popular masses was itself also happening. The «ΤΑΒΕΡΝΑ» advertisement is aware of this other reality and tries to redirect the strictly political attention of people towards what was a socio-cultural need of the masses themselves for entertainment – it does not and cannot ignore politics: it re-interprets the latter by articulating a discourse which combines entertainment with somewhat latent political satire. Such combination was itself a direct mirror-image of mass popular consciousness, whether “Left”, “Center” or “Right”(interestingly, the Akropolis mainly targeted “Right-wingers”). It remains an open research question as to what came first in the minds of the broad masses of people at the time – was it work, play, sex or politics? We know that as regards youth at least, sex and entertainment was their top priority (bar the “activists”, who were of course always in the minority). For the older generations, politics was always something much discussed amongst themselves (they had lived the Civil War), and thus the advertisement in question tries to effect the “combination” between politics and entertainment we refer to. Its discourse was therefore an organic part of the milieu of the 1960’s.

We have said that the dawning “modern” world of 1960’s Greece would yield a new conception of time, and which would mean – especially for youth – a more “frenzied” use of free time. Advertizing discourse would again be directly responding to this new reality – such advertizing could often take the form of “articles” in popular periodicals (something which had also happened with the promotion of fashion houses, as we have discussed above). We shall present here just one such sample of the thousands of advertisements promoting music records in the 1960’s (cf. our paper on youth and music). In 1967, the periodical Vendeta [Βεντέτα]would carry the following “article”-cum-advertisement:

«ΝΕΟΙ ΔΙΣΚΟΙ…
“ΑΪ ΚΑΝ ΟΝΛΥ ΓΚΙΒ ΓΙΟΥ ΕΒΕΡΥΘΙΝΓΚ”:
Μεγάλος τίτλος και “μεγάλα” λόγια σαν
νόημα (“Μπορώ να σου δώσω τα πάντα”)
του νέου δίσκου των γνωστών μας Άγγλων
μακρυμάλληδων “Δέμ”. Περιττό να λεχθή,
ότι πρόκειται για ένα ζωηρούτσικο σέϊκ,
 που ξετρελλαίνει τους “τήνς”…»
(cf. Vendeta, No 92,
10.2.1967, p. 17, my emph.).

We well know, of course, what Greek youth would do on purchasing – or having access to the sounds of – that beloved 1960’s artifact, the music record (whether at home-parties or at various entertainment spots, such as the «σφαιριστήρια» of Aliarto). The advertizing discourse would promise teenagers that the music would “madden” them – and the promise would be frenziedly verified on the spot. Advertisements, in other words, would here be perpetrating the perfect murder – but this would only be a murder of Panselinos’ pre-“modern world” which had kept entertainment away from the popular masses. In 1966, the well-known Greek journalist, Nikos Mastorakis, would undertake to research the question of youth entertainment in the “periphery”. Publishing his ‘findings’ in the daily Mesimvrini [Μεσημβρινή], he would conclude:

«Η ΣΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ νεολαία… [in the “periphery”] έχει
διαφορετικά στρώματα, με κοινά ενδιαφέροντα.
Απ’ την “χάϊ σοσάϊτυ”, που σπουδάζει, μέχρι την
εργατική νεολαία …, οι διαφορές καταργούνται
μπροστά στους κοινούς τρόπους διασκεδάσεως
και στην εξίσωσι των ωρών και των ελευθέρων
απασχολήσεων». (cf. Mesimvrini, 29.1.1966,
p. 9).

Now this is all too obviously a “Right-wing” propagandistic little text meant to convince readers of the “equality” that in the last instance characterized all youth whatever their class origins – and yet, despite the distortions, it does express half of the truth, as it also does somehow capture the idea of free time/entertainment amongst youth of the 1960’s. It is absolutely true that we have, throughout this research work on the “Amalia-type”, supported the position that 1960’s-1970’s youth constituted a special “social category” (in the Poulantzian sense), and which meant that its socio-cultural practices would be relatively autonomous of the objective class position to which different groupings of that youth would belong.  All members of that “social category” could, for instance, have listened to the songs of “The Beatles”, and in that specific sense, the Mastorakis “position” could be said to be accurate. But the “autonomy” of youth vis-à-vis socio-economic class position could only have been relative – the popular masses which would come to express the middle class milieu cannot in any way be reduced to what Mastorakis superficially names “high society”, and neither can the socio-cultural practices of the popular masses be absolutely reduced to those of the socio-economic élites. As alluded to above, the working Amalia Eleftheriadou could not possibly have listened to “The Beatles” and responded to their lyrics in a manner similar to that of Marakis’ non-working daughters. The specific emotional response to such music by Amalia would have also been determined, apart from her age, by her material conditions and her state of mind as an A&M company employee. Even the eyeing of an advertisement promoting a music record would have evoked a special response: she would know that she could only listen to such music on finishing her work at the office (the Marakis daughters had never set foot in the factory); and she would also know that unless she worked, she may not have afforded any music record. Thus, for the “Amalia-type”, hard work and play went hand-in-hand.

As regards entertainment and the popular masses, there were various gradations of working people along the end-points of two extremes: at the one extreme end of the scale, there were those who would completely ignore whatever ‘sirens’ promoted by advertisements (be that fashion-trends, the latest in music, entertainment centers, etc.), and would devote themselves wholly to hard work. Consider, for instance, the case of G. Zygoyiannis, who was a “Practical Mechanic” at the A&M Mill, and had worked there from 1947 through to 1982 – his “work ethic” (also discussed in our papers on the A&M Mill workers) would take an extreme form, which he has described as follows:

«Τις Κυριακές, άμα δε δουλεύαμε στον Μαράκη,
θα πηγαίναμε στην Κωπαΐδα με τα αδέλφια μου
να ξεφορτώσουμε κάνα αυτοκίνητο, όσο ήταν.
Γι’ αυτό σου λέω, ο Μαράκης μας έβαλε σε σειρά,
δουλεύαμε. Εγώ χαίρομαι να δουλεύω. Ήταν κέρβερος,
μας κυνήγαγε, αλλά μάθαμε πειθαρχία. Σχολή ήταν ο
Μαράκης, σαν να βγάζεις μια σχολή… Το πρωί ξημέρωνα
εκεί, κι έφευγα το βράδυ» (cf. 18η προφορική μαρτυρία,
Αλίαρτος, 19.7.2009).

Zygoyiannis would belong to that group of hard-working Greeks who would ultimately establish their own businesses (his colleague, Angelos Arapitsas, was another such “type” – cf. 10η προφορική μαρτυρία, Αλίαρτος, 12.4.2009). Even as youngsters – from what we understand – they would rarely find the chance to share in the ‘fun’ of teenagers. At the other extreme end of the scale, we would have “types” such as Anna Papaspiropoulou and the Aliartian barber who could kill themselves working as much as they could kill themselves dancing (Anna) or drinking (the barber). This would not prevent the former from establishing her own «κουτούκι» and the latter from running his own barbershops. Of course, there were very many in-between cases who would find some sort of balance between work and play. In the last instance, all these people – whatever their “sub-types” regarding entertainment – would form that collectivity which expressed the middle class milieu. Advertizing discourse on how one should spend his free time would either have a direct positive influence or would be ignored: in both cases, people would be fulfilling their own wishes.

What has been called the “Golden Age” of the 1960’s was also experienced as such by the children at the time, and advertisements would play a major role in “manipulating” children’s wishes to experience the ‘miracles’ of such “Age”. The Aliartian Giannis Statiras, born in 1956, was in his pre-teens in the 1960’s – this is what he had to say of that period in a discussion which took place at his Aliartian «ψιλικατζίδικο» in 2013:

«Η Δεκαετία του ’60! Εγώ αυτή θέλω. Τώρα
δε μου αρέσει. Μπορεί να έχουμε κινητά,
διάφορα, αλλά εμένα δε μου αρέσει! Εγώ
τη δεκαετία του ’60 θέλω, γίνεται να γυρίσω
πίσω και να μείνω εκεί;  Ήμασταν όλοι μαζί
τότε, ήταν αλλιώς» (cf. 24η προφορική
μαρτυρία [an open group-discussion], Αλίαρτος,
7.7.2013).

But Giannis Statiras especially could not himself enjoy the ‘fruits’ of that “Golden Age”: his father, being a “Left-winger”, could not land a job after spending years in prison (though he did work at the A&M Mill for five years). The Statiras family «έζησε μεγάλη φτώχεια» (ibid.), and the boy, who usually went hungry, could only but gaze at advertisements promoting manufactured toys. But the idea of a manufactured toy was, in any case, something absolutely revolutionary in the minds of most Aliartian kids – like Statiras himself, the most that these could really do in the early-1960’s was to look at and dream of the magnificence of such all-new artifacts advertized in periodicals such as the Romantso and in daily newspapers. Some could go one little step further: the Aliartian barber’s kids would cut out pictures of advertized toys and stick them on walls and windows. The time would come when, in the course of that 1960’s period which had so fascinated Statiras, kids would once in a while be treated to a manufactured toy by their parents. But roughly prior to the mid-1960’s, Aliartian children would have to make do with home-made/hand-made toys. For instance, hand-made catapults for bird-hunting would be very popular amongst them. As popular would be the old wooden roller skate ‘manufactured’ by the kids themselves – i.e. that «χειροποίητο πατίνι με τις ρόδες από παλιά ρουλεμάν» which «εκτός των άλλων Accesoire, είχε και το φρένο του» (cf. Giannis Simonetis, Θησείο – Γειτονιές που χάθηκαν [Theseion – Lost Neighborhoods, Εκδόσεις Φιλιππότη, Athens, 1991, pp. 46-52). Amongst smaller kids, the so-called “bicycle” would be popular – that would be a mere piece of stick with some paper-flag and other paraphernalia attached to it and kids would clutch its ends and run screaming around the neighborhoods. Also popular would be the «στεφάνι» which, according to Simonetis (ibid.), had been “in fashion” since the fifth century B.C., was popular through the war-years and its use would continue thereafter till the 1960’s – Simonetis describes its “modern” version as «Το … παιχνίδι με “στεφάνι” από παλιό λάστιχο αυτοκινήτου» which was made to roll along with the skillful use of a stick (ibid., p. 49). Aliartian kids would also fly hand-made kites (the elementary materials for their ‘manufacture’ would be newspapers, sticks and flour). Also popular would be the use of large watermelon shells to build ships and boats.

One could go on with further examples – but the point to make here is that in all such cases children’s imagination would be stretched to its “natural” limits. As soon as the periodical and the newspaper would bombard them with advertisements of the manufactured toy (where, for instance, a real ball would take the place of a tin can), then these very “natural” limits – as mental activity – would begin to question themselves: their “stretch” as such – however ingenious – would soon reveal its own “poverty”. The socio-cultural revolution of the 1960’s, bolstered by the new advertizing discourse for kids, would yield the up-and-coming “New Type-junior”: as soon as parents would be able to secure food and warm clothes for their off-spring, the next “natural” step would be to allow them to taste the cultural fruits of the “Golden Age”. For this “New Type-junior”, of course, “culture” would translate into “toys”, and the positive material content of advertizing discourse addressed to children would play a central role in re-defining children’s own “aesthetic-eidetic stretch”. The experiences of such “modernistic eidetic aesthetics” would at some point converge with the experiences of the “modernistic youth aesthetics” of the “Amalia-type” and would much later yield the more matured form of the middle class milieu of the late-1970’s. The child of the 1960’s and the teenager of that same period would together form the generational nucleus of social pioneers for what was to come.

Newspapers such as the daily Apogevmatini would be much read by adults at Aliarto in the 1960’s (reading the “Left-wing” Avgi [Αυγή] would automatically drive them to the local police station) – and the kids of Aliarto would always have ready access to such advertisement-laden publications. In 1965, Apogevmatini would carry advertisements such as the following:

«ΠΑΙΓΝΙΔΙΑ ΚΟΥΚΛΕΣ ΜΠΑΛΛΕΣ ΠΟΔΟΣΦΑΙΡΟΥ
… εις πλουσίαν συλλογήν. Πώλησις χονδρική
και λιανική. Αφοί Παπαφράγκου…»
(cf. Apogevmatini, 14.12.1965, p. 7).

The discourse of this little piece of text does not include whatever form of “manipulative” language – and yet, it would come to alter relations between the old and the very young: boys would no longer make do with tin cans for their neighborhood football matches; girls would no longer wish to “play mother” with dolls made of pieces of rags. Once, sometime in 1963, a crowd of little Aliartian girls would celebrate what was for them a major event: one of them had discovered somewhere in the cotton-fields a real plastic doll (the fact that one of its limbs was missing did not at all dampen their spirits). Kids who had never seen or touched such artifacts would very naturally demand that they do so.

In discussing advertisements promoting furniture, we had fully rejected whatever references these would make to “personal happiness”, suggesting that such a concept – whatever its assumed effect on the ‘sub-conscious’ – would be both meaningless and unconvincing to adults. For some commentators of the period – especially those belonging to the “Left” – such reference to “happiness” in advertizing discourse would constitute an attempt at “manipulation”, and would yield ‘false consciousness’. We have already dealt with such over-simplifications – but even if we were to acknowledge that there is some truth in such interpretations as regards adults, we would completely reject any such approach when it comes to the emphasis placed on “happiness” in advertisements addressed to children. Of course that type of discourse would truly abound in the 1960’s. We may consider the following advertisement which appeared in 1959-1960:

«ΤΟ ΜΥΣΤΙΚΟ ΤΗΣ ΧΑΡΑΣ ΚΑΘΕ ΠΑΙΔΙΟΥ
ΤΟ ΚΑΤΕΧΕΙ ΤΟ ΕΡΓΑΣΤΗΡΙΟΝ
ΠΡΩΤΟΤΥΠΩΝ ΠΑΙΓΝΙΔΙΩΝ
ΧΡΥΣΤΟΥ ΜΠΡΙΝΟΥ…»
(cf. Η Καλλιθέα…, op. cit., p. 335).

This simple little advertisement, with its almost predictable stress on “happiness”, is addressing itself to the “New Type-junior” who could and often did feel quite “happy”, and especially so when the child would handle a new toy. We are of course not suggesting anything original – Freud, in his Civilization and its Discontents [greek edition: Ο Πολιτισμός – Πηγή δυστυχίας, Επίκουρος, Athens, 1974), had observed:

«Δεν είναι παράξενο που οι άνθρωποι
κάτω από την πίεση … των δυνατοτήτων
του πόνου συνηθίζουν να μειώνουν την
απαίτησή τους για ευτυχία… [etc.]»
(p. 17).

The specifically Greek version of the 1960’s “Golden Age” – with all its miseries, its contradictions and the generalized ‘angst’ – would force all Greeks to do exactly what Freud suggests: in the process of getting older and older, they would gradually place more realistic and more minimalistic demands on themselves as regards their wish for happiness (and that is the reason why advertisements addressed to adults and trying to sell “happiness” could not have been that convincing). But prior to reaching the stage of adulthood – and especially when they still remained children – such ‘habit’ as Freud calls it would not as yet have caught up with them. One of the Aliartian barber’s kids had felt deep joy on receiving a toy sent to him by his well-off godfather, and felt as deep a sorrow on losing it (he can still remember the occasion to this day, in his late fifties). It was to such authentic childhood emotions – well beyond all class hierarchies – that advertisements would be addressing themselves. Here, the ‘positive content’ of discourse would not be ‘material’ as such and not at all ‘practical’ – meant to materialize a child’s eidetic “Dreams”, this particular type of advertizing discourse would be of a positively authentic immaterial dream-content. For the first time, however, such content would be “modernistic”.

It is in such context that the following 1965 advertisement should be understood – whatever its latent “manipulative” intentions, all of what it says expresses that specific ‘positive content’ related to the ‘world’ of a child:

«ΣΤΟ ΤΜΗΜΑ ΜΑΣ ΠΑΙΧΝΙΔΙΩΝ
ΖΩΝΤΑΝΕΨΑΜΕ ΤΑ ΠΑΡΑΜΥΘΙΑ!
Η χαρά των παιδιών είναι το
παιχνίδι. Χαρίστε σπάταλα ευτυχία
στα παιδιά δωρίζοντας παιχνίδια
απ’ τα παιχνίδια μας. Χιλιάδες
παιχνίδια απ’ όλον τον Κόσμο…
ΑΓΟΡΑΖΕΤΕ ΠΟΛΛΑ ΠΑΙΧΝΙΔΙΑ ΣΤΑ
ΠΑΙΔΙΑ! ΜΑΘΑΙΝΟΥΝ ΝΑ ΣΚΕΠΤΩΝΤΑΙ,
ΝΑ ΜΑΣΤΟΡΕΥΟΥΝ ΚΑΙ ΝΑ ΑΓΑΠΟΥΝ…
ΑΦΟΙ ΛΑΜΠΡΟΠΟΥΛΟΙ…»
(cf. Akropolis, 12.12.1965, p. 5).

Of course, it goes without saying that such an advertisement – published in December – would be directly exploiting the festive season of the year. It also goes without saying that while it could bring authentic happiness to an Aliartian child (Statiras would be starving both for food and for toys), it could at the same time cause authentic misery to a hard-working parent who was still struggling to make ends meet: for the latter, his child’s “happiness” would translate into the question of cash. Yet still, if the declared Greek family income had come to an overall 30.392 million drachmas in 1967, it would reach a total of 66.870 million drachmas by 1971 (cf. “Statistical Yearbook”, op. cit., p. 6).

We may end this very brief note on the question of toys by pointing out that whatever has been said above may be compared and contrasted to a rather interesting article written by the poet Kostis Palamas in 1916 and entitled «Τα παιγνίδια μου» [“My toys”], in Τα Χρόνια μου και τα Χαρτιά μου – Περασμένα Χρόνια [“My Years and My Papers – Years Past] ΑΘΑΝΑΤΑ ΕΡΓΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗΣ ΛΟΓΟΤΕΧΝΙΑΣ, No. 8, ΜΠΙΡΗΣ-ΓΚΟΒΟΣΤΗΣ, undated, pp. 470-472.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

 In discussing the positive material content of 1960’s advertizing discourse in Greece, we noted that it would reflect a relative lessening of physical exertion on the part of the popular masses. Similarly, we noted a concomitant relative increase in people’s free time in certain domains of everyday life (outside the workplace), as also a new understanding and usage of such free time. We have also suggested that such post-war changes would themselves be part and parcel of the rise of a new ‘aesthetics’. To end this sub-section, we shall dwell a bit more on this issue involving ‘aesthetics’.

It was, inter alia, the material content of advertizing discourse at the time which would both reflect and further enable (or allow for) the rise of a new mass ‘aesthetics’ and a new mass culture, and it would do so to the point of “democratizing” – as Hobsbawm (The Age of Extremes, op. cit.) has shown – “The Arts” as such.

That the post-war masses would come to “share” in the domain of the arts was also fully recognized by Horkheimer and Adorno (op. cit.). But we need notice the manner in which they would acknowledge such new reality – even as early as 1947 they would write:

«Η πολιτιστική βιομηχανία μπορεί να
είναι περήφανη ότι διεξήγαγε με
αποφασιστικότητα τη συχνά αδέξια
μεταφορά της τέχνης στη σφαίρα της
κατανάλωσης ανάγοντάς τη σε
αρχή…» (op. cit., pp. 224-225).

Such bitter irony – «μπορεί να είναι περήφανη» – is of course quite unworthy both of philosophers and of historians: what one would expect of them is, firstly, to objectively record this major historical event (as does Hobsbawm), and secondly, to try to explain the particular form such «μεταφορά» would take given the prevailing socio-economic conditions in a specific country. That the «μεταφορά» was «αδέξια» – and especially so in underdeveloped, “traditional” societies such as Greece – may have been more or less unavoidable. And it was not merely the contradiction-ridden transitionality of Greek society that would make the process «αδέξια» – Greek manufacturers and advertizing companies were themselves entering an as yet unknown terrain.

Like Horkheimer and Adorno, Roupa (op. cit., p. 265) looks down on and rejects this event in toto as (what we would call) a “foreign provocative-interventionism” – she speaks of a «ξενόφερτη αισθητική». The extent to which such new ‘aesthetics’ was/was not an “interventionism”, the extent to which the popular masses would themselves accept/reject such “interventionism”, etc. – these are all questions left unanswered. But before we examine the question of “interventionism” and the question of “compromising adjustments” and “balances” maintained in advertizing discourse, we simply need to record one basic historical fact: by at least 1956, and for the very first time in the economic history of Greece, all Greek manufacturers were being urged by their central organ – ΕΛΚΕΠΑ’s Paragogikotis – to try and find some “balance” between the question of their “profits” and the question of “aesthetics” in their products. The ΣΕΒ organ would try to “re-organize” the “ideology” of all manufacturers by advising them as follows:

«Η συνεχής προσπάθεια διά την βελτίωσιν
των διαφόρων ειδών, τα οποία, καθημερινώς,
διοχετεύονται εις την κατανάλωσιν, δεν
 ανταποκρίνεται μόνον εις υπαγόρευσιν
 θεμιτού συμφέροντος. Πέραν του, αποφασιστικώς,
 επιδρώντος οικονομικού παράγοντος, υπάρχει
 και το κίνητρον εκείνο, που κάμνει τον
 κάθε πραγματικόν δημιουργόν να θέλη
 τελειότερον, αρτιώτερον και ωραιότερον το
 έργον του. Έτσι η παραγωγικότης, η οποία
σκοπεί εις την ποιοτικήν βελτίωσιν είναι
αφ’ εαυτής προικισμένη με τον ψυχικόν
δυναμισμόν της δημιουργίας και αποδεικνύεται
εκδήλωσις εντελώς σύμφωνος με την ανθρωπίνην
έφεσιν, διά την πρόοδον» (cf. Paragogikotis,
Νο 13, Athens, June-August,
1956, p. 29, my emph.).

This “proposal” to Greek industry, coming from ΣΕΒ’s ΕΛΚΕΠΑ – and which would be repeated in a variety of different ways – is of historical importance: it would mean that for the first time, in Greece itself and since the 1950’s, the Greek popular masses were to begin to share in the ‘aesthetics’ of the period, and as these were embodied in consumer products. Such “proposal” was based on an understanding of what the popular masses themselves wished and demanded: as we shall further see below, ΣΕΒ would place great emphasis on the need to know what the consumer felt and wanted, seeing the selling/buying process as a two-way relationship between manufacturer and consumer. Now, if such initiation to ‘aesthetics’ happened to be a «συχνά αδέξια μεταφορά» (Horkheimer-Adorno), that was simply because both parties were as yet unprepared for the new milieu – hence, precisely, the need on the part of ΣΕΒ to “ideologically” re-educate its own members through such “proposals”.

Of course, we well know that it was not merely Greek industry which would help inject mass culture into the everyday lives of the Greek people. International artifacts – with a specifically ‘global’ trade-mark – would themselves enter the lives of people and further deepen the exposure to mass ‘aesthetic’ culture (and that is why Roupa’s complaint about the «ξενόφερτο» does tell us half of the truth – but to tell the whole truth any sociological analysis should in any case first cease being a complaint). Amongst the very many ‘global’ artifacts introduced to Greek society on a mass scale in the 1960’s, there was one which would perhaps most importantly symbolize the advent of mass culture, the active participation of people in such culture, and which would help raise the overall “intellectual” level of the popular masses themselves. This artifact – ingenious in its very simplicity, cheap and thus available to everyone – was of course the ball-point pen. In 1965, the Akropolis would carry the following advertisement:

«ΜΕΓΑΛΥΤΕΡΗ ΠΟΣΟΤΗΤΑ ΜΕΛΑΝΗΣ
ΠΕΡΙΣΣΟΤΕΡΑ ΧΙΛΙΟΜΕΤΡΑ ΓΡΑΦΗΣ
BiC
λεπτής γραφής… ΔΡΧ. 3.50
… με άφθαρτη μπίλλια…
ΣΑΣ ΔΙΔΕΙ ΤΟ ΦΘΗΝΟΤΕΡΟ ΓΡΑΨΙΜΟ
ΤΟΥ ΚΟΣΜΟΥ» (cf. Akropolis,
30.11.1965, p. 2).

The purchasing and use of the ball-point pen by the Greek popular masses would spread like wildfire throughout the period. Perhaps one of the most revolutionary of inventions of the “modern” world, this particular artifact would function as a tool of communication which would urge “common” Greeks to express their thoughts in writing: it would therefore constitute a means whereby the “average” Greek would actively participate in a cultural practice which would raise his “intellectual” level by simply putting pen to paper. The discourse of the above advertisement would thus include a clearly ‘positive content’ in that the artifact advertised would do exactly what was promised – i.e. it would literally yield an endless series of «χιλιόμετρα γραφής». One need simply page through the A&M Archives to immediately verify such «χιλιόμετρα»: simple working people, relatives and friends would send letters to Marakis himself for a variety of reasons – workers would write about their complaints regarding work conditions; relatives and friends about the possibility of landing a job at the factory, and so on and so forth. One interesting case is that of Elena Tsolakidou (cf. our paper investigating her case), who was Marakis’ goddaughter and who was to soon also become an employee at the A&M company by 1964. While still residing at Sidirokastro in Crete, she would send her godfather/future boss numerous letters in the early-1960’s that would read as follows:

«Δεν ξέρετε Νουνέ πόση χαρά αισθάνομαι,
όταν παίρνω γράμμα σας. Χαρίζετε λίγη
ζωή στην μονότονη ζωή μου… [etc.,etc.]».

And even Elena’s father – a half-educated Cretan peasant – would himself put pen to paper and communicate with Marakis, and he would do so effectively despite his endless spelling and other language errors (thus, for him, letter-writing would also be an unconscious exercise in self-education). For the younger letter-writers, such as the high school-educated Elena and Amalia, writing as such would also be an exercise in ‘aesthetics’. This would be especially so as regards Amalia Eleftheriadou – one is truly astounded by the ‘aesthetic’ calligraphy of her hand-written job-application submitted to Marakis on the 27th of June, 1966. Again, and generally speaking, the use of the ball-point pen in people’s free time – a practice which would happen right across all social strata – would further re-define one’s understanding of time per se. (On the question of letter-writing in 19th century England, cf. Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire, op. cit., p. 55.)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

The positive material content of advertizing discourse in the 1960’s and early-1970’s would have the positive material effect we have described – it would, in other words, reflect (as both cause and as result) the material comforts that the popular masses were only just beginning to enjoy. But the content of advertizing discourse-as-a-Whole would not always be ‘positive’: the relative autonomy – and at times even ‘anarchy’ – of such discourse could also yield extremities and “imbalances” in its images and messages which would have to be ‘ordered’ by structures such as ΣΕΒ. The struggles for such ‘order’ would not always be successful, as we shall see below.

GLOSSARY

NOTES:
● «… έκανε διασκέδασι την φροντίδα του μαγειρεύματος»: the task of cooking was now made entertaining
● «… ν’ ανανεώνει… τα σκεύη του…»: to renew his/her household appliances
● «10.000 ΘΕΡΜΙΔΩΝ»: 10.000 thermal units
● «CANDY ρομπότ»: “CANDY [brand name] robot”
● «άγνωστη αλλά αηδιαστική λέξη»: an unfamiliar but gross-sounding word (with reference to the term «λουτροκαμπινέ», meaning the w.c.)
● «αδέξια»: awkward
● «αισθητική»: aesthetics
● «αληθινή κραυγή»: real scream
● «ΑΜΕΡΙΚΑΝΙΚΟΝ ΠΡΑΚΤΟΡΕΙΟΝ ΤΥΠΟΥ…»: American press agency
● «απήλλαξε»: relieved
● «ατομικών δυνατοτήτων εκλογής»: individual capacity to choose/select
● «Βαγγελίτσα»: the diminutive for the Greek female name Evangelia
● «βολικός άνθρωπος»: an accommodating person
● «ΓΙΑ ΤΕΛΕΙΟ ΝΟΙΚΟΚΥΡΙΟ»: for the perfect household
● «Δεν είναι η ανατομία του πιθήκου που εξηγεί την ανατομία του ανθρώπου, αλλά η ανατομία του ανθρώπου που εξηγεί εκείνην του πιθήκου»: It is not the anatomy of the ape that explains the anatomy of humans, but the anatomy of humans that explains that of the ape.
● «διακοσμημένες πληγές»: decorated/embellished wounds
● «Δριμύτατον ψύχος»: harsh cold
● «εγώ δεν ήξερα καν τη λέξη»: I had never even heard of the word
● «έδιωξε κάθε σκοτούρα»: has done away with all worries
● «έζησε μεγάλη φτώχεια»: lived in great poverty
● «Εκεί μέσα τοποθέτησε τα όνειρά της»: it was therein that she placed her dreams
● «ΕΜΕΙΣ ΑΝΤΑΛΛΑΣΣΟΜΕΝ τα παλαιά σας ΨΥΓΕΙΑ… αγοράζοντας τα ιδικά σας σε τιμές απίστευτα υψηλές…»: we exchange your old fridges… buying them at unbelievably high prices
● «ένα είδος φτηνού κωλόχαρτου, όχι σε ρολό αλλά σε μάτσο χαρτιά»: some sort of cheap toilet paper, not in a roll but in a bunch of pieces of paper
● «έπιπλα πραγματικά για νέους»: furniture truly intended/specially made for young people
● «ευγένεια»: gentleness/gentility
● «ευκολίες ζωής, άνεση και ψυχαγωγία»: ease, comfort and entertainment
● «Ευρυτάνες»: Eurytanes, inhabitants of Evritania, part of the region of Central Greece
● «ΕΥΡΩΠΑΪΚΟΥ ΤΥΠΟΥ»: European type (or model)
● «η τσάκιση είχε μεγάλη σημασία»: the razor-sharp crease in trousers, etc., was of great importance
● «ΘΕΡΜΑΣΤΡΑ…»: heater
● «ιστορικότητα»: historicity
● «καθαρήν ατμόσφαιραν»: clean air
● «κακοσμία»: bad odour
● «ΚΟΣΜΙΚΗ ΤΑΒΕΡΝΑ-qua-ΒΟΥΛΗ»: tavern-qua-parliament; the term «ΚΟΣΜΙΚΗ» suggests that the tavern specializes in the organization of various social events, such as the celebration of marriages, baptisms, etc.
● «κουτούκι»: tavern, something approximating a shebeen
● «λουτρά μεγαλεία»: w.c. glamour, grandeur
● «ΛΟΥΤΡΟ ΞΕΝΩΝ»: visitors’ w.c.
● «ΜΕ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΜΕΤΑΦΡΑΣΗ»: in Greek translation
● «μέσα στον άγριο Χειμώνα»: in the (heart of the) fierce winter (free translation)
● «μεταφορά»: transference, conveyance (of the arts to the sphere of consumption)
● «ΜΟΝΟΝ»: only
● «μπορεί να είναι περήφανη»: (the culture industry) can be proud
● «νεανικό»: youthful
● «ξενόφερτη αισθητική»: foreign aesthetics, imported from outside Greece
● «ξυλόσομπες»: wood-burning stoves
● «Ο Στόχος»: “The Target”.
● «ΟΙ ΜΙΜΗΤΕΣ ΜΑΣ είναι πολλοί»: our imitators are many
● «Οίκοι ανοχής στην “πολιτεία της ανοχής”»: “Brothels in the city of tolerance”.
● «όλοι βιομηχανοποιούν»: everyone is engaged in mass manufacturing
● «Ομοσπονδία Ιδιωτικών Υπαλλήλων Ελλάδος»: Greek Federation of Private Employees
● «ΟΣΟ ΚΟΣΤΙΖΕΙ Ο ΠΑΓΟΣ και η δόσις του ξύλινου…»: (an electrically-powered fridge) costs as much as a block of ice together with the installment for the wooden icebox
● «όταν εσείς απουσιάζετε»: in your absence/when you are absent
● «παγωνιέρα»: icebox, an insulated cabinet packed with ice (or, rather, with a large block of ice) for storing food
● «παλιά γκαζιέρα πετρελαίου»: old primus stove
● «παράγκα»: shack
● «ΠΑΤΡΟΝ»: patterns for dressmaking and drawing templates; paper patterns
● «περιβάλλον»: setting, atmosphere, milieu
● «πετρόμυλο/ριζόμυλο»: stone mill/rice flour mill
● «προσωπικότητα»: personality
● «προσωποποιούμε»: personalize/personify
● «προφορική μαρτυρία»: oral testimony
● «σαν κρεμμύδι»: like an onion
● «σκέπτεται μόνη»: it thinks by itself (independently of its user)
● «σοφρά»: the sofras is a Greek traditional low table
● «σταμάτα τη μπουγάδα»: stop doing the laundry yourself (free translation)
● «ΣΤΕΓΝΩΝΕΙ»: it dry cleans
● «Στεμένια»: Stemenia, the name of a natural spring, located in the northeastern outskirts of the Aliartian Acropolis, facing Lake Copais
● «συνεδρίασιν της Βουλής του Γεροβράχου»: session of Gerovrahos’ Parliament; Kyriakos Gerovrahos was the proprietor of the tavern, here referred to as “Parliament”
● «σφαιριστήρια»: billiard centers
● «ΣΦΟΔΡΟΤΑΤΗ ΚΑΚΟΚΑΙΡΙΑ»: severe weather conditions
● «ταχείας θερμάνσεως»: rapid heating
● «Τέλειο σε όλα»: perfect in every way
● «ΤΕΛΕΙΟ»: perfect (as also indicated above)
● «τεχνικαί εγκαταστάσεις»: technical installations
● «Το κρύο άλλοτε και τώρα»: the cold, then and now
● «Το μέλλον διαρκεί πολύ»: “The future lasts forever”.
● «Το πεθαμένο λικέρ»: “The dead liqueur”.
● «Το… παιχνίδι με “στεφάνι” από παλιό λάστιχο αυτοκινήτου»: the term «στεφάνι» refers to a ring or hoop – it would be an old car tyre that would be rolled along. Similar to hoop rolling or hoop trundling, a child’s game.
● «τουαλέτα»: toilet
● «Τώρα… έγιναν όλα πιο εύκολα»: now everything has become so much simpler/easier (free translation)
● «υγιεινές συνθήκες»: sanitary conditions
● «ΥΔΡΑΥΛΙΚΑ ΕΙΔΗ ΥΓΙΕΙΝΗΣ»: plumbing, sanitary ware
● «Υπάλληλος»: Clerk
● «Υπεροψία και μέθη»: “Arrogance and intoxication”.
● «υψηλό κόστος που έπρεπε παλιότερα να καταβάλλει η μάζα του πληθυσμού… στις διαστάσεις της σωματικής εργασίας…»: the high cost/price that the masses had to pay in the past with respect to the different forms of physical exertion/labour (free translation)
● «φανάρι-τροφίμων»: storage cupboard for food
● «χαρούμενο»: joyful
● «χιλιόμετρα γραφής»: kilometers of writing
● «χρονική μήτρα»: temporal womb
● «χρονοδιακόπτη»: time switch/timer
● «χωρίς επίβλεψη»: without any supervision
● «ψιλικατζίδικο»: corner shop

ATTEMPTS AT MAINTAINING “BALANCES” WITHIN THE GREEK ADVERTIZING DISCOURSE

One may wish to insist that the Greek popular masses of the 1950’s, the 1960’s and the early-1970’s were so absolutely bamboozled by those magic and novel words of advertisements which bombarded them – those letters which «αναβοσβήνουν σε χρώμα παπαγαλί και η ατμόσφαιρα γύρω πρασινίζει» (Daskalpoulou, op. cit.) – that they were in fact being reduced to a bleating mass of obsequious Sambos whose only concern was to satisfy their lower instincts (Karandonis, op. cit.). The implication would be that here we had a massive tabula rasa on which advertizing discourse could write the history of a people. As one looks back in time – and as one also considers the political turbulence of the period – such an evaluation of the history of a people sounds extraordinary.

Such an approach wants to forget one essential fact, at least as regards the “average” Greek of the period: these people possessed a knowledge of things Greek. Now this may sound like a truism, but when one considers what it was that they knew, one realizes that such object of knowledge could not possibly have been ignored by the new advertizing discourse. There would be times when the knowledge of the popular masses would cross swords with the intentions of advertisements, and there were times when such knowledge would adapt itself to the new, and vise versa, etc. But the very idea of a people as a tabula rasa is ipso facto ludicrous.

What was it that the “Amalia-type” truly knew? And why is it that such object of knowledge would inevitably come face to face with advertizing discourse? Let us consider here just one case (by way of an example of just such knowledge) – in 1961, Koeppen (op. cit.) would make the following observation:

«Οι Έλληνες ξέρουν να μαγειρεύουν»
(p. 34, my emph.).

Such «ξέρουν» constituted a series of techniques accumulated through the ages (we have already noted above that social historians have yet to research the history of Greek cooking practices). Now, the food industry, the advertizing of food products and thus the very content of related advertizing discourse, would have no choice but take such knowledge into account – i.e. such «ξέρουν» would have to be taken into consideration through a series of necessary “compromises”, “adjustments” and “balances” in their advertizing discourse. And they would have little choice but take such popular knowledge seriously if only because of the quality of the end-product of that knowledge. As to the end-product of Greek cooking, we may here consider the observations of Chrysa Kyriakati, who was a resident of Aliarto from 1956 to 1962, and who, belonging to the Aliartian social élite, could at first only evaluate the cooking practices of the popular masses from some objective distance – this is what she says:

«Το απόγευμα που τελειώνανε τα γραφεία
[headquarters of the Lake Copaїs Organization],
και πριν θερίσουν τα στάχυα, περνούσα από
ένα δρόμο όπου βρίσκονταν οι παράγκες των
εργατών – ξέρετε αυτές οι τσίγκινες… Ακόμα
 θυμάμαι τι ωραία που μύριζε το φαγητό,
 μαγειρεμένο λαδερό φαγητό…» (cf. 13η προφορική
μαρτυρία, Χρύσα Κυριακάτη, Βούλα, Αθήνα,
26.5.2009, my emph.).

What Koeppen has to say for the Greek cuisine generally, Chrysa Kyriakati verifies for the «εργάτες» of Aliarto in the 1950’s and early-1960’s. These popular masses would not be obsequiously vulnerable to any one-sided “intervention” questioning their eating habits by whatever “modern taste”. In direct contrast to such circumstances, a young lady such as Chrysa herself – she was in her twenties when she stayed at Aliarto – could perhaps have been much more vulnerable to that type of “intervention”, given her own socio-cultural circumstances. Being the daughter of someone who had happened to be «από τους μεγαλύτερους βαμβακέμπορους στη Λιβαδειά» (ibid.), she never had to cook and did not therefore possess that practical knowledge which young ladies such as an Amalia would have acquired directly from her mother. Chrysa would very openly speak of such real ignorance and clearly explain the reason for it:

«Όταν μου έλεγε ο Νίκος [her husband] να
έρθω μαζί του στον Οργανισμό, του έλεγα
“Εγώ τι να έρθω να κάνω στον Αλίαρτο; Εγώ
την γκαζιέρα δεν ξέρω ν’ ανάβω”… Και πώς
να ξέρω, στη Λιβαδειά είχα υπηρέτρια»
(ibid., my emph.).

It would not only be Chrysa’s objective class position that could, perhaps, have made her more ‘open’ to any one-sided promotions of “modern taste” – it would above all have been the absence of the knowledge and the ritual of preparing Greek foods which could have allowed her to receive advertizing messages in a manner that the “Amalia-type” would not. But precisely because cooking practices were so deeply and almost universally ingrained within the Greek “soul” (so to speak), even Chrysa herself would be bewitched by the Greek cuisine and advertizing discourse would have to keep such gastronomic proclivities of the “Chrysa-type” in mind as well. We have already noted her love of the workers’ «μαγειρεμένο λαδερό φαγητό». But we may further observe, not only how she would behave, while still at Aliarto, when circumstances would force her to cook, but also what she would in fact cook – laughing, Chrysa described her anxiety about her need to prepare a meal and related the occasion as follows:

«Κάποια μέρα, ο Κονίτσας, που ήταν τότε
στο υπουργείο Συγκοινωνιών, ήρθε μαζί με
τον πρόεδρο της Βουλής, τον Πλατή από τη
Λαμία, για κάποια εγκαίνια στον Αλίαρτο.
Λέει ο Πλατής στον άντρα μου “Εγώ μόνο την
κορδέλα θα κόψω, και θα φύγω, θα έρθω
σπίτι σας να φάω. Πες στη Χρύσα να φτιάξει
ένα φαγητό”. Θυμάμαι, έφτιαξα ντολμάδες
και κοτόπουλο με πατάτες – είχαμε μιλήσει
πια τότε ξανά με τους γονείς μου… [we
therefore presume that Chrysa must have
followed her mother’s advice on how to
prepare such foods]. Λοιπόν, στο Χρυσό
είχαμε κτήματα με ελιές, κι εκεί βγάζουν αυτές
τις μεγάλες, τις λαδοελιές, μεγάλες σαν
φυρίκια. Ο Κονίτσας ήταν από την Αράχοβα,
κι εκεί έχουν κάτι ελιές τόσες δα. Στρώνω το
τραπέζι, βγάζω κι ένα βαθύ πιάτο με 10-15
ελιές. “Τι ’ναι αυτά;” ρωτάει ο Κονίτσας, “Ελιές
είναι” λέω. Παίρνει εκείνος δύο πιάτα, τις
μοιράζει με τον Πλατή, ξεκίνησαν πρώτα με
ελιές κι ύστερα έφαγαν» (ibid.).

We may observe that, despite Chrysa’s own social background, despite her husband’s professional status (he was the «Τμηματάρχης Προμηθειών» of the «Οργανισμό»), and despite their guests (both belonging to the political élite), the young lady would still choose to prepare a traditional Greek meal for the occasion. This suggests the ‘universality’ of the traditional Greek cuisine at the time – as to such reality, we may here quote the following text on the traditional eating habits of the European peoples in the 1970’s, which was published in a Δελτίον ΣΕΒ in 1979 and which went as follows:

«… “ΕΥΡΩΚΟΥΖΙΝΑ”: ΙΔΑΝΙΚΟ ΕΥΤΥΧΩΣ ΑΝΕΦΙΚΤΟ
ΓΙΑ ΤΙΣ ΕΝΝΕΑ ΧΩΡΕΣ – Διατηρούν τις γαστριμαργικές
τους παραδόσεις και την εδεσματική ποικιλία τους…
Η “Ευρωκουζίνα” – ευτυχώς – μπορεί να θεωρηθεί
χιμαιρική προοπτική. Εάν το πρώτο αυτό συστατικό
“Ευρώ” ταιριάζει σε πολλές επιτεύξεις και επιδιώξεις
της Κοινότητας (ευρωνόμισμα, ευρωδιαβατήριο,
ευρωμόρφωση κλπ. κλπ.) περί… ευρωορέξεως, δεν
μπορεί να γίνει λόγος. Οι Ευρωπαίοι εννοούν να
διατηρήσουν την εθνική τους κουζίνα, και να μη
αποστούν από τα γαστριμαργικά και συμποτικά τους
πάτρια…» (cf. Δελτίον ΣΕΒ, No 405, 15.5.1979, pp. 21-22).

Despite such ‘universality’ of the Greek popular cuisine, we should of course not forget that there was also a stark class-based differentiation in the quality and quantity of food consumed (cf. 23η προφορική μαρτυρία, ΚΑΠΗ Αλιάρτου, 6.7.2013, where the food served at the Kriba taverna – basically frequented by Aliartian workers – is described as follows: «… κουκιά με λάδι,… ρεβίθια και τέτοια, όσπρια. Για εργάτες»). Yet still, we may say that the traditional eating habits of the Greek popular masses had seeped through class differences and continued to be savored by the social élites. It was the practical knowledge of the popular masses and the universal appreciation of the end-product of such knowledge («λαδερό φαγητό», «ντολμάδες», «λαδοελιές», etc.), which the food industry could not ignore and which advertizing discourse would have to take into account.

When “modern” foods and tastes were to enter the Greek market, their promoters would be confronted with an already existing and well-established local food industry which was fully responding to and organically expressing the traditional eating habits of the popular masses. We may here consider one such local manufacturer, that of the «Βιομηχανία Συσκευασιών Ήλιος», a company born and bred in Greece and which therefore fully knew what the Greeks themselves knew when it came to the popular art of gastronomy (all data relating to this company are taken from http://www.ellines.com/epixeiro/7499-fusika-proionta-upsilis-poiotitas-apo-to-1919/#sthash.mzhniicw.dpuf). Established as early as 1919, «Helios» would even then be entering «μια αγορά που έτρεχε ήδη». It would specialize in the making of various spices for the highly seasoned Greek dish – as regards the 1920’s, we read:

«Όσο για την πελατεία, αυτή απαρτίζεται από
μπακάλικα και παντοπωλεία της εποχής, τα
οποία αγοράζουν αρχικά το εμπόρευμα χύμα
και κυρίως πιπέρι, κανέλα, γαρύφαλλο και
μπαχάρι, προϊόντα με τη μεγαλύτερη ζήτηση
την δεκαετία του ’20».

And with reference to the 1960’s:

«… καθοριστική είναι από τα μέσα της δεκαετίας
του ’60 η εισαγωγή στην αγορά τού καρίνο ως
μυρωδικό στο μαγείρεμα των κοτόπουλων».

However “manufactured” these spices were, or however “new” («εισαγωγή»), they were all produced on the basis of a close understanding of the highly traditional gastronomic tastes of the Greek popular masses – whatever “newness” was itself a careful development of these pre-existing tastes. As such, the products of «Helios» were either of the people or were organically related extensions/developments of their socio-gastronomic culture: here, we had no real ‘surprise’, let alone any “provocation” of the eating habits of Greeks. Generally speaking, foreign food companies entering the Greek market – and especially when it came to marketing their “modern” products – could not ignore either «Helios» or its well-established network of long-time consumers.

«Helios», moreover, had also developed its own special ways of promoting its products, placing special emphasis on its packaging methods. Speaking of the late-1920’s, we read:

«… [The founder of the company] κατάφερε
να αφήσει το στίγμα του σχετικά γρήγορα,
υιοθετώντας για την εποχή μεθόδους καινοτόμες
γύρω από το πλασάρισμα των μπαχαρικών…
Εκτός από το χύμα, άρχισε να λειτουργεί και
η ιδέα της καρτέλας. Μίας μεγάλης λευκής
καρτέλας, στην οποία κολλούσαν μικρά λευκά
φακελάκια, με διαφορετικά μπαχαρικά το
καθένα, σε κάθετη μορφή ανάλογα με το προϊόν.
Έπεφτε το ένα φακελάκι πάνω στο άλλο και ο
μπακάλης τράβαγε αυτό που ήθελε ο πελάτης
και του το έδινε. Ήταν ο πρώτος ο οποίος εισήγαγε
αυτή την καρτέλα και τη συσκευασία της εποχής».

By 1960-1961, the founder’s son undertakes to truly modernize the packaging process:

«Σαν απόφοιτος της Ιωνιδείου Σχολής και μετά
τελειόφοιτος της Εμπορικής Σχολής… [the son] εξ
αρχής έβλεπε με διαφορετικό μάτι την ανάπτυξη
της βιομηχανίας. Αρχίζει λοιπόν να ψάχνεται
γύρω από το μπαχαρικό, θέλοντας να ξεφύγει από
τα τετριμμένα. Και εκείνο το κάτι άλλο ήταν να
φέρει το ’60-’61 την πρώτη γερμανική μηχανή
συσκευασίας, σηματοδοτώντας μία κίνηση πρωτοπόρο,
 καθώς δεν είχε σκεφθεί κανείς ότι θα μπορούσαν
αυτά τα φάκελα που τα κολλούσαν στο χέρι να
συσκευαστούν σε μηχανή και μάλιστα 24 ή 36 φάκελα
ανά κουτί. Σε 3-4 χρόνια ίσως και λιγότερο, φέρνει
και δεύτερη μηχανή, ενώ στο ξεκίνημα της δεκαετίας
του ’70 υλοποιεί τη συσκευασία σε μπουκάλι και
πλέον αρχίζει το δούναι και λαβείν με τα σούπερ
μάρκετ…» (my emph.).

The influx of the foreign “modern taste” in foods (Roupa’s «ξενόφερτο», op. cit.) would therefore be faced with two pre-given realities: first, the as yet dominant traditional socio-cultural gastronomic practices amongst the popular masses; and second, a well-rooted local food industry that was already starting to modernize itself. The new advertizing discourse related to food products in the 1950’s and 1960’s would therefore have to try and maintain certain “balances” with respect to both of these intertwining realities.

Our observations thus far on Greek eating habits may seem to suggest that the “average” Greek would merely resist the “modern taste”: of course – and as in the case of all other “modern” products – nothing could be further from the truth (and that, despite what the Δελτίον ΣΕΒ had to say about the persistent traditionality of the European cuisine in the 1970’s, it being only half the story). We have seen how the “New Type”, being precisely that, would come to make its own decisions as regards things “modern” – we have noted how the ex-“Leftist” Nikolaidis (op. cit.) would assert: «Ο μέσος άνθρωπος… ήδη παίρνει τις αποφάσεις του», and his decision would be to enter the “modern world” of consumption, and thus of “modern taste”. Now, one could argue that such decision-making was somewhat “naïve”, in the specific sense meant by Freud – as he puts it: «οι άνθρωποι ζουν γενικά το παρόν τους σαν με κάποια αφέλεια» (op. cit., p. 77). But we can only accept such “naiveté” in the specific sense meant by a historian such as Hobsbawm – for him, «Τα περισσότερα ανθρώπινα όντα λειτουργούν σαν ιστορικοί: μόνο αναδρομικά αναγνωρίζουν τη φύση της εμπειρίας τους» (and therefore the long-term consequences of such experience remain, at least for some period of time, unknown, cf. The Age of Extremes…, op. cit., p. 329). But that does not at all stop them from making at least fairly measured decisions on the spot and for themselves. Thus, when the “average” Greek would decide to also turn to the “modern taste” – food included – he would demand that he know what he would be consuming (or eating). Neither turning his back to his traditional eating habits, nor shying away from experimenting with the “new”, he would act neither “naively” nor blindly.

As regards such demand for knowledge in the early-1960’s, Roupa (op. cit., p. 263) very interestingly notes (but without drawing the necessary conclusions):

«Ο ελληνικός λαός αποζητούσε την ενημέρωση
σε ό,τι αφορούσε θέματα “λάιφ στάιλ” και
σύμφωνα με τον Θεοφύλακτο Παπακωνσταντίνου
“κατά τη μεγάλη πλειονότητά του ήταν
επαρκώς ενημερωμένος”…» (my emph.).

Roupa and Papakonstandinou – the latter was writing in 1963 – may not use the term «ενημέρωση» in the exact same context as that which we are here discussing, though «λάιφ στάιλ» may be broadly taken to mean eating habits as well. But in any case we do know that the “average” Greek did want to be informed on new food products, at least judging by how food manufacturers, old and new, were responding to their market. We have already seen how «Helios», well back in the 1920’s, had been using the idea of its «καρτέλα» in its packaging system so as to help buyers and sellers, not only identify a specific spice, but also allow them to have a complete picture of the full range of spices available. By the 1950’s, in some similar – but slightly more advanced – manner, the ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ organ, Paragogikotis , would itself also be advising manufacturers to pay special attention to the packaging of their products, and with a special emphasis on the importance of informing consumers. In 1956, the periodical would carry an article entitled «Η καλή συσκευασία», and part of which read as follows:

«Είναι γνωστόν πόσο μεγάλη σημασία
αποδίδεται στην Αμερική στην καλή
συσκευασία, όσο και ασήμαντο αν είναι
το πωλούμενον προϊόν… Οι νέοι τρόποι
συσκευασίας αποβλέπουν εις το να ενημερώσουν
 αμέσως τον πελάτη περί του περιεχομένου,
 της ακριβούς ποσότητος αυτού, των ειδικών
 χαρακτηριστικών του και της αξίας του…» (cf.
 Paragogikotis, No 12,
Athens, April-May 1956, p. 47, my emph.).

Three basic observations may be made regarding this mid-1950’s text:

1. Here, it is not the ‘obsequious’ popular masses who are turning to the «ξενόφερτο», but the ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ organ itself – but, then, who in the Western world at the time could possibly deny the acquired knowledge of an American industry which stretched back to the 19th century with vast corporations such as those of Carnegie, Rockefeller, Harriman, Mellon, Guggenheim and, of course, Ford? (cf. J.K. Galbraith, The New Industrial State, op. cit., pp. 21-22).
2. What was such acquired knowledge telling the Greek manufacturer? To begin with, it was speaking of the importance of a «καλή συσκευασία» for whatever product, and was therefore pressing manufacturers to become ‘appearance-conscious’ as regards their products, and which brings us back to what we have said above as regards the need to re-educate Greek capital around the question of embodying “mass aesthetics” in their products.
3. But most importantly, such ‘aesthetic appearance’ would be «καλή» if and only if it also satisfied the need of the consumer for detailed information about the new product: «Οι νέοι τρόποι συσκευασίας αποβλέπουν εις το να ενημερώσουν αμέσως τον πελάτη…». We should not forget that much of Greek commercial capital was introducing the Greek consumer to foreign and as yet unknown products, and therefore the need for information on the part of the popular masses was well nigh inevitable. Much of Greek manufacturing capital was itself involved in assembling and/or finishing off the production of foreign products based on a ‘patent’, and therefore, here too, the need to inform was called for.

Now, if it was true that the popular masses did not as yet know the new products, it was as true that the manufacturers of these new products were themselves ignorant of how such masses would respond to their products – it would not do to simply try and “manipulate” a mass of people whose wishes remained unknown: you cannot “manipulate” a “vacuum”, and ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ suspected just that. Ultimately, therefore, the advertizing companies would themselves be urged by ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ to undertake an investigation of the needs of the Greek consumer: just as the popular masses had to be informed, so too, the advertizing sector would have to inform itself. The process would be a two-way dialectical interaction, and its central object would be to try to maintain a “balance” in the socio-cultural signifiers composing advertizing discourse.

The role of ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ in this process would be made difficult by an extremely complex set of circumstances and which, as we shall see below, would not prevent an appearance of highly “interventionist”, even at times insultingly “provocative” advertisements (though these would only be one part of the story). But before we examine the ‘ideology’ of ΣΕΒ itself – as this was articulated by Paragogikotis – let us very schematically simply point to some factors which made things difficult for ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ in the 1950’s and 1960’s to create and maintain “balances”:

1. As an “ideological organizer” of Greek Capital-as a-Whole, ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ would try to co-ordinate that internally contradictory Whole by urging it to align its advertizing discourse with a mass of consumers who were themselves composed of internally contradictory social segments, ranging – inter alia – from the young “Amalia-type” to the older, war-scarred generations.
2. Within such Whole, there would be sectors of capital which, given their international strength and monopoly or oligopoly presence in world markets, could function “anarchically” when it came to articulating advertizing discourse (we use the term “anarchic” in a manner faintly reminiscent of its use by Marx in discussing Capital). Asserting their relative autonomy vis-à-vis the rest of Greek capital, their advertizing discourse would at times be highly “provocative” and “interventionist”, and such marketing techniques could also at times lead local advertizing companies to a mimicking of such techniques.
3. Other sectors of foreign or semi-foreign capital, planning to establish a more long-term presence in the Greek market, and engaged in competition with a traditionally well-rooted, endogenous non-monopoly capital – especially in the food and clothing industries – would opt for a more “compromising” advertizing discourse which aimed at “adjusting” to the special socio-cultural context of the Greek case.
4. There were many other – in-between – cases which would dominate numerically and whose advertizing discourse would be determined by specific factors such as: (i) the nature of the particular product they were promoting; (ii) the nature of their particular target-group; (iii) the degree of competition regarding the particular product; (iv) their habitual style of advertizing; and (v) their advertizing budget (though what one says in an advertisement is of course completely independent of whatever cost).

As is quite obvious, ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ could not possibly establish some uniform order of discourse within such internally contradictory disorder, and in any case the very nature of advertizing discourse itself, in its interaction with consumers, would be an ‘ideological’ battlefield of forward thrusts and retreating compromises. What ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ would try to do, in the terrain of advertizing-discourse-as-a-Whole, would be to urge the advertizing sector to undertake an investigation of different methods of promotion; it would try to introduce new “models” of advertizing discourse meant to establish new relationships with the Greek consumer, and with a special emphasis on a “balanced” two-way relationship between producer and consumer. Much of this work on the part of ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ was done through the organization of seminars and lectures, to which various business functionaries were invited to participate. Here, in our attempt to examine how ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ would try to balance the extremes of “provocative intervention” and “compromising adjustment”, we shall mainly focus on the printed material available in the periodical Paragogikotis .

Above, in our sketchy presentation of the history of advertizing in Greece, we had noted that ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ were, by 1958, in the process of establishing a “Greek Marketing Association”. Its stipulated object – «διά την βελτίωσιν των μεθόδων εμπορίας» – was to investigate methods which would determine advertizing discourse for the Greek context, and thereby regulate the field of discourse in a manner which would listen and respond to the needs of the “average” Greek.

Through such an “Association”, ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ would try to explain to all sectors of capital operating in Greece that the Greek consumer was not a ‘tabula rasa’ or a ‘vacuum’ pliable according to the one-sided profit-needs of businesses. Quite unlike the Greek ‘Marxists’, it would not look down on any ‘alienated’ masses as potential objects of “manipulation” – rather, it would approach them as an up-and-coming subject which would soon be a social power to be reckoned with. And unlike individual capitals, ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ’s relatively all-encompassing «πανοπτισμός» (loosely in the Foucaultian sense, but only as applied to relations within Capital-as-a-Whole) would allow it to go beyond their single-minded thirst for profit. Precisely so as to introduce such concepts – and their concomitant business/promotional practices – to the Greek field, it would make use of what we have elsewhere referred to as the “Danish Model”. The presentation and discussion of such “model” would enable it to warn all individual capitals of the rising consumer consciousness of people such as the “Amalia-type” – a consciousness which would place demands on the quality of products. ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ’s Paragogikotis would try to prefigure such reality of the Greek consumer as a socially powerful subject by presenting to all entrepreneurs operating in Greece what was already happening in Denmark by the late-1940’s. As in Greece of the 1950’s, so also in Denmark of the 1940’s, manufacturers would at first try to ignore the wishes and needs of the “average housewife”. But that, explains  Paragogikotis, would cause a wave of dissent amongst Danish women-consumers, which would lead to their self-organization, as also to ultimate State intervention. It is of major interest here to observe how the central organ of Greek-based Capital adopts a thoroughly sociological approach – which any Marxist at the time would envy – as regards the reaction of the popular masses in the face of the abusive excesses of various capitals. By referring to the popular mobilization of the Danish woman-consumer, Paragogikotis is in fact trying to put itself – and especially individual capitals – in the shoes of the “Amalia-type” and her mother, calculating what these were capable of doing were Greek-based manufacturers to ignore them. Part of this long text reads as follows:

«Αι οικοκυραί εν δράσει…

Αυτό το κύμα των διαμαρτυριών προεκάλεσεν
το 1947 την σύστασιν της Επιτροπής Αγοραστών,
μιας οργανώσεως υποστηριζόμενης υπό του
κράτους. Η επιτροπή αυτή ζητεί όπως καταστή
δυνατή η αγορά καλλιτέρων εμπορευμάτων…
[etc]» (cf. Paragogikotis, No 13, Athens, June-August, 1956, p. 26,
my emph.).

In the case of Greece, it would only be by 1970 that the first consumer organization would be set up (INKA/Consumer Institute), and it was by 1982 that the ΚΕ.Π.ΚΑ. (Κέντρο Προστασίας Καταναλωτών) would also be established. It was not so much the establishment of formal consumer organizations that really concerned ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ – they would probably have welcomed that – but the possible “waves of dissent” amongst Greek consumers, and which could also take the form of at least unconsciously “boycotting”/staying away from certain products. For ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ, the only way to avert such circumstances was to call on individual capitals to maintain certain “balances” between themselves as producers and the “Amalia-type”/her mother as consumers. To get their message across to Greek-based capitals, they would again make use of the Danish case, which would show how Danish manufacturers would ultimately have to respond to consumer dissent, despite initial conflicts between the parties involved. In Denmark, manufacturers and traders had no choice but to respond to the dissent and to establish a certain compromising “balance” –Paragogikotis continues:

«Οι εμπορευόμενοι
 δίδουν προσοχήν.

Η Επιτροπή Αγοραστών αρχίζει αμέσως να
συνεργάζεται με το Εθνικόν Συμβούλιον Οικιακής
Οικονομίας, το οποίον αναλαμβάνει να δοκιμάζη
τα οικιακά είδη, δια να αποφασίση την απόρριψιν
ή την έγκρισίν των. Συγχρόνως απεστάλη μία
κοινοποίησις εις τους βιομηχάνους υποδημάτων,
υφασμάτων και προϊόντων διατροφής, η οποία τους
προσεκάλει να παρουσιάσουν εις την αγοράν
εμπορεύματα καλής ποιότητος και καλώς
εναρμονισμένα. Κατ’ αρχάς τα δύο ενδιαφερόμενα
μέρη ήσαν μάλλον το εν εναντίον του άλλου,
αλλ’ ολίγον κατ’ ολίγον επανεμφανίσθη είς υγιής
συναγωνισμός εις το εμπόριον και αρκεταί ιδιωτικαί
επιχειρήσεις κατ’ αρχήν, ακολούθως δε και αι
οργανώσεις των διαφόρων κλάδων της βιομηχανίας,
 ανεγνώρισαν το όφελος το οποίον θα είχον με την
 ικανοποίησιν των απαιτήσεων των αγοραστών»
(ibid., p. 27, my emph.).

Through the presentation of this “Danish Model”, ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ are in fact urging private capitals operating in Greece to do the following interrelated things:

• Take the needs of the Greek consumer seriously – listen to consumer demands («Οι εμπορευόμενοι δίδουν προσοχήν»).
• Enter into a relationship of cooperation («υγιής συναγωνισμός») with the consumer and adjust your products to his demands.
• Produce commodities that stand up to quality tests.
• Accept the idea of independent testing of products – allow State organs to undertake such tests.
• Allow State organs to act as go-betweens in your relationship with consumers.
• In fact, accept that State intervention is necessary to help maintain “balances” between you and the consumer.
• Generally, satisfy consumer demands («ικανοποίησιν των απαιτήσεων») – doing so will in fact benefit you too.
• Doing all this could give rise to difficulties and conflicts between you, the State organs, and the consumer – but remember such conflict will be temporary and will only occur in the initial phases of the process of adjustment.
• In any case, such process is inevitable («αλλ’ ολίγον κατ’ ολίγον επανεμφανίσθη…»).

As we shall soon see, ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ shall be saying the same things, not only as regards the quality of products, but also as regards the quality of advertizing discourse and methods of promotion. But, in any case, it is quite natural that if a product had to inscribe within itself the wishes and demands of the consumer, such material inscription would also be projected within the representations of the discourse. Here, manufacturers would not need to “intervene provocatively” through their advertisements so as to find potential buyers – on the contrary, advertizing discourse would here merely express the a priori wishes of the consumer. In such case, therefore, we would not have – as Adorno et al had wanted people to believe – a “manipulatively” imposed product “from above”: both product and the discourse promoting it would emanate (if not wholly, at least partly) from the wishes and needs of the popular masses (and, therefore, such discourse would also have to be in the language of the popular masses).

But if a manufacturer were to decide to produce a product which expressed the needs of the consumer, he would have to get to know such needs – and, as we have said, it would be one of ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ’s basic objects in the 1950’s and 1960’s to try to re-educate private capitals precisely on this matter. The “Danish Model” would be one of its educational means in the 1950’s – Paragogikotis would emphasize:

«Σήμερον συμβαίνει, συχνά, αι ίδιαι αι
βιομηχανίαι να απευθύνωνται εις τους
 αγοραστάς δια να πληροφορηθούν τας
 επιθυμίας των» (ibid., p. 27, my emph.).

Training Greek industry to re-educate itself on the needs and tastes of the Greek masses would be a complex and long-term project, and ΕΛΚΕΠΑ – founded in 1954 – would have just that as its aim. A ΣΕΒ Δελτίον of 1980 had this to say of ΕΛΚΕΠΑ:

«… χωρίς … να ασκεί ο ίδιος παραγωγική
δραστηριότητα, έχει κατά βάση εκπαιδευτική
 αποστολή: επιδιώκει να εκπαιδεύσει, να
επιμορφώσει, να διαφωτίσει και να
πληροφορήσει αυτούς  που παίρνουν τις
αποφάσεις…» (cf. Δελτίον ΣΕΒ,– 30.4.1980 – No  418,
p. 11, my emph.).

And further:

«Με τη συνεργασία ειδικών επιστημόνων
οργάνωσε βραχυχρόνια και μακρυχρόνια
προγράμματα επιμορφώσεως που
παρακολούθησαν πάνω από 60.000 άτομα»
(ibid.).

Such programs, in the form of seminars and workshops, were introducing businessmen to new concepts and paradigms to the Greek field: emphasis was placed on the participation of the consumer in what was being produced and on the demands of the consumer so that the final product (quality included) not be «απροσάρμοστο στις απαιτήσεις της αγοράς» (something we shall come back to – and cf. Δελτίον ΣΕΒ,  15.6.1978, No 383, pp. 27-28). As to consumer participation/consumer demands and the Danish paradigm, ΕΛΚΕΠΑ’s Paragogikotis  would write in 1956:

«Η ΣΥΜΒΟΛΗ ΤΟΥ ΚΑΤΑΝΑΛΩΤΙΚΟΥ ΚΟΙΝΟΥ –
Οι αγορασταί απαιτούν καλήν ποιότητα –
Χαρακτηριστικόν παράδειγμα εις την Δανίαν»
(cf. Paragogikotis, June-August, 1956,
op. cit., p. 26, their emph.).

The issue of consumer participation («συμβολή») – endorsed by ΕΛΚΕΠΑ and ‘taught’ to Greek businessmen by the 1950’s – essentially reflected the general conditions of the post-war “modern world”: ΕΛΚΕΠΑ’s position could be directly related to Habermas’ (op. cit.) interpretation of the period, which was said to have offered people those «ατομικές δυνατότητες επιλογής» and which went hand in hand with «συμμετοχή», etc.

In Denmark, consumer dissent would gradually translate into consumer participation and the ability to choose the kind of products people wished to consume – companies would be forced to adjust to such consumer demands:

«Βαθμηδόν καθώς ο ανεφοδιασμός και το
εμπόριον επανήρχηντο βραδέως εις ομαλόν
ρυθμόν [after the war], η δυσαρέσκεια την οποίαν
είχον προκαλέσει αι κακαί αυταί αγοραί,
εξεδηλώθη πλέον εις τους κύκλους των γυναικών,
ηύρε διέξοδον εις τον τύπον και προεκάλεσεν
διαβήματα προς τους εμπορευόμενους»
(ibid.).

ΕΛΚΕΠΑ was consciously introducing post-war Greece to a new relation between consumers and companies – the latter had to understand the former as a powerful subject which could exert organized pressure on manufacturers, and which could also make use of the mass media. It was precisely this two-way relationship between producers and consumers which would maintain “balances”, thus functioning as a safety-valve («διέξοδον»).

Without at all realizing the implications of what she is saying, Roupa (op. cit.) states with reference to the 1950’s and 1960’s:

«… ιδρύθηκαν κρατικοί και ιδιωτικοί φορείς
που μελετούσαν την καταναλωτική
συμπεριφορά…» (p. 261).

She goes on to provide us with useful information on the various organizations, bodies and institutions that were being established at the time, and sees in these the wholly “manipulative” intentions of the American “marketing model” («η κατανάλωση διεγείρονταν συστηματικά», cf. p. 260). And yet, she fails to understand that these institutions “studied” already existing popular attitudes – a historically-rooted a priori – and had to adjust to and maintain “ideological balances” with such reality. Thus, whatever degree of “manipulation” was checked and delimited by such socio-cultural reality.

If the product had to inscribe within itself at least elements of the a priori needs and tastes of the popular masses, such inscription would have to be represented in advertizing discourse – further, in cases where a product was a ‘standardized’ international product, ΕΛΚΕΠΑ would again propose that it be promoted in a manner which would ‘speak’ to the consumer, and which would mean that the language of the discourse would have to be the language of the consumer – that, however, would presuppose a thorough knowledge  and respect of the socio-cultural mass practices of an “Amalia-type”. Further, and as already noted above (Streek, op. cit.), the mass ‘standardized’ product would itself give way to the “customized product”, and which would to a large extent “customize” advertizing discourse itself. In the 1950’s, ΕΛΚΕΠΑ would try to re-educate Greek private capitals along this strategic line by focusing on the concept of the “market idea”. It was precisely such “market idea” which would constitute that «πεδίο μιας ασταθούς ισορροπίας συμβιβασμών» discussed above. We may here examine how Paragogikotis would present such inevitably U.S.-inspired concept in the 1950’s. In its January 1955 issue (No 6, pp. 33-42), the periodical would publish an article the central points of which may be summarized as follows:

• «Η προσέλκυσις του πελάτου είναι ολόκληρη τέχνη και χρειάζεται φαντασία» (headline) – both the reference to “technique” as also that to “imagination/fantasy” may suggest “manipulative” intentions. Yet still, we need notice the emphasis placed on the central problem of how to attract the attention of the consumer.
• The text, further, explicitly warns private capitals not to deceive the consumer: «δίχως ίχνος προθέσεως εξαπατήσεως … του πελάτου».
• To attract attention but without deceiving, the commodity should ‘speak’ to the consumer: «…το εμπόρευμά σας πρέπει να της μιλήσει [i.e. to the housewife-consumer]» (their emph.). This of course presupposes that the producer knows the needs of the consumer (and therefore the necessary specifications of the product), and it also presupposes that the promotion of the product knows the language of that consumer.
• Specifically as regards the promotion/presentation of products, this constitutes a whole ‘science’ based on the knowledge of what the “average” housewife wants: «Η ανάγκη να βρεθή τι θέλει η μέση νοικοκυρά ωδήγησε στην επιστήμη της παρουσιάσεως των ειδών προς πώλησιν». Here, it is clear that advertizing discourse and whatever other means of promotion can only be produced by mechanisms that have already imbibed and ‘scientifically’ evaluated the given material needs and psyche of the “average” housewife.
• It is such focus on the need to attract the consumer, on the need to avoid deception, on the need to speak the language of consumers, on the need to ‘scientifically’ gather data around popular needs, etc., which would allow ΕΛΚΕΠΑ to speak of and press for its central concept of “market idea” amongst Greek private capitals. This central concept – related to but not the same as “marketing mix’ (to be discussed below) – points to the utterly new and “modern” conceptualization of the relation between producers and consumers. The text suggests that there is the need for manufacturers, traders and promoters to give the consumer «μια μεγαλυτέρα ευχέρεια εκλογής “ιδεών αγοράς”…» (my emph.).
• At least for the Greek case, the implications of such a concept were truly revolutionary and would directly engage the “Amalia-type” in the unfolding of a new style of life. These implications were momentous for a number of reasons:
• A given product would be structured around a network of “ideas” forming its  own “market idea” in two ways: firstly, the product itself, as an “idea”, could take a variety of forms – thus, it would be up to the “Amalia-type” to select what it was she wanted from a range of different forms of the same product; secondly, the discourse promoting the product would also take a variety of forms, and again the “Amalia-type” would herself select which discourse form she would ‘speak’ with along this range of forms of discourse.
• This would therefore give the individual consumer the freedom to select and participate exactly as Habermas (op. cit.) has described it in examining the post-war period.
• As is obvious, the concept of the “market idea” was a spermatic form of what Streek (op. cit.) has referred to as the “customized product” of the post-1970’s (both “market idea” and “customization” involving selectivity and participation).
• There would be limits to the range of products and to the corresponding promotional discourses – such limits would constitute that constantly unsteady terrain of «ασταθούς ισορροπίας συμβιβασμών», and which would be a terrain of “provocative globalism” challenging “traditional provincialism” at the two extreme ends of the terrain. The “Amalia-type” would be one of the agents within such terrain – another agent would be ΕΛΚΕΠΑ; yet another would be the different sectors of capital operating in Greece, and so on.

Having said all this, the 1955 Paragogikotis article nonetheless does admit that such “techniques” would inevitably have a particular effect on the wishes of the consumer – they would go some way in “provoking”, though that would be a “provocation” of the wish to select. Alternatively, we may say that the “market idea”, presupposing a knowledge of the language and the wants of the consumer, could have a “manipulative” effect on him, but only in the more restricted sense that it could accelerate the act of choice (but which was itself “informed”, as argued above). As the text puts it, the use of «ιδεών αγοράς» would also mean –

«… μίαν ιδιαίτερη επιτάχυνσι εις την
επιθυμίαν του πελάτου να κάνη την
 εκλογή του» (ibid., p. 38, their emph.).

Going back to the 18th century, the Physiocrat Mercier de la Riviѐre had argued that «Ο σκοπός της ανταλλαγής είναι η απόλαυση, η κατανάλωση» (cf. Michel Foucault, Oι λέξεις και τα πράγματα, Γνώση, Αθήνα, 1986, p. 274). By the mid-20th century, in Greece as elsewhere, there would be a relative acceleration in the wish for such «απόλαυση», and this acceleration would be based on a relative “democratization” of consumer power. The April-May 1956 issue of Paragogikotis (No 12, p. 43), would make just that point. In a text entitled «Ένα κοινωνικόν πείραμα – Ο θεσμός της αναπτύξεως σχέσεων» [“A social experiment – The Relation Development Institution”], M. V. Pavlidis would write:

«Η αύξησις της βιομηχανικής παραγωγής
διέπεται από δύο βασικά φαινόμενα, την
αύξησιν της μηχανικής παραγωγής και
 την δημοκρατικοποίησιν της αγοραστικής
 δυνάμεως» (my emph.).

The ever-accelerating wish to select different forms of (de la Riviѐre’s) «απόλαυση» was not, therefore, simply a product of any “manipulative” advertizing discourse, and as that was semantically organized around its “market idea” – it was also and above all a product of that «αύξησιν της μηχανικής παραγωγής». Within such context, accelerating wishes were a manifestation of a relatively “democratized” consumer capacity, and which went hand-in-hand with a “democratization” of demand, participation and selection of products (we have already pointed to “mass aesthetics”, the “democratization” of fashion, etc.). The implication is that that «πεδίο μιας ασταθούς ισορροπίας συμβιβασμών» – and precisely as that was encapsulated in the pluralistic “market idea” – would be an essentially democratic terrain, and especially as the consumer power symbolic of the middle class milieu would be strengthened through the years. Even in the Greek “Police State” of the 1950’s and early-1960’s, and even in the period of the Military Dictatorship, the “Amalia-type” would be able to democratically assert her own consumer selectivity both in the product that she consumed and in the advertizing discourse that she would choose to listen to (the socio-cultural and economic levels of the Greek social formation would retain their relative autonomy vis-à-vis the political level). In any case, that, at least, was the strategic object of ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ – i.e. to maintain the relative autonomy and democratic interaction in relations between producer/promoter and the consuming masses. This does not mean that ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ were inherently predisposed to harbor whatever ‘democratic’ feelings towards the popular masses – they had no choice but do so in the face of the objective power of an “Amalia-type”, not so much qua-worker but much more so qua-consumer (and which constitutes a ‘reading’ of Greek social history completely alien to Greek “Left-wing” thinking – cf. our discussion of Greek “intellectuals” above).

Consciously or not, Roupa (op. cit.) follows the same old one-sided “Left-wing” paradigm (hardly ‘Marxist’ in any case) and thus completely ignores the “democratization” of both consumer demand and that of the terrain of advertizing discourse itself. Thus, her understanding of the role of what she calls “status types” is once again reduced to an ethicalist complaint: with reference to the promotion of modern “luxuries” in Greek films in the late-1950’s and early-1960’s, she speaks of –

«… ενός ελληνικού συστήματος προβολής
επωνύμων (“σταρ σύστεμ”) το οποίο πρόσφερε
πρότυπα για τον Τύπο και το κοινό»
(p. 265).

Terms such as «σύστημα προβολής» and «πρόσφερε» suggest an almost conspiratorially manufactured “status type” simply thrown in the faces of a Greek people hungry for whatever exotic “types” other than (or over and above) their own down-to-earth selves, and which would supposedly also yield an Orwellian-type «πρότυπο κατανάλωσης» (ibid.). The truth is that there really were, in the 1960’s, both “status types” and “consumer prototypes” – but there was a democratically-determined plurality of these, given the selective and participatory terrain of the “market idea”, itself determined by the dialectical give-and-take between at least certain private capitals and the “Amalia-type”. Put otherwise, within the post-war context of a potential upward mobility on the part of the popular masses, mass consumption and the “democratization” of consumer capacity would yield the “democratization” of “status types” as well – these very “types” gradually coming to define the middle class milieu.

In the course of the 1960’s so-called “Cultural Revolution” in China, Mao would decide to place “politics in command”, and ruin whatever possibilities for industrial development at the time – in stark contrast, in the course of the 1950’s-1960’s “socio-cultural revolution” in Greece, ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ would place “the consumer in command”, and thus contribute to Greece’s one and only (short) industrial revolution. Consider, for instance, the following text published in Paragogikotis in 1956:

«Ο ΠΕΛΑΤΗΣ

… είναι το πιο σπουδαίο πρόσωπο…
δεν εξαρτάται από μας – εμείς
 εξαρτώμεθα από εκείνον…
δεν είναι ψυχρή στατιστική – είναι
άνθρωπος με αισθήσεις και αισθήματα…
 και με προτιμήσεις και προκαταλήψεις.
… είναι αυτός, ο οποίος μας αναθέτει
την ικανοποίησι των επιθυμιών του –
είναι δουλειά μας να τις ικανοποιήσωμε
επικερδώς δι’ αυτόν και δι’ ημάς»
(cf. Paragogikotis, April-May 1956,
p. 48, my emph.).

This text is of special interest for three reasons: firstly, it is a reproduction of an in-house manual published by a U.S. corporation in 1956; secondly, it was redistributed that same year to the representatives of Greek industry through EΛΚΕΠΑ’s organ, Paragogikotis ; lastly, and precisely because it functioned as a document addressed exclusively to Greek private capitals, it did not mean to appease the popular consuming masses – it rather constitutes the essential inside truths of industry, revealing how the latter had traditionally viewed the consumer and why this would need to be corrected. Especially as regards Greek capital, what it says represents the dawn of the “modern” relationship between producer and consumer, and does so by placing the consumer as the agent in command of the process of production and consumption (specifically as regards the transaction of what one produces and what one buys). Let us examine a bit more closely how it aims at re-educating Greek industry:

• It immediately places the consuming masses ‘in command’ by naming such people as «το πιο σπουδαίο πρόσωπο» – it therefore rejects the idea that the consumer is an open ‘tabula rasa’ to be filled in with “false needs” and “manipulatively” instilled wishes;
• It recognizes the determining power of the consumer and the dependency of the producer: «εμείς εξαρτώμεθα από εκείνον»;
• The consumer is an active subject – and therefore not a one-dimensional passive receptor – and cannot be reduced to a market statistic: «δεν είναι ψυχρή στατιστική»;
• It recognizes the socio-cultural, historically determined, a priori which defines the consumer: such a priori has forged a social psyche which has its own «αισθήσεις», «αισθήματα», «προτιμήσεις» and «προκαταλήψεις»;
• Capital, it is implied, does have its profit-making interests – but it is assigned by a historical subject (the consumer) to have its own wishes satisfied: it goes without saying that a “balance” between economic interest and pre-given wishes need be found: «μας αναθέτει την ικανοποίησι των επιθυμιών του»;
• In the field of the circulation of commodities, relations between capital (the so-called ‘dominant’ class) and the popular masses (the so-called ‘dominated’) are now turned upside-down – here, companies work for the popular masses: «είναι δουλειά μας να τις ικανοποιήσωμε»;
• The two-way relationship between capital and consumer is fully recognized: «δι’ αυτόν και δι’ ημάς».

These were the ‘inside truths’ that ΕΛΚΕΠΑ wanted to share with manufacturing and marketing capitals in Greece in the mid-1950’s: as we shall see, many private capitals would possess the economic clout and prestige to more or less ignore such truths; but as many would adopt “market ideas” which fully endorsed such truths, at times even religiously so. Either way, as the “democratization” of consumer capacity would gather momentum by the 1970’s and on, the middle class milieu, as a formidable consumer-bent socio-cultural force, would ultimately place itself in command (even at the political level with the rise of populist parties such as ΠΑΣΟΚ and ΝΔ, both of which would pursue policies bolstering over-consumption).

The idea of placing the consumer ‘in command’ through “market ideas” which gave people the democratic right to select and participate in the formation and buying of a product, etc. – all this stands in absolutely stark contrast to the way J. K. Galbraith (op. cit.) presented things in the 1960’s – consider the following quote:

“The eye sees a vast advertising and
sales effort employing elaborate
science and art to influence the
consumer” (p. 15).

And further:

“It sees huge sums expended for this
effort, an estimated $19.6 billion for
advertising in 1969” (ibid.).

One does not want to doubt the academic stature and penetrating analyses of someone like
Galbraith – on the other hand, and as already stated, one cannot mechanically apply Galbraith’s findings to 1960’s Greece. But perhaps one may here question what Galbraith himself has to say as regards “influencing” the consumer. Such “sales effort” – as he describes it – does not seem to have been all too easy a matter, simply judging by what was needed to be employed (science, art, and of course the billions of dollars setting up that “great machine”). Even in America, it seems, the “affluent” were not themselves that naïve and gullible. Naturally, in 1960’s Greece, the material conditions of life and the turbulently contradictory socio-cultural context would make such “sales effort” and such “great machine” even more complex. And that is precisely why ΕΛΚΕΠΑ had to spend time and money, not to “influence” the consumer, but to re-educate 60.000 business executives through the years so that the promotion of their products would take into account the “influence” exerted by the so-called “base” of society. Thus, at least as regards the Greek case, the process of “influencing” was a tri-partite flow of data: first, ΕΛΚΕΠΑ had to re-educate private capitals and their advertizing companies; second, the latter had to get to know and take into consideration the needs and wishes of the consumer; the third and final process of actually “influencing” people to buy a commodity would be activated through advertizing discourse, and then the “influence” of an advertizing campaign would have to be checked in terms of its success or failure. The measure of “influence” exerted by each of these parties – the ΕΛΚΕΠΑ educational seminars, the ability of the consumer to register his needs and wishes through his consumer behaviour as such, and the effectivity of the advertisement on the consumer – cannot be taken for granted. It is only hard empirical research on the various advertizing discourses that can tell us who in the last instance “influenced” whom and to what extent, such “influence” on the consumer never being a one-way matter. But ΕΛΚΕΠΑ had already decided that if capital was to maximize its profits, its advertizing discourse would have to be organized in a manner which put the consumer ‘in command’, as we have seen.

Having said all this, it must be quite obvious that our position here has absolutely nothing to do with that other position critically pointed to by Galbraith, which supports “the ultimate authority of the consumer” (op. cit., p. 16). But if there was no such “ultimate authority” on the part of the consumer, so also was there no such “authority” on the part of State and Capital. Both State and Capital as also Greek civil society itself, were too complex and internally contradictory to be reduced to whatever totalitarian enforcement of ‘taste’: the pluralistic “market idea”, being just that, allowed for an open and democratic struggle between all such parties as regards socio-cultural ‘taste’ (and which of course tells us nothing about the question of political rights in the 1960’s, that being a different kettle of fish).

Now, by the early 1970’s, ΕΛΚΕΠΑ’s philosophy of the “market idea”, meant to be inscribed in commodities and expressed in advertizing discourse, was to itself undergo a radical change in some (though not all) fields of advertizing. The concept of “market idea”, which had thus far been limited in its application to local capital – the “anarchy” of foreign multinationals having been beyond any control – would now merge with global, usually “interventionist” discourse. This fusion of concepts would come about given the mergers that would happen between local advertizing companies and international advertizing giants. But such discourse fusion and company mergers would not necessarily mean the dominance of the ‘foreign’ in advertizing discourse. Foreign-based advertizing companies, gradually rooting themselves in the socio-cultural realities of Greece, would develop their own “market ideas” and allow such “ideas” to enter into a dialectical engagement with the “ideas” of local advertizing companies – thus, new “balances” would have to be discovered between the new, foreign “market ideas” of advertizing discourse and those of their Greek counterpart. In that sense, the plurality of discourse would be further widened, and the range of selection for the “Amalia-type” would itself continue to broaden.

The fact that there had to be a dialectical engagement and finally a fusion of “market ideas” coming from foreign and local capitals – and therefore a fusion between global discourse and locally-based Greek socio-cultural discourse – would mean that the mergers and/or cooperation between different advertizing companies would yet again have to be accompanied by a massive re-education of all the parties involved. More than that, educational structures would have to be set up which would train a whole new generation of Greek professionals who would have to imbibe and condense within their skills this new advertizing discourse combining the global and the local in “balances” appropriate to the Greek market. Such youngsters – who were in fact the “organic intellectuals” of the middle class milieu – would have to create an advertizing discourse for products that had to avoid whatever «σφάλμα» vis-à-vis the demands of the market. That “market”, of course, was the up-and-coming middle class milieu, and when the ΣΕΒ Δελτίον was constantly urging both manufacturers and promoters in the 1970’s to avoid whatever was «απροσάρμοστο στις απαιτήσεις της αγοράς», it was of course thinking of none other than the milieu of the “Amalia-type”. The latter, of course, would itself be evolving in a manner which would combine in its newly-found «nous» both an ever-increasing proclivity for the global (and/or for the “European”) and for a natural conservation of its “Greekness”: the interplay between these would be highly complex, and it was just such complexity that the newly-trained Greek professionals would have to capture in creating the advertisements of the period (that being their “organic” function).

We need to briefly examine who it was that would establish such new educational structures in the early-1970’s, which advertizing companies would be involved, and why these parties were the appropriate forces to materialize objectives referred to above. Before we embark on such an examination, we should note that the accuracy of the data presented remains to be corrected or at least further verified – and in any case this study has never pretended to be a history of advertizing in Greece: we merely intend to present a general picture of events in the field of advertizing which would reinforce our position that advertizing discourse by the 1970’s would be a fusion of global and local representations, and which would be articulated by a new generation of socially “organic” professionals reflecting the needs and dreams of people such as the young Amalia Eleftheriadou. Advertizing discourse prior to the 1970’s would be a prefiguration of all such things to come.

The central organizing force behind developments in the early-1970’s could only have been ΕΛΚΕΠΑ itself. This organization would join forces with the «Ένωση Διαφημιστικών Επιχειρήσεων Ελλάδος» (ΕΔΕΕ) so as to set up structures for the training of young professionals in the field of advertizing. ΕΔΕΕ itself had been established in 1968, and one of its basic objectives had been to lay out a “code of ethics” in advertizing discourse – like ΕΛΚΕΠΑ since the 1950’s, its concern was to maintain “balances” between company profits and the rights of the consumer. Further, ΕΔΕΕ was an umbrella organization gradually bringing together important Greek advertizing companies, a number of which had merged or were in the process of merging and/or cooperating with foreign advertizing giants. We know that at least by 1973, ΕΛΚΕΠΑ and ΕΔΕΕ would have established the «Κέντρον Εκπαιδεύσεως Στελεχών Διαφημίσεως» (ΚΕΣΔΙ). At least eighteen advertizing companies operating in Greece at the time would participate in this major training project. According to the periodical Epikaira (3-9.10.1974, τεύχ. 322, p. 47), this list of companies would include «μερικές από τις πρώτες εταιρίες στη χώρα μας». The composition of some of these companies is evidence of the mergers that had taken place with foreign advertizing giants, and which would facilitate an articulation of global with Greek local advertizing discourse.

One of the most important members of ΕΔΕΕ participating in the ΚΕΣΔΙ training project in the early-1970’s would be ‘ΛΕΟΥΣΗΣ ΔΙΑΦΗΜΙΣΕΙΣ’ [LEOUSSIS ADVERTISEMENTS] (data pertaining to this company have been drawn from a variety of sources: Epikaira (ibid.); protothema.gr (undated); G. Sotiropoulou agelioforos.gr (29.7.2014); To Vima [Το Βήμα] (15.03.1998); etc.). This company had been deeply rooted in the Greek socio-cultural context and was to gradually undertake the promotion of international products in a manner which combined both ‘global’ discourse content and a language reflective of the Greek popular masses. Founded in 1941 by a woman, Fotini Leoussi, it was then the 19th advertizing agency («διαφημιστικό γραφείο») operating in Greece at the time. By 1956, the company would be run by Leoussi’s son, Ioannis, and would be named «Ι.Ν. ΛΕΟΥΣΗΣ» [“I.N. LEOUSSIS]. It would soon commence a series of advertizing campaigns promoting products such as the beer «ΦΙΞ» [“FIX”]. These campaigns were to so deeply influence the Greek mass popular ‘psyche’ – and would so effectively speak the language of such ‘psyche’ – that they were to become truly legendary in the minds of the popular masses. «ΦΙΞ» itself would become a symbol of local beer-drinking cultural practices, and it is impossible to fully understand the socio-cultural practices of Greeks at the time without also examining the role of a company such as «Ι.Ν. ΛΕΟΥΣΗΣ». In 1966, the 23 year-old son Nikos Leoussis would enter the family business and, given his initial passion for philosophy, would first work as a «κειμενογράφος» for the company. By the 1970’s, this man would become a major leader of many young Greek professional-“organic intellectuals” whose aim it was to undertake a systematic research work into the needs, tastes and dreams of the “Amalia-type”, and thus to create advertizing discourses accurately reflective of such “type”.

Nikos Leoussis was to become chairman of ΕΔΕΕ and thus head the massive training of such young professionals in the advertizing field via ΚΕΣΔΙ in the 1970’s. He was the true principal pioneer of ‘market research’ in Greece, and would thus come to fulfill the original aims of ΕΛΚΕΠΑ’s project commenced in the 1950’s which, as we have seen, was to place the Greek consumer ‘in command’. But for Leoussis things would now be much more complex: heretofore, it was not merely a matter of convincing local capitals to place the consumer ‘in command’, but rather to implement such advertizing strategy in a context of a Greek advertizing sector which was gradually merging with international advertizing giants. The central aim of ΚΕΣΔΙ was to train its “organic intellectuals” in the creation of an advertizing discourse which would inscribe a “balance” between the ‘global’ and the ‘local’ representations, and which would do so in a manner which fully expressed the complex socio-cultural milieu of the up-and-coming popular middle classes. Thereby, the “anarchically provocative” advertizing campaigns of foreign capitals would now also have to re-adjust their advertizing discourse within the parameters delimited by ΕΔΕΕ, which itself represented mergers between Greek and foreign-based advertizing companies. Given the cut-throat competition between various sectors of capital and given the uneven power between and within such sectors, the ΕΛΚΕΠΑ-ΕΔΕΕ-ΚΕΣΔΙ project – headed by Leoussis as chairman of ΕΔΕΕ – would not always be successful in standardizing the “code of ethics” of Greek-based advertizing discourse. Yet still, the Leoussis philosophy of advertizing would remain a steady ideological reference point. Such ideological reference point has been explained by Leoussis himself, and his understanding of the social function of advertizing discourse certainly surpasses all the so-called “Marxist intellectuals” put together – confirming the analyses of our own study, and in a manner reminiscent of the work of a Raymond Williams (cf. the latter’s Culture and Society, London, The Hogarth Press, 1978), Leoussis would enumerate the social functions of advertizing discourse as follows:

 «Την αποτύπωση που κάνει των κοινωνικών
 ρευμάτων της εποχής της. Την συμπύκνωση
 που κάνει των κοινωνικών προτεραιοτήτων,
 της ιστορικής συγκυρίας και της συλλογικής
 αισθητικής που ενσωματώνει»
(cf. G. Sotiropoulou, op. cit., my emph.).

It could only have been someone with a well-trained philosophical mind and who was at the same time as well-versed in the Greek socio-cultural reality, who could possibly capture the phenomenon of advertizing discourse in Greece with such sociological accuracy: Leoussis sees advertizing discourse as that which inscribes and condenses the priorities of the different socio-cultural strains of the popular masses themselves within a given conjuncture. That, of course, has been our own position all along this study. But what is of major importance is that it was exactly such philosophy of advertizing – as embodied in the thinking of the chairman of ΕΔΕΕ – which would be applied to the creation of advertizing discourse by both Greek advertizing companies and by those that had merged or were cooperating with the foreign giants, within ΕΔΕΕ.  Such philosophical reference point – which wanted and had to reflect the real socio-cultural trends and tastes of the “Amalia-type” – had to come to terms and re-discover “balances” with that all-American advertizing tradition encapsulated in the phrase “soap, sex and cigarettes” (cf. interview with Ms. F. Leoussi, in protothema.gr). By the early-1970’s and on, there would be a renewed emphasis on “market ideas” accompanying commodities and reflecting the «συλλογική αισθητική» («ο κλάδος μας βασίζεται στην ιδέα», as F. Leoussi would herself stress, ibid.), and this would apply even to the promotion of foreign products which had in any case always been carrying a ‘global’ image. Leoussis’ own company, «ΛΕΟΥΣΗΣ ΔΙΑΦΗΜΙΣΕΙΣ», would work with more than 200 large companies selling “brand names”. Clients would include foreign companies such as BNP Paribas, Reckitt Benckiser, BDF, Unilever, Motor Oil, Lufthansa, and so on. It would be responsible for the promotion of the highly popular products of Wella, Nivea and Triumph. By the 1970’s, there would certainly be a deluge of foreign products entering the Greek market, but ΕΛΚΕΠΑ, ΕΔΕΕ, and ΚΕΣΔΙ would push for “market ideas” which would be functional to the needs of the Greek socio-cultural context – such functionality could only be ensured through a dialectical combination of ‘global’ and   ‘local’ advertizing discourse which would, in the last instance, effect that «αποτύπωση… των κοινωνικών ρευμάτων της εποχής…» within Greece. We know that one such major social grouping of the period would be young, fairly well-educated working females such as the “Amalia-type”. Leoussis knew that “type” – the Greek “Left”, in contrast, did not (or would simply refuse to accept its dominant presence). On the other hand, young ladies belonging to the “Left” would themselves naturally wear, say, Triumph underwear, and thus be more or less spontaneously – though quite paradoxically – participating (remember the Habermas position on participation and selection) in the “modern” socio-cultural practices of the day. Leoussis knew such “type” of ladies as well, and perhaps knew them better than they cared to know themselves: his famous advertizing slogan, «Τριούμφ, τα εσώρουχα που αγαπούν τη γυναίκα», would really speak their language as well. Quite appropriately, therefore, a To Βήμα article (op. cit.) on the life and work of Leoussis would be given the following title: «Να ονειρεύεσαι προσγειωμένα».

Leoussis knew the subjects/social agents of the Greek historical conjuncture of the 1960’s and 1970’s precisely because the object of his research – more specifically his ‘market research’ – would be that exact conjuncture: he studied and tried to communicate via advertizing discourse with the complexities of what he would call «το επίκαιρο». This is how he would put it:

«Η φιλοσοφία έχει σχέση με το διαχρονικό
και η διαφήμιση με το επίκαιρο. Το άγχος του
διαχρονικού είναι φορτίο στο επίκαιρο.
Ειδικά η πλατωνική φιλοσοφία, που έχει το
άγχος της αναγωγής στο ένα, δεν μπορεί να
έχει καμία σχέση με τη διαφήμιση»
(cf. To Vima).

We may make three interpretative observations on Leoussis’ overall philosophical world-view, as expressed in this quote:

• His suggestion that it is advertizing per se which relates to the «επίκαιρο» implies that advertizing discourse is the paramount discourse of the Greek popular middle class milieu: the needs, wishes and tastes of the “New Type” would be materialized, as a socio-cultural ideology, within the promised possibilities of any one advertisement. The representations and “status types” of advertizing discourse would be reproduced in whatever other discourse circulating in society, such as in the film industry, in the narrative texts of popular periodicals, etc. But advertizing discourse would remain paramount, because it would be here that representations had to be accurate enough so as to directly speak to the consumer and make him buy a specific product: it is only here that mass participation and selectivity would be enacted in real physical terms and in real space and time.
• His reference to «άγχος» is an excellent reading of Greek society of the post-war period and through to the 1970’s: as mentioned elsewhere, the specifically “Greek angst” – observed by people such as Varikas (op. cit.) – was a product, not only of the bloodbath of the Civil War, but also of the ensuing socio-cultural clashes we have been discussing above. Both for Leoussis and the Greek popular masses, such “angst” could only be transcended through the new and “modern” style of life promised by advertisements and materialized within the “Greek Home” of the “Amalia-type”. It would only be the advertising discourse addressed to the “New Type” and expressive of its current needs that would release people from the «φορτίο» of, inter alia, its historical past. As is well known, the “angst” of the Greek people would turn many post-war novelists and poets towards an exploration of essentially existentialist themes – similarly, Leoussis himself would, since the early-1960’s and on, be deeply interested in various existentialist philosophers of his time (cf. To Vima, op. cit.), and he would use such knowledge to help him understand the ‘psyche’ of the middle class milieu and to respond to its “angst” in its own language as inscribed in the advertizing discourse of the period.
• Leoussis’ rejection of the Platonic «αναγωγή στο ένα», at least in the field of advertizing, is fully explainable: the Greek crisis of conflicting socio-cultural practices in the 1960’s and 1970’s would mean that one could not reduce the complexities and contradictions of the Greek common «nous» into one monolithic “whole” (let alone reduce Greek society to a Capital-versus-Labour contradiction, as did the communist “Left”):advertizing discourse, as already discussed, would have to condense within itself all the variety of trends and tastes expressed by the popular masses, both young and old.

The «ΛΕΟΥΣΗΣ ΔΙΑΦΗΜΙΣΕΙΣ» company – later the «ΟΜΙΛΟΣ ΕΠΙΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΑΣ Ι.N. ΛΕΟΥΣΗΣ AE» – would both operate within such philosophical framework as regards the advertisements it created, and would articulate such framework vis-à-vis the advertizing giants that it would itself bring to Greece (AGB and CARAT by the 1980’s). But Leoussis himself, long-time leader within ΕΔΕΕ and member of the Executive Committee of ΣΕΒ, was not alone in his project to study the ‘psyche’ of the middle class milieu in the 1970’s, and thereby to put the consumer ‘in command’. For the sake of historical interest, we present below a few data on some of the ΕΔΕΕ-member advertizing companies which would, by 1973-4, be setting up and operating the training centre ΚΕΣΔΙ (most, not all, of this data is drawn from Epikaira, op. cit.; a number of company data have also been drawn from a wide variety of websites):

• McCann-Erickson (Hellas) L.L.C.: this company was linked to the giant McCann-Erickson, said to have created the modern depiction of Santa Claus in 1939 for Coca-Cola. As we shall see below, in examining ‘global’ advertizing discourse in Greece, Coca-Cola’s entry to the country in the 1960’s would be an especially problematic process, and which shows how both in Greece and in other countries around the world there would be a serious resistance to its globalization both as an addictive drink and as an all-American culture symbol. In fact, it would only be by 1979 that Coca-Cola would try to heal its “traumas” of the 1960’s and 1970’s with its “Have A Coke, And A Smile” campaign. It would also be this same advertizing company which would create the internationally famous “Gold Blend couple” advertisements for Nescafé, and which will also be further discussed below (such advertisements also circulated in Greece). This giant, 70 year-old advertizing company, usually ignoring local socio-cultural conditions around the world, would ultimately have to allow its “Hellas L.L.C.” subsidiary to join the ΕΔΕΕ and often comply with the latter’s “code of ethics”, etc.
• LINTAS: HELLAS: this ΕΔΕΕ-member was established in 1970. It was a subsidiary of the powerful LINTAS, which had itself been set up in the early-1920’s as Lever Brothers’ own advertizing agency. The latter would finally evolve into the Lever House Advertising Service. LINTAS: HELLAS, as a member both of ΕΔΕΕ and of the SSAB-Lintas International Advertising network, would have to create advertizing discourse specifically for the Greek popular masses and therefore fuse the LINTAS ‘global’ discourse with that of ‘local’ demands and expectations – it had to find “balances” between the discourse requirements of its mother-company and those of ΕΔΕΕ.
• Sigma ΕΠΕ: especially active in the 1970’s, this advertizing company would promote anything from films, to cars, to dolls, etc. It would promote both the Greek-produced Finos Films and foreign films. As regards the latter, one important manner in which it would adjust advertizing discourse to the needs and tastes of the Greek popular masses would be to alter the original titles of these films, and at times very radically so. In fact, Sigma ΕΠΕ in the 1970’s would be continuing and furthering the 1960’s tradition of Greek advertizing discourse promoting foreign films which had been “translating” theirforeign advertizing discourse – film title and other promotional representations – into the Greek socio-cultural context. As in the 1960’s, but in a more sophisticated manner in the 1970’s, Sigma ΕΠΕ would translate and adjust foreign film titles in a manner which would respond, inter alia, to the needs of Greek youth in the context of the sexual revolution underway (we shall come back to advertizing film-discourse in discussing “balances” in 1960’s advertizing discourse as a whole). As regards the establishment of the training centre ΚΕΣΔΙ set up by ΕΔΕΕ in the early-1970’s, Sigma ΕΠΕ (which fully participated in both structures), would have this to say in 1974: «Το ΚΕΣΔΙ αποτελεί τη μοναδική συστηματική προσπάθεια για τη δημιουργία διαφημιστικών στελεχών στην Ελλάδα». (cf. Epikaira, op. cit., my emph.).
• ABC ADVERTISING: this Greek advertizing company was established in 1966 and would continue its operations and thrive through to the 1970’s and 1980’s and on. It is an excellent example of an endogenous Greek capital in the field of advertizing which would remain Greek-owned throughout: despite coming face-to-face and competing with foreign advertizing giants within ΕΔΕΕ, it would value its own special knowledge of the buying habits and tastes of the Greek people and would assert its own independence as a purely Greek advertizing company. And yet, its own “market ideas” would not prevent it from promoting foreign ‘global’ products. On the contrary, its Greek-rooted independence would facilitate the promotion of just such products – in the 1960’s, it would be the official promoter of ROLEX, IBM and IBERIA. ABC would establish a long-term relationship with these three companies stretching to at least three decades. Still within the period of the 1960’s, it would further add to its list of foreign clients companies such as CITROEN, AMERICAN LIFE and AMERICAN EXPRESS, as also «τα τυράκια» PETIT NEGRE. Another company it would work for would be ΑΛΟΥΜΙΝΙΟΝ της ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ [ALUMINIUM of GREECE]. We know that in the 1960’s in Greece many people would be travelling overseas usually as immigrants or as “tourists” wishing to finally attain ‘permanent residence’ or citizenship in various countries – there would therefore be many airline companies operating in Greece, and ABC would be promoting the services of companies such as SAS (Scandinavian), CP AIR (Canadian), JAPAN AIRLINES and ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES. ABC would also come to promote certain IZOLA electrical appliances, and by 1976 it would be promoting the full range of products manufactured by IZOLA. Since the early-1970’s, it would be a pioneer in the “social advertisement” (for instance, in campaigns against cancer). Generally, between 1970 and 1975 – which is the period when mergers between foreign and local advertizing companies truly begin to happen – ABC focuses its attention on discourse “patterns” and “models” expressive of the Greek milieu at the time and organizes itself in and around such milieu, and it is for that particular reason that it shall join forces with ΚΕΣΔΙ to help train the new “organic intellectuals” who would undertake to research the Greek market in depth and create representations in discourse adjusted to such specific market needs. Thus, with reference to 1970-1975, the ABC company «οργανώνεται σε σύγχρονα με την εποχή πρότυπα και στελεχώνεται με ικανότατους συνεργάτες…». Further, and most importantly, it has been said of ABC that, «γνωρίζοντας καλά τα δεδομένα της Ελληνικής αγοράς» (my emph.), it would remain «μια ανεξάρτητη, αμιγώς ελληνική εταιρία». Thus, at least as regards ABC in the early-1970’s, it would not only be a matter of it having to compete with the foreign giants within ΕΔΕΕ: such giants would themselves have to maintain “balances” in their own advertizing discourse vis-à-vis that of ABC given the knowledge the latter had of the Greek reality.
• ΑΛΕΚΤΩΡ ΔΙΑΦΗΜΙΣΕΙΣ: this company, like ABC ADVERTISING, was itself also purely Greek. Deeply rooted in the Greek socio-cultural reality since 1947, when it was founded by Takis G. Theofilopoulos, many of its advertizing campaigns were to become legendary (as in the case of ΛΕΟΥΣΗΣ ΔΙΑΦΗΜΙΣΕΙΣ), and its discourse representations would be intertwined with the everyday lives of Greeks. For instance, it is said that «Οι διαφημίσεις για το “Τρινάλ” ξεσήκωσαν πολύ κόσμο» (my emph.), and the company would itself be referred to as the «διαφημιστική-θρύλος Αλέκτορ». And again like ABC, it would be very successful in promoting foreign products and services, not despite the fact that it was an endogenous company but precisely just for that reason. We know that at least by the mid-1960’s,  ΑΛΕΚΤΩΡ would be promoting literally numerous foreign products and services such as the following: ADAMS S.A. – Τσίκλες; ADELCO – Καλλυντικά; AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF POULTRY INDUSTRIES – Κοτόπουλα και Γαλόπουλα Αμερικής; AMERICAN STANDARD – Είδη υγιεινής; BADEDAS – Αφρόλουτρον; BERKSHIRE – Γυναικείες και ανδρικές κάλτσες, εσώρουχα; CHAT NOIR – Καλλυντικά; ELNETT SATIN – Λακ μαλλιών; FARBWERKE HOECHST – Υφάσματα και Κουρτίνες; HOLLAND CANNED MILK – Γάλα; S.C. JOHNSON & SON – Εντομοκτόνο; KELVINATOR HELLAS – Ψυγεία, Ηλεκτρικά είδη; LANVIN – Άρωμα; MEBEA – Μοτοποδήλατα; OMOR – Σαμπουάν; PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS – Αεροπορικαί Συγκοινωνίαι; PANTENE – Λοσιόν μαλλιών; PHILIPS – Ξυριστικαί μηχαναί; QUAKER OATS – Κουάκερ; SCOTT PAPER COMPANY – Προϊόντα χάρτου; VIGORELLI – Ραπτομηχαναί; etc., etc. (cf., Apogevmatini, 6.Ι.1966, p. 3). The point here is that ΑΛΕΚΤΩΡ knew exactly how it should have to approach the Greek housewife so that she be convinced to buy, say, an American chicken – at least in rural and semi-rural areas such as Aliarto, almost every second household had its own chicken coop and an advertizing company such as ΑΛΕΚΤΩΡ well knew that its advertizing campaign promoting US poultry could not afford to adopt an arrogant “interventionist” discourse downgrading the traditional domestic poultry industry. It would be for the exact same reasons why local Greek manufacturers would themselves often prefer endogenous advertizing companies to promote their products rather than let an outsider do the job. Thus, ΑΛΕΚΤΩΡ would also promote products for Greek companies such as the following: ΧΑΡ. ΒΛΑΧΟΥΤΣΙΚΟΣ – Κονσέρβες; Ε.Β.Γ.Α. – Γάλα, παγωτά, σοκολάτες; ΗΛΙΟΣ – Ζυμαρικά (the company already discussed above); Γ.Α. ΚΕΡΑΝΗΣ – Σιγαρέττα; ΑΦΟΙ ΛΑΜΠΡΟΠΟΥΛΟΙ – Μεγάλα Καταστήματα; ΠΑΝΕΛΛΗΝΙΟΣ ΑΓΟΡΑ – Καταστήματα; ΠΑΠΑΣΤΡΑΤΟΣ Α.Β.Ε.Σ. – Σιγαρέττα; etc., etc. (cf. , Apogevmatini ibid.). And, in any case, were a Greek manufacturer to opt for the services of an international subsidiary, he would know that while it would be the mother company which would offer its marketing/technological know-how, it would be the Greek-based subsidiary which would truly know and speak in the language of the Greek masses in the final product of the advertizing discourse. In all, ΑΛΕΚΤΩΡ would be an organic part of the everyday life of the Greek popular masses – its advertizing slogan promoting its own services would go as follows in the mid-1960’s: «ΑΚΟΜΗ ΚΑΙ Η ΗΜΕΡΑ ΕΧΕΙ ΤΟΝ ΔΙΑΦΗΜΙΣΤΗ ΤΗΣ», it being the «αλέκτωρ» (= cock) hailing the break of day. (Concerning the death of the founder of ΑΛΕΚΤΩΡ, Takis Theofilopoulos, cf. Εφημερίς της Καλλιθέας, 14.3.1970, p. 2).
• ΓΝΩΜΗ Α.Ε.: this is yet another interesting advertizing company which was an ΕΔΕΕ member and which would participate in the establishment of ΚΕΣΔΙ in the early-1970’s. Perhaps the single most important fact about this company – and which tells us much about the role of well-educated “organic intellectuals” within ΕΔΕΕ – is that from 1963 it was headed by the important Greek artist, Georgos Bakirtzis. His philosophy of life and especially his approach to both art and advertizing billboards is of a quality equal to that of Leoussis, and they would both share a deep concern for directly communicating with the popular masses. Unlike Leoussis, he would ultimately turn his back to commercialized art (and therefore advertizing) and devote himself to art proper – though this too reveals the intellectual stature of a man involved in the world of Greek advertizing (for the direct connection between artists and the advertizing industry in Europe of the late-19th and early-20th century, as also regarding the role of billboards, cf. Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire, pp. 344-345). Born in 1923, Bakirtzis would study at the Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών of Athens, and would further his studies at the Paris Ēcole des Beaux-Arts, specializing in the graphic arts and engraving. He would bring such skills to the Greek advertizing sector, and from 1945 through to the early-1960’s, he would be creating a wide variety of giant billboards especially for the cinema, though also for the promotion of other products as well. By 1963, as mentioned, he would become the «καλλιτεχνικός διευθυντής» of ΓΝΩΜΗ Α.Ε. As regards his contribution to the world of Greek advertizing, this is what has been said of his work as a whole: «Η παραστατική τεχνική του Βακιρτζή με τα έντονα ζωηρά χρώματα ανανέωσε και αναβάθμισε τη διαφημιστική εικόνα του κινηματογράφου και την αφίσα του δρόμου με τέτοιο τρόπο ώστε να προσελκύει αλλά και να δείχνει τον ανάλογο σεβασμό προς το ευρύ κοινό που απευθυνόταν» (cf. http://museumteriade.gr/greek-artist/Bakirtzis.asp, my emph.). His “respect” for the popular masses – expressed in an attempted “balance” between attracting the consumer and refusing to provoke him insultingly – is reminiscent of Leoussis’ own philosophy that advertizing discourse should express (and by implication respect) in condensed form the various tastes of the popular masses. In the case of Bakirtzis, it was not merely a matter of wanting to “approach” the «nous» of the popular masses – he was as much concerned with the need to contribute to the «αισθητική καλλιέργεια του κόσμου», and which of course relates to the question of ‘aesthetics’ and its democratization in advertizing discourse discussed above. While working for the Greek advertizing sector, such concern was to be materialized in his posters and giant billboards. The man would later turn to expressionist art forms focusing on the “isolation” of modern man, but his presence in the field of advertizing since the 1940’s is symptomatic of at least one dimension of the Greek advertizing discourse of the period. The advertizing company ΓΝΩΜΗ Α.Ε. would have this to say in 1974 as regards ΚΕΣΔΙ and its role in training and establishing Greek “organic intellectuals” in the field of advertizing: «… από το ΚΕΣΔΙ θα δημιουργηθή η γενιά των διαφημιστών του μέλλοντος» (cf. Epikaira, op. cit., my emph.).
• K & K UNIVAS: this company was deeply rooted in the Greek socio-cultural context of the 1960’s. It had been established in 1962 by a group of friends, basically F. Karabott and M. Katzourakis, and they would give their initials to the name of the new company, «K & K Διαφημιστικό Κέντρο Αθηνών» (or “K & K Athens Publicity Centre”). The company’s creation of advertisements in the 1960’s and the 1970’s would be organized around a very specific philosophy pertaining to advertizing discourse: such discourse would have to maintain a “balance” between, on the one hand, what it called an «ορθός λόγος», and, on the other, a «συνειδητή προσήλωση στις αρχές του Μοντερνισμού». The «ορθός λόγος» would mean that advertizing discourse would have to be honest and accurate in terms of the needs and expectations of someone such as the “Amalia-type”; its conscious emphasis on the «αρχές του Μοντερνισμού» would mean that it would try to express the steadily increasing proclivity on the part of the “Amalia-type” for the “modern”. But the implication is that whatever “modernity” could not override or ignore what was «ορθό» in terms of the real material needs of the “Amalia-type”, or at least as such needs were understood by the “Amalia-type”. In fact, the tense and uneasy “balance” between purely practical needs and “modernistic” tastes was precisely what was to define the «nous» of the “Amalia-type”, and K & K would try and capture this tension in advertizing discourse. Thus, K & K’s parallel insistence on the «ορθό λόγο» would be fully aligned with, for instance, Leoussis’ «συμπύκνωση των κοινωνικών προτεραιοτήτων», or with ABC’s concern for «τα δεδομένα της Ελληνικής αγοράς», or with Bakirtzis’ «ανάλογο σεβασμό», and so on. Such alignment of philosophies as to the form that “market ideas” should take in Greek advertizing discourse confirms that ΕΔΕΕ was pursuing a fairly uniform and conscious promotion policy meant to meet the specific needs of the Greek consumer. In 1973, Κ & Κ would join up with the international giant, UNIVAS, and it would be precisely as K & K UNIVAS that it would function as a member of ΕΔΕΕ and help establish ΚΕΣΔΙ, thus again allowing for an interaction of “market ideas” between a local company and an international giant. As regards the training project of ΚΕΣΔΙ, K & K UNIVAS had this to say in 1974: «Δίνει μια νέα ώθησι και πνοή δημιουργίας στη διαφήμισι του τόπου μας» (cf. Epikaira, op. cit.). We may add here that in the course of the Military Dictatorship, text-writers for K & K UNIVAS would include people such as Maria Karavia and the important playwright Iakovos Kambanellis, and which goes to yet again show the intellectual caliber of people involved in the creation of advertizing discourse at the time.
• HG ΕΡΓΟΝ: as regards ΚΕΣΔΙ, this company would state the following in 1974: «Ιδρύθηκε για τη δημιουργία στελεχών, ικανών να καλύπτουν τις ανάγκες της σύγχρονης διαφημίσεως» (cf. Epikaira, op. cit.).
• ΗΧΩ ΔΙΑΦΗΜΙΣΤΙΚΗ ΟΕ: again with reference to ΚΕΣΔΙ in 1974, this participating company would observe: «Τώρα η διαφήμισις δεν είναι προϊόν αυτοσχεδιασμού. Μόνο τα σωστά εκπαιδευμένα στελέχη μπορούν να βοηθήσουν στην πρόοδο της» (cf. Epikaira, op. cit.).

Other Greek advertizing companies – some of them also belonging to the first important advertizing companies in the country – which belonged to ΕΔΕΕ and participated in the ΚΕΣΔΙ project would include: ΓΡΑΦΙΣ ΕΠΕ ΔΙΑΦΗΜΙΣΕΩΝ, ΕΨΙΛΟΝ-ΕΨΙΛΟΝ, GEO, Interad Advertising & Marketing Ltd., K & O, Λάμδα Αλφα, Spot advertising Ltd., and Victory (their history remains to be researched by historical sociologists and/or economic historians).

ΕΛΚΕΠΑ and ΕΔΕΕ would summarize the objectives of ΚΕΣΔΙ as follows in 1974:

«Η διαφήμισις είναι πλέον σταυροδρόμι
Επιστημών … Η Ένωσης Διαφημιστικών Επιχειρήσεων
Ελλάδος σε συνεργασία με το ΕΛΚΕΠΑ ...
οργάνωσαν το Κέντρον Εκπαιδεύσεως Στελεχών
Διαφημίσεως. Το ΚΕΣΔΙ … Ο στόχος του; Να
Ετοιμάση … επιμελητάς προγραμμάτων, κειμενογράφους,
προγραμματιστάς μέσων…[etc.]»
(cf.Epikaira, op. cit.).

Such developments in the early-1970’s would mean the concentration and systematic structuring of an autonomous field of Greek advertizing practices, such autonomy being absolutely necessary so that ΕΛΚΕΠΑ and ΕΔΕΕ would be able to press for the articulation of advertizing discourse well beyondthe individual, private and highly competitive interests of various ‘isolated’ local capitals, and as well beyond the unregulated hegemony of various (not all) foreign capitals. Its presentation of the field of advertizing as a «σταυροδρόμι επιστημών» was meant to enlighten local capitals as to the very specific socio-cultural function of advertizing in Greek society, a function which could not be allowed to be abused by whatever ‘anti-social’ promotional intentions on the part of certain private capitals. Likewise, the fact that local and foreign advertizing companies were being brought together and organized under the umbrella of ΕΔΕΕ would itself facilitate the fusion of “market ideas” well beyond what ΗΧΩ ΔΙΑΦΗΜΙΣΤΙΚΗ ΟΕ was rejecting as «προϊόν αυτοσχεδιασμού», and which implied that the “market ideas” of advertizing discourse had to be “scientifically” structured on the basis of an interdisciplinary («σταυροδρόμι») analysis of the ‘psyche’ of the Greek popular masses.

We have already suggested that such attempts on the part of ΕΛΚΕΠΑ/ΕΔΕΕ would not always be successful, in the sense that not all advertizing companies would adhere to its socio-culturally determined specifications as to what constituted ‘appropriate’ discourse in terms of Greek market needs. In fact, if it is true that the terrain of advertizing discourse had always been a «πεδίο μιας ασταθούς ισορροπίας συμβιβασμών» between the advertizing sector and the “Amalia-type”, it would be just such exact terrain that would determine relations between, on the one hand, ΕΛΚΕΠΑ/ΕΔΕΕ and, on the other, advertizing companies powerful enough to ignore or circumvent whatever specifications. The struggle between such forces would be ipso facto ideological, not legal: it would have been practically impossible to legally force, say, the mighty McCann-Erickson, to comply with any “code of ethics” in its promotion of Coca-Cola in Greece. Thus, when, by 1977, ΕΔΕΕ was to come up with its own official «Κώδικα Δεοντολογίας», and establish an «Επιτροπή Κρίσεως» (with the object of judging problematic advertisements), it would well know that it was furthering an essentially long-term ideological struggle against any advertizing discourse carrying «σφάλματα» in its “market idea” vis-à-vis the Greek reality (cf. Δελτίον ΣΕΒ, τεύχ. 383, 15.6.1978, op. cit., pp. 27-28). Neither ΣΕΒ, nor ΕΛΚΕΠΑ, and not even ΕΔΕΕ itself – which ‘housed’ the mergers with the multi-national advertizing giants – possessed the legal tools or the economic clout to discipline advertisers breaking its «Κώδικα» – and yet, since ideological struggles are in the last instance settled by the socio-cultural conditions that inform and traverse them, the ΕΔΕΕ «Κώδικα» and its «Επιτροπή Κρίσεως» was something to be reckoned with, and it was reckoned with within that “balance of compromises” which at times put the needs and wishes of the “Amalia-type” in command, while at other times it tried to peripheralize such grassroots realities.

The 18 articles which make up ΕΔΕΕ’s «Κώδικα Δεοντολογίας» are extremely telling in that they fully confirm the manner in which we have read the historical intentions and functions of an organ such as ΕΔΕΕ. We may summarize the basic philosophy of these 18 articles as follows:

• They concern all products and services promoted, and which suggests the struggle on the part of ΕΔΕΕ to assert its own hegemony over the whole of the Greek advertizing sector;
• Such hegemony is meant to cover all the possible little details of advertizing discourse per se – thus, the “Code” concerns whatever words, numbers and images used in a discourse;
• Very importantly, advertizing discourse should not mislead the consumer through the creation of “impressions” (article 4);
• All advertizing discourse should be informed and checked by “social responsibility”;
• Above all, the representations of advertizing discourse – whatever their form – should not insult the customs and ethics of the Greek consumer (article 1).

It would be a variety of forces which would determine the tilting of the “balance of compromises” this way or the other: one such major force would be the “Amalia-type” – more specifically, it would be that “type’s” “closest thought and attention” (Galbraith) which would determine whether or not a particular product or service coalesced into (or was marginally ‘tolerated’ by) the up-and-coming Greek middle class milieu. ΕΔΕΕ had come to fully understand such Greek reality – hence the very first article in its “Code”, meant to “protect” both producer and consumer from the fly-by-night extravagancies of whatever arrogant insults thrown in the face of a historically-rooted Greek customs and ethics, and especially so in a historically sensitive period of time when such customs and ethics were gradually undergoing their own organic change themselves. For ΕΔΕΕ, such change was inevitable (we may remember here the K & K UNIVAS «συνειδητή προσήλωση στις αρχές του Μοντερνισμού»), but this could only but take the form of an internally-determined rhythm of organic change towards the “modern” which could not possibly simply defaceany “Amalia-type”. For ΕΔΕΕ, it was never a question of any “attack” on the “Amalia-type” – if only because such “type” could strike back in return.

Interestingly enough, at least some contemporary commentators on the question of advertizing in 1970’s Greece do actually, and more or less roughly, confirm our own approach. One such is the following:

«Η δεκαετία του ’70 αποτελεί το σημείο
καμπής τόσο στην ελληνική κοινωνία όσο
και στα άγουρα εφηβικά χρόνια της διαφήμισης
… Η διαφήμιση ανδρώνεται και επηρεάζει
εντονότερα την καθημερινότητα … Οι πρώτοι
περιορισμοί σε αυτή τη διαφημιστική επέλαση
τίθενται από τον Κώδικα Διαφημιστικής
Δεοντολογίας. Τελικά η διαφήμιση δαιμονοποιείται.
Γίνεται στόχος για όλα τα κακώς κείμενα και ο
αποδιοπομπαίος τράγος, κάτι βέβαια που την
αδικεί» (cf. “diafimisi” – http:// diafimisi…, op. cit.).

Such text offers hints of attempts at an “ethical delimitation” of advertizing discourse in the Greek society of the 1970’s, and hence somehow doubts a monolithic-unilinear effect on consumers. It also points to the «δαιμονοποίηση» of advertisements, which was itself a reality: while basically articulated by “Left” or “Leftish” intellectuals (as we have seen above), such thinking was to trickle down to the consumer. There was definitely nothing ‘wrong’ with such popular feeling: it only added to the critical evaluation of advertisements without of course in any way stifling consumption as such. More importantly, it was a response to that type of advertisement which unabashedly and unilaterally intervened in the lives of the Greek popular masses in a manner which provoked or even questioned their local, albeit transitional, ethics. In the sub-section that follows, we shall examine samples of advertizing discourse which certainly belonged to this “provocative-interventionist” type and which escaped the filters of advertizing discourse set up by structures and practices of, above all, ΕΔΕΕ. Before we examine such advertizing discourse, we shall here try to explain a bit more specifically how it was possible for foreign advertizing campaigns to simply escape ΕΔΕΕ specifications and promote products despite the Greek socio-cultural reality. It will not do to simply point to their economic might (such might does not necessarily ‘speak’ to well-engrained socio-cultural realities), and it will not do to simply describe the terrain of advertizing discourse as a shifting ideological struggle of “compromising balances”: why “balances” would, in the specific case of foreign-based advertizing campaigns, tilt emphatically towards their side, cannot be left unanswered.

The simple fact is that companies such as Coca-Cola (et al) were not at all fly-by-night enterprises targeting an easy meat and then disappearing from the scene of the crime. Despite the initial outcry against a product such as Coca-Cola in Greece – itself telling – the company was here to stay. Campaigns aimed at promoting such a product were ultimately so effective that one must admit degrees of “mimicking” global cultural stereotypes (related to such campaigns) on the part of the popular masses. The social historian needs to delve minutely into the variegated depths of such “degrees” and investigate how the particular “mimicking” practices articulated with the a priori socio-cultural Greek reality. But the perseverance and even multiplication of such “hard” promotional practices themselves (which we must remember constituted just one dimension of the terrain of Greek advertizing discourse-as-a-Whole) still calls for an explanation. What here needs to be explained, in other words, is this “dis-balancing” in the “balance of compromises” between the advertizing sector and the “Amalia-type”, as also a concomitant “dis-balancing” between ΕΔΕΕ and those operating outside the latter’s delimiting “Code”.

At least by the late-1970’s, ΣΕΒ would confront the major question of “marketing mix” (to which we have already briefly referred and which went beyond that of “market idea”) accompanying a marketable product. This “concept”, as we shall see, had direct material manifestations as regards foreign-based, multi-national advertizing companies, rendering such companies quite impervious to the grassroots demands of local “national” contexts such as that of Greece. In mid-1978, the Δελτίον ΣΕΒ would publish an important article which tried to explain to Greek local capital what such “marketing mix” (or “marketing mixe”, as it was also referred to) was all about – it wrote:

«… “Μάρκετινγκ μίξ” (μίγμα μάρκετινγκ) είναι
το σύνολο των στοιχείων της πολιτικής που
εφαρμόζεται σχετικά με το ίδιο το προϊόν
(χαρακτηριστικά, εμφάνιση, συσκευασία κ.λ.π.)
και σχετικά με την τιμή, τις μεθόδους προβολής
και διανομής του κ.λ.π.» (cf. Δελτίον ΣΕΒΝο 383,
15.6.1978, pp. 27-28).

This “marketing mix” was the central “tool” of foreign, multi-national advertizing capital, and Greek endogenous capital had itself to come to terms with it. But the manner in which the latter could use such “tool” would be different to that of foreign capital – its usage would have to correspond to its own, relatively limited outreaching capacities in the face of the foreign giants. For local advertizing capital, “marketing mix” would mean, on the one hand, that “balances” would have to be inscribed in the product itself (reflective of the needs of the “Amalia-type”) and, on the other, “balances” would have to be inscribed in the promotional discourse of such product (reflective of the ‘psyche’ of the “Amalia-type”). Above all, “balances” inscribed in the product would have to be reflective (and not at all refractive) of “balances” inscribed in the promotional discourse (and/or vise versa). Unless such «ορθότητα» (remember K & K, and despite its international links) or such «ανάλογο σεβασμό» (remember Bakirtzis) was effected within a product, within its discourse and in-between these two, the “Amalia-type” would ultimately come to reject both the “idea” of the product and the product itself. Put slightly otherwise, we may say that if the «σύνολο των στοιχείων της πολιτικής» applied to a particular product was not accurately reflected in the methods of the promotional discourse used for that product, there would be a non-correspondence between the two and which would ultimately cause a drop in the popularity of the product amongst consumers – this is precisely what ΣΕΒ would diagnose as a «σφάλμα του marketing mixe», where «σφάλμα» was defined as that which rendered a product «απροσάρμοστο στις απαιτήσεις της αγοράς» (cf. Δελτίον ΣΕΒ, ibid.). That, for ΣΕΒ, ΕΛΚΕΠΑ and ΕΔΕΕ, was the only feasible manner in which the “tool” of “marketing mix” could be put to use by local advertizing companies. And further, these ideological organizers of local capital also knew what it was that could possibly advantage local advertizing companies vis-à-vis the foreign giants: their footing in the field of Greek advertizing would be maintained and reinforced, not only if their advertizing discourse avoided the misrepresentation of products (policy applied to product in relation to policy of discourse), but also and especially if their discourse would ‘name’ the product in the “language” of the “Amalia-type” and that of the popular masses generally (policy applied to advertizing discourse as such).

Being fully aware that it was only such specific usage of the “tool” of “marketing mix” on the part of the local advertizing industry which could save the day in the face of the know-how of the foreign-based giants, ΣΕΒ/ΕΛΚΕΠΑ would, by 1979-80, set up a special «ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΠΛΗΡΟΦΟΡΙΩΝ», allowing the Greek “organic intellectuals” in the advertizing sector to have a systematic access to the needs, wishes and especially “language” of the “Amalia-type”, variables which in any case were in a state of continual flux and change (and especially so in the case of “language”, given nuances of new argot continually entering and enriching the talk of the middle class milieu – and which now constitutes a potential field of social research all of its own). Thus, a 1979 issue of the Δελτίον ΣΕΒ (Νο 402, 31.3.1979, p. 26) would publish an article entitled «ΓΙΑΤΙ ΕΠΙΒΑΛΛΕΤΑΙ Η ΣΥΣΤΑΣΗ ΜΙΑΣ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑΣ ΠΛΗΡΟΦΟΡΙΩΝ». The text would argue for the need to collect data on a nation-wide basis and covering all branches of Greek industry – the idea was that the usage of such a «ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΠΛΗΡΟΦΟΡΙΩΝ» would help determine the local “marketing mix” of products and their concomitant “market idea”, itself expressive of local advertizing discourse especially as applied to the «ανάπτυξη νέων προϊόντων» (ibid.) – being new products, advertizing companies would need to investigate the “Amalia-type’s” possible responses to such newness, etc. And similarly, a 1980 Δελτίον ΣΕΒ  (Νο 418, 30.4.1980, p. 11), would emphasize that access to ΕΛΚΕΠΑ data investigating the needs and tastes of the Greek consumer would be open to all up-and-coming members of the “organic intellectuals” creating the advertizing discourse of the new Greek middle class milieu – we read:

«… για να προωθηθεί αποτελεσματικότερα η
λειτουργία του σαν Κέντρου πληροφορήσεως,
το ΕΛΚΕΠΑ έχει συστήσει ειδική Μονάδα
Τεκμηριώσεως και Πληροφοριών. Η Μονάδα
αυτή είναι στη διάθεση κάθε επιχειρηματία,
επιστήμονα ή φοιτητή…».

We have emphasized that the local advertizing industry could only make use of the concept of “marketing mix” in such particular ways as described above – and we thus imply that such usage, while effective in communicating with the grassroots needs of the specifically Greek consumer, was nonetheless an inevitably limited tapping of the limitless potential of such concept of “marketing mix”. How else could such concept have been used? What extra usage was made of such “marketing mix” by foreign capital which was beyond the objective capacities of local capital? In its presentation of the concept, ΣΕΒ had pointed to a clear-cut but internally articulating distinction within such concept: on the one hand, there was a policy that had to be applied to the product as such (and which related to the product’s own characteristics, appearance and packaging); on the other hand, there was a policy that had to be decided with respect to variables outside the product itself, and which had to do with its price, its modes of promotion and its modes of distribution. As regards the inherent characteristics of any product, local capital could investigate and come to know exactly what policy it needed to apply, given its rootedness in the Greek socio-cultural reality – but as regards those external variables such a price, modes of promotion, ‘reachabilty’ and distribution, the strategies of Greek local capital could only be decided on the basis of its limited economic resources vis-à-vis those of the ‘anarchically autonomous’ multi-national advertizing companies, whose own economic resources were in fact near-limitless (their powerful presence could be felt both within ΕΔΕΕ, in which case their discourse could be somewhat checked by the presence of Greek advertizing companies, or outside of ΕΔΕΕ, where they would preserve their truly autonomous imperium).

The implications here are absolutely clear: powerful foreign advertizing companies had the luxury to use at times utterly “provocative” methods of promoting products without causing whatever «σφάλμα» in their own “marketing mix”, given their ability to sell cheaply, promote incessantly and distribute ubiquitously. We know, for instance, that Coca-Cola advertisements would appear in places least expected wherever in Greece, be these outposts perched on some god-forsaken mountain or in tiny haberdasheries, coffee-shops, etc. in the little villages surrounding Aliarto, and so forth. Such ubiquity, further, would stimulate certain specific dimensions of the transitional Greek ‘psyche’, these being the gradually awakening need for the “global” and the “modern”. The parochial or provincial dimensions of Greek socio-cultural practices would here quite ‘naturally’ respond to the foreign “exotic” but without maintaining any serious “balances” with the deep-rooted realities and, in the transitional period of the 1960’s and 1970’s, would lead to culture shocks which themselves exacerbated, inter alia, the clash of generations. But, we are saying, such “provocative-interventionism” in “market idea” was restricted to foreign giants who possessed the capacity to activate all aspects of the concept of “marketing mix” to full effect, allowing for the widespread popularization of their “brands”, and they would be doing so well outside the specifications of advertizing discourse delineated by ΕΔΕΕ.

But we further need to understand that such “provocative-interventionism” on the part of foreign giants was not just a result of their material capacity to launch truly widespread, incessantly bamboozling advertizing campaigns which luxuriated in a rampant cultural imperialism: intentional “provocation” in advertizing discourse went hand-in-hand with an as intentional, planned risk-factor which was – at least then – the built-in drive of all multi-nationals in their struggle to dominate their markets. C.C. Pocock, President of SHELL, expressed just such an inherent need for risk in an article published in Δελτίον ΣΕΒ on the 30th of April 1979 (Νο 404, p. 24) – he would put it brilliantly well:

«… η επιχείρηση ευημερεί μέσα στον
κίνδυνο…».

Put simply, when foreign advertizing companies were deciding to make use of “provocative- interventionist” discourse in promoting a product, they well knew they were breaking the rules of the local game – they knew all too well they were taking their risks and playing it dangerously in ignoring whatever socio-cultural “balances” defined the order of the day in Greece – for them, the “Amalia-type” was almost a guinea pig, or a laboratory of “life” on the shoulders of which various “global” representations could be tested. The risks such companies took would create uneasy balances between, on the one hand, ensuing culture shocks amongst the Greek popular masses and, on the other, the proclivity amongst such masses for the as yet unknown “global taste”. Depending on the product promoted, the catchment area of consumers, and the specific words and images used in a particular campaign, such uneasy balance could translate into a veritable cultural “imbalance”, whereby the “Amalia-type” could splinter into a variety of esoterically conflictual “anti-types”, thus causing psychological contradictions and dilemmas both at an individual and at a collective level (we shall examine such cases below, but we may simply point here to discourse which pointedly degraded all things Greek, or was coloured by vulgar sexual overtones which could degrade Greek females, or insulted the popular masses as a whole for their anachronism, etc.).

In direct counter-response to either uneasy balances or outright imbalances provoked by an alien advertizing discourse – which could disorganize both Greek society at a cultural level and the Greek local market at an economic level – it would fall on the shoulders of ΣΕΒ (but also of ΕΛΚΕΠΑ and of ΕΔΕΕ) to play a ‘homeostatic’ role within the Greek socio-cultural context. ΣΕΒ’s insistence on maintaining “balances” is evident in a variety of texts published in its Δελτίον – we here present just one sample (a policy-setting editorial) published in 1980, and which read as follows:

«Στον κοινωνικό και πολιτιστικό τομέα
εκτιμήσαμε ότι η στενή επαφή μας με
μια σειρά προηγμένες κοινωνίες θα
 γονιμοποιήσει τη δική μας παράδοση και
 πραγματικότητα και, χωρίς να αλλάξει
 τη φυσιογνωμία μας, θα την εμπλουτίσει»
(cf. Δελτίον ΣEB, Νο 426, 31.12.1980,
p. 1, my emph.).

And by 1982, when Greek society would be experiencing a deluge of things European as a result of entering the then ΕΟΚ, the Δελτίον would publish reports which would even urge for the protection of the Greek consumer – for instance, with reference to a meeting of ΣΕΒ’s Δ.Σ. on the 16th and 17th of December, 1982, and with respect to a speech delivered by Δ.Σ. member L.F. Koskos, the Δελτίον would report:

«… μίλησε με θέμα “Διάλογος καταναλωτών
και Βιομηχανίας και προστασία του
 καταναλωτή”…» (cf. Δελτίον ΣΕΒ,
Νο 446, January 1983, p. 3, my emph.).

It is beyond the intentions of this paper to examine the role of advertizing discourse from the 1980’s and on – by which time most or even all of what we have been saying above, regarding the relationship of the advertizing sector with the “Amalia-type”, would simply not apply – but the above quotes do point to the belated struggles on the part of ΣΕΒ to protect both Greek endogenous capital and the “Amalia-type”-qua-consumer from the overpowering “imbalances” that would come to characterize the Greek social formation both in the field of its economy and in the field of its socio-cultural practices.

Somehow prefiguring all this in the 1970’s, we may say that ΣΕΒ, ΕΛΚΕΠΑ and ΕΔΕΕ, while still maintaining their own strongholds in the Greek advertizing sector – especially with companies such as ΛΕΟΥΣΗΣ ΔΙΑΦΗΜΙΣΕΙΣ, Sigma ΕΠΕ, ABC ADVERTISING, ΑΛΕΚΤΟΡ ΔΙΑΦΗΜΙΣΕΙΣ, ΓΝΩΜΗ Α.Ε. and others within ΕΔΕΕ itself – would nonetheless have to face the reality of foreign advertizing giants with their own “marketing mix” working at full throttle. We have said that their strategic but dangerously dis-balancing use of such “marketing mix” would allow them to both churn out a highly “provocative-interventionist” advertizing discourse (not only in Greece but globally) and at the same time be highly successful at making at least some of their promoted products extremely popular with the Greek popular masses. As already pointed out, there would be occasions when even dwarfish local advertizing companies would themselves be tempted to adopt similar advertizing techniques, but bar the “marketing mix” which only multinationals could activate, and thus without a comparable success. In the sub-section that follows, we shall examine that one type of advertizing discourse which we have identified as “provocative- interventionist” and which, in the overall map of Greek advertizing discourse, was not to always necessarily dominate, it being just one extreme expression in the “balance of ideological compromises” that constituted a shifting sand of ideological struggle, and wherein the changing socio-cultural practices and proclivities of an “Amalia-type” would be one determining agent.

GLOSSARY

NOTES:
● « δίχως ίχνος προθέσεως εξαπατήσεως… του πελάτου»: with no trace whatsoever of any intention wishing to deceive the client
● «… από το ΚΕΣΔΙ θα δημιουργηθή η γενιά των διαφημιστών του μέλλοντος»: it is from the Training Centre for Advertizing Executives that the future generation of advertisers shall sprout
● «… το εμπόρευμά σας πρέπει να της μιλήσει»: your product must speak to her
● «άγχος»: anxiety
● «αισθήματα»: feelings
● «αισθήσεις»: the senses/the sensory system
● «αισθητική καλλιέργια του κόσμου»: the aesthetic cultivation of the public
● «ΑΚΟΜΗ ΚΑΙ Η ΜΕΡΑ ΕΧΕΙ ΤΟΝ ΔΙΑΦΗΜΙΣΤΗ ΤΗΣ»: even daytime has its own advertiser (it being the cock, and hence the name of the company – «Αλέκτορ» meaning cockerel)
● «αλλ’ ολίγον κατ’ ολίγον επανεμφανίσθη»: (cooperation) gradually reappeared/was reestablished
● «αναβοσβήνουν σε χρώμα παπαγαλί και η ατμόσφαιρα γύρω πρασινίζει»: (the letters of the advertizing board) flash in a multitude of bright, intense colours and the surrounding atmosphere takes on a greenish hue (free translation)
● «αναγωγή στο ένα»: the Platonic idea that everything is reducible to “the One”, or to “the Whole”
● «ανάλογο σεβασμό»: due respect; pay equal respect to (cf. above)
● «ανάπτυξη νέων προϊόντων»: the development of new products
● «από τους μεγαλύτερους βαμβακέμπορους στη Λιβαδειά»: one of the major cotton dealers of Levadia
● «αποτύπωση… των κοινωνικών ρευμάτων της εποχής»: a reflection of the social currents of the epoch
● «απροσάρμοστο στις απαιτήσεις της αγοράς»: unaccommodating/maladjusted to the demands of the market
● «αύξησιν της μηχανικής παραγωγής»: increase in mechanical production/manufacturing
● «Βιομηχανία Συσκευασιών Ηλιος»: Helios, Greek pasta industry; the term «συσκευασιών» refers to industrial packaging
● «ΓΙΑΤΙ ΕΠΙΒΑΛΛΕΤΑΙ Η ΣΥΣΤΑΣΗ ΜΙΑΣ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑΣ ΠΛΗΡΟΦΟΡΙΩΝ»: why the establishment of a data bank is necessary
● «γνωρίζοντας καλά τα δεδομένα της Ελληνικής αγοράς»: knowing full well the hard facts of the Greek market
● «δαιμονοποίηση»: demonization
● «δεν είναι ψυχρή στατιστική»: (the consumer) is not a cold statistic
● «δι’ αυτόν και δι’ ημάς»: to the benefit of both him and us
● «δια την βελτίωσιν των μεθόδων εμπορίας»: for the improvement of marketing methods
● «διαφημιστική-θρύλος Αλέκτορ»: Alektor, the advertizing agency-legend (literal translation)
● «διέξοδον»: outlet, having recourse to
● «Δίνει μια νέα ώθησι και πνοή δημιουργίας στη διαφήμισι του τόπου μας»: it injects a fresh impetus and a creative inspiration into the advertizing of our country
● «είναι δουλειά μας να τις ικανοποιήσωμε»: it is our job/work to satisfy them
● «εισαγωγή»: introduction of the particular spice in cooking
● «εμείς εξαρτώμεθα από εκείνον»: we are dependent on him
● «ενημέρωση»: being informed, keeping up to date
● «Ενωση Διαφημιστικών Επιχειρήσεων Ελλάδος»: the Hellenic Association of Advertizing Agencies (EDEE)
● «Επιτροπή Κρίσεως»: Judging Committee
● «εργάτες»: workers
● «Η ανάγκη να βρεθή τι θέλει η μέση νοικοκυρά ωδήγησε στην επιστήμη της παρουσιάσεως των ειδών προς πώλησιν»: the need to find out what the average housewife wants led to the science of presentation/display of the goods to be sold (free translation; the text itself explains the central idea contained in the Greek version)
● «η κατανάλωση διεγείρονταν συστηματικά»: consumption was being systematically stimulated/provoked (implying that this led to consumerism, in a negative sense)
● «Η παραστατική τεχνική του Βακιρτζή με τα έντονα ζωηρά χρώματα ανανέωσε και αναβάθμισε τη διαφημιστική εικόνα του κινηματογράφου και την αφίσα του δρόμου με τέτοιο τρόπο ώστε να προσελκύει αλλά και να δείχνει τον ανάλογο σεβασμό προς το ευρύ κοινό που απευθυνόταν»: Bakirtzis’ graphic technique, with its use of intense and lively colours, renewed and upgraded the advertizing image of the cinema and the billboard in such a way as to attract attention but also – and at the same time – demonstrate its due respect for the wider public to which it was addressed (free translation)
● «Ιδρύθηκε για τη δημιουργία στελεχών, ικανών να καλύπτουν τις ανάγκες της σύγχρονης διαφημίσεως»: it was established so as to train executives who would be capable of meeting the requirements of modern advertizing
● «καλή συσκευασία»: good packaging
● «καλλιτεχνικός διευθυντής»: art director
● «καρτέλα»: label
● «κειμενογράφος»: copywriter
● «Κέντρο Προστασίας Καταναλωτών»: Consumer Protection Centre
● «Κέντρον Εκπαιδεύσεως Στελεχών Διαφημίσεως»: Training Centre for Advertizing Executives
● «κουκιά με λάδι,… ρεβίθια και τέτοια, όσπρια. Για εργάτες»: “broad beans cooked with oil,… chickpeas and the like, pulses. For workers”.
● «Κώδικα Δεοντολογίας»: code of conduct or good practice; code of (business) ethics
● «λαδοελιές»: olives
● «λάιφ στάιλ»: lifestyle
● «μαγειρεμένο λαδερό φαγητό»: dish cooked with oil/oily food
● «μας αναθέτει την ικανοποίησι των επιθυμιών του»: entrusts us with the duty to satisfy his/her wishes (alternatively: assigns us with the task of satisfying his/her wishes)
● «μερικές από τις πρώτες εταιρίες στη χώρα μας»: some of the leading companies in our country
● «μια αγορά που έτρεχε ήδη»: a market already in existence
● «μια ανεξάρτητη, αμιγώς ελληνική εταιρία»: an independent, purely Greek company
● «μια μεγαλυτέρα ευχέρεια εκλογής “ιδεών αγοράς”…»: a wider range of options pertaining to the selection of “market ideas” (free translation)
● «Να ονειρεύεσαι προσγειωμένα»: to dream, but with one’s feet firmly on the ground
● «ντολμάδες»: dolma, any of a family of stuffed vegetable dishes; especially stuffed vine leaves
● «ξέρουν»: they know
● «ο κλάδος μας βασίζεται στην ιδέα»: our sector is based on the (advertizing) concept
● «Ο μέσος άνθρωπος… ήδη παίρνει τις αποφάσεις του»: the average person is aleady making his own decisions
● «Ο σκοπός της ανταλλαγής είναι η απόλαυση, η κατανάλωση»: the object of exchange is pleasure – viz. the pleasure of consumption (free translation)
● «οι άνθρωποι ζουν γενικά το παρόν τους σαν με κάποια αφέλεια»: people generally live their own present with some sort of naivety (free translation)
● «Οι διαφημίσεις για το “Τρινάλ” ξεσήκωσαν πολύ κόσμο»: advertisements promoting “Trinal” (a degreaser/household cleaner) stirred up a lot of people
● «οι εμπορευόμενοι δίδουν προσοχήν»: the traders pay attention
● «Οι νέοι τρόποι συσκευασίας αποβλέπουν εις το να ενημερώσουν αμέσως το πελάτη»: the new modes of packaging aim at directly informing the client
● «Οργανισμός»: Lake Copais Organisation
● «οργανώνεται σε σύγχρονα με την εποχή πρότυπα και στελεχώνεται με ικανότατους συνεργάτες»: it is organized according to modern-day specifications/standards and is manned by the most competent of co-workers (free translation)
● «ορθός λόγος»: here, roughly in the sense of “reason” or “correctness”
● «ορθότητα»: correctness, similar to «ορθός λόγος» (as noted above)
● «πανοπτισμός»: being panoptic – in the sense of taking in all parts, aspects, etc., of something in a single view; all-embracing
● «πεδίο μιας ασταθούς ισορροπίας συμβιβασμών»: terrain of an unsteady balance of compromises
● «προκαταλήψεις»: prejudices
● «πρόσφερε»: offered
● «προτιμήσεις»: preferences
● «πρότυπο κατανάλωσης»: consumption pattern/model
● «σταυροδρόμι επιστημών»: a crossroads of the sciences
● «συλλογική αισθητική»: collective aesthetics
● «συμμετοχή»: participation
● «συμπύκνωση των κοινωνικών προτεραιοτήτων»: a condensation of the social priorities
● «συνειδητή προσήλωση στις αρχές του Μοντερνισμού»: a conscious commitment to the principles of modernism
● «σύνολο των στοιχείων της πολιτικής»: the sum total of the elements constituting the “policy” of any product
● «σύστημα προβολής»: star system
● «σφάλμα»: fault, error
● «Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών»: School of Fine Arts
● «Τα περισσότερα ανθρώπινα όντα λειτουργούν σαν ιστορικοί: μόνο αναδρομικά αναγνωρίζουν τη φύση της εμπειρίας τους»: most human beings function like historians: it is only in retrospect that they recognize the nature of their experience (free translation)
● «τα τυράκια»: the cheeses
● «Τμηματάρχης Προμηθειών»: Head of Provisions
● «το επίκαιρο»: that which is current; that which is relevant to the present
● «Το ΚΕΣΔΙ αποτελεί τη μοναδική συστηματική προσπάθεια για τη δημιουργία διαφημιστικών στελεχών στην Ελλάδα»: the Training Centre for Advertizing Executives constitutes the one and only systematic attempt to create pools of advertizing executives in Greece (free translation)
● «το πιο σπουδαίο πρόσωπο»: (the client is) the most important person
● «ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΠΛΗΡΟΦΟΡΙΩΝ»: data bank
● «Τριούμφ, τα εσώρουχα που αγαπούν τη γυναίκα»: Triumph [the brand name], the underwear that loves women (free translation)
● «Τώρα η διαφήμισις δεν είναι προϊόν αυτοσχεδιασμού. Μόνο τα σωστά εκπαιδευμένα στελέχη μπορούν να βοηθήσουν στην πρόοδο της»: Advertizing is by now no longer a product of improvisation. Only properly trained executives can assist in its progress.
● «υγιής συναγωνισμός»: healthy competition
● «φορτίο»: burden

THE “PROVOCATIVE-INTERVENTIONIST” ADVERTIZING DISCOURSE: AN EXAMINATION OF SOME SAMPLES

Our first example of “provocative-interventionist” discourse is only a rather ‘mild’ case expressive of such category, and which suggests that even within that particular category of advertisements there were various degrees of “imbalance” between the semantics chosen by the advertiser and the grassroots demands (themselves at times contradictory) or the socio-cultural realities (themselves variegated) of the Greek market. In 1967, the periodical Romantso would carry the following advertisement promoting a brand of toilet-paper:

«MELTEX… Λεπτό, λευκό, απαλότατο
χαρτί υγείας… Υγιεινή για σύγχρονους
ανθρώπους… Υγιεινή για μοντέρνους
ανθρώπους… Ζητάτε Μέλτεξ στη μοντέρνα
μπλε και κίτρινη συσκευασία»
(cf. Romantso, Νο 1248,
31.1.1967).

This advertisement, like so many others at the time, would place a distinct emphasis on the concept of “the modern”. It is meant to address itself exclusively to “modern” people – being for such type of Greek person, its discourse may be said to involve a somewhat discreet or somewhat latent attempt at dividing the Greek popular masses between those who were prepared to adopt or had adopted “modernity” as a style of life, and those who would still insist on past, anachronistic practices. Such a “reading” of this advertisement is of course subjective, in the sense that it all depends on who it is who does the reading of it – whatever divisive effect may not have been felt as such by the “Amalia-type” at all, and in fact such “type” may have even recognized itself in it. On the other hand, Amalia’s parents, bred in a rural environment and having been using the “primitive” practices of hygiene described above, could have felt alienated by a phrase such as «για σύγχρονους» or «για μοντέρνους ανθρώπους». But further, even Amalia Eleftheriadou could herself have felt some tinge of alienating provocation in that the advertisement, while promoting “modernity” in hygiene, completely ignores the fact that young ladies such as Amalia had no access to an indoor toilet, as was the case for most Aliartians at the time. While there is a definite truth in all such observations, they need to be qualified. If there is some degree of “provocative-interventionism” in the discourse of this advertisement, it would only be so for a limited and transitory period of time: gradually, and as already discussed, the product would become an absolutely natural need throughout Greece. Writing of the years 1966-1967, Maro Douka tells us that a related product, the «σόφτεξ» toilet paper, would even be available in the toilets of at least some factories – the narrator tells us how an employer would complain about the demands of her employees as follows:

«Μα τι στην οργή θέλουν; Ασπιρίνες θέλουν;
χαρτομάντιλα, γκόμενες;… Ως και σόφτεξ τους
έχει στους καμπινέδες. Τι διάολο θέλουν;»
(cf. Maro Douka, Ηaρχαία σκουριά [Ancient Rust]Κέδρος,
1980 [2nd edition], p. 25).

Apart from the fact that the “MELTEX” advertisement is only a ‘mild’ example of “provocative-interventionism”, and apart from the fact that its “provocation” is relative and only transient, it also is what we may call “culturally neutral”. The essentially “neutral cultural content” of its discourse lies in the fact that it avoids comparing the Greek socio-cultural reality with some other ‘superior’ foreign culture. Unlike so many other advertisements which we shall be discussing below, it is free of what Roupa (op. cit., p. 261) has referred to as the «μεταπολεμική ξενική επίδραση» or of the “Americanization” of the Greek way of life (cf. “diafimisi” – http://diafimisi..., op. cit., p. 1). Generally, then, we have here an advertizing discourse which is characterized by a slight and transitory “imbalance” and which steers clear of cultural provocation and bias, but which nonetheless does belong to that family of advertizing discourse which we have identified as “provocative- interventionist”.

Yet another sample of advertizing discourse which may be said to have balanced on the threshold of “provocative-interventionism”, though again only slightly or only ambiguously so, and which appeared as early as 1961 in Kathimerini , is the following:

«Princessa… Contessa… 2 ΨΥΓΕΙΑ
ΚΟΜΨΑ ΚΑΙ ΓΕΡΑ…
ΠΡΟΪΟΝΤΑ ΤΗΣ ΠΙΤΣΟΣ…
Ένα ψυγείο για πάντα…»
(cf. Kathimerini, 23.5.1961).

It is most probable that Amalia Eleftheriadou would not have had much access to a newspaper such as the Kathimerini, the latter not being too popular amongst Aliartians in the 1960’s. Still, advertisements which appeared in this paper were reproduced in more widely-read papers such as the Apogevmatini or the Akropolis, or they would be reproduced in the popular periodicals. Now, in this early-1960’s advertisement we observe that the quality of a product manufactured by a Greek company is related to foreign prototypes (Italian) by the sheer naming of such products: “Princessa”/“Contessa”. The element of “Greekness” is played down: what really matters is that the “PITSOS” [«ΠΙΤΣΟΣ»] fridges are «ΚΟΜΨΑ» and «ΓΕΡΑ» in terms of a Euro-Italian quality gauge. This constitutes a certain “imbalance”, suggesting a techno-cultural inferiority as regards things manufactured by Greek industry. On the other hand, we well know that the relative technological “inferiority” of Greek-made products was simply an objective fact. And we also know that the “Amalia-type” did herself attend to and nurture a growing taste for all things European – and which was itself a “natural” proclivity given the objective superiority of foreign technology, thus making such “Amalia-type” taste an objective fact as well. Thus, the “PITSOS” advertisement seems to contain a relative “imbalance” or “cultural bias” which only reflected certain objective circumstances.

If it be true that the discourse of this advertisement merely reflected an objective reality, there seems to be little reason why we need include it within the wider family of “provocative-interventionist” advertizing discourse. But here we need to place such advertisement within the wider context of the truly acute ideological struggle that was being waged in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s over the quality of imported products vis-à-vis those of the endogenous manufacturing sector. As we shall further see below, the “Greekness” of a product such as a fridge would often be presented by the local advertizing industry as “the triumph” of a Greek company to manufacture best-quality products both for the local and for the international markets. Thus, to name your products in a manner which reminded the Greek public of foreign technology would be self-defeating, if not “provocative”, at least in the sense of undermining the ideological strategies of many local manufacturers. Unlike so many other advertisements promoting Greek products, therefore, the “PITSOS” advertisement here seems to be reinforcing the superiority of foreign technology while making no appeal to “the triumph” of Greek technology as such – and therefore the “balance” of its discourse gently tips towards a European-foreign bias. It thus expresses a mildly “interventionist” discourse and which mimics the discourse of multi-national corporations which at times equated quality to foreignness. Still, there is no real “provocation” as regards the tastes of the “Amalia-type” (though such “type” could itself also share in a sense of pride when it came to the local technological “triumph” – often enough, hundreds of Boeotian villagers would be working for companies such as IZOLA and be buying at discount prices the things they themselves had helped produce).

But not only did the “PITSOS” advertisement not directly “provoke” the “Amalia-type” – it in fact addressed itself to the Greek economic reality of the early-1960’s which such “type” experienced. It speaks of the “durability” of its fridges and is therefore aware of the “Amalia-type’s” need to buy products which would not have to be renewed too often, given the limited consumer capacity of a female “Clerk”. This does not in any way contradict what we have said above as regards the general trend to continually renew things on the part of the popular masses. For one thing, as regards the majority of people in the very early-1960’s, such renewing of products would usually be a move from the very “primitive” appliances to the first generation of manufactured products. Further, the renewal which would take place would usually cover products less expensive than that of a fridge. For the “Amalia-type”, the wish for renewal (which could here be fulfilled by buying a “PITSOS” fridge) would have to go hand-in-hand and be balanced with the need for durability. It would only be the further increase of consumer power by the very late-1960’s and the ultimate dysfunctionality of a technological device (rendered so by new technological innovations – cf. Antonioli above), which would lead the “Amalia-type” to a renewal of even her “modern” fridge. The Greek reality of the early-1960’s was therefore understood and acknowledged by this “PITSOS” advertisement: its phrase «για πάντα» played on the relative material needs of the consumer, and therefore adjusted its discourse to such needs. The same phrase, «για πάντα», would also address itself to the relative ‘aesthetic’ needs of the “Amalia-type”, assuring her that the advent of the new elegant style («ΚΟΜΨΑ») has come to stay. Of course, one could argue that such promise – «για πάντα» – is “manipulative” in that it is absolute, and which would make the discourse “provocative” for the “Amalia-type”. But that is to forget that such language is a sine qua non of whatever market transaction, in whatever social formation, and it is up to the freedom of the buyer to verify or qualify any promises of “absolute durability” through the mere usage of what has been bought.

We may summarize our evaluation of this 1961 advertisement of “PITSOS” fridges as follows: while there is a slight “imbalance” for Euro-technology and a silent devaluation of the “Greekness” of the product (and which therefore constitutes a negative “intervention” as regards the interests of endogenous manufacturers), it nonetheless expresses a slight “balance” for the material and ‘aesthetic’ needs of the “Amalia-type”. It is of much socio-historical interest that here we have an advertizing discourse which disadvantages the Greek manufacturing sector as a whole so that the European tastes of the consumer be satisfied. We know, of course, that Capital-as-a-Whole can often work against itself. And that was one dysfunction which bodies such as ΕΔΕΕ would struggle to redress.

………………………………

If the two above advertisements are samples of a transient or of only a slight “imbalance” between the purported intentions of the advertizing discourse and the degree of “provocation” that the Greek popular masses (or even endogenous capital) could digest, what follows are examples of advertizing discourse which may be said to be an almost full-blooded “provocation” of the popular practices of the Greek people. In 1964, the periodical Romantso would carry the following advertisement promoting the «ΚΑΜΕΛΙΑ» serviette, and which could potentially have insulted at least a section of the Greek female population – it read as follows:

«Δεν ζήτε στον παληό καιρό…
για να χρησιμοποιήτε αναχρονιστικές
μεθόδους. Η εποχή μας απαιτεί μέσα
πρακτικά και προστατευτικά της
υγιεινής… Με την ΚΑΜΕΛΙΑ στις κρίσιμες
ημέρες του μηνός έχετε απόλυτη
εξασφάλιση»
(cf. Romantso, No 1116,
21.7.1964).

There is a definite “interventionist provocation” in the discourse of this advertisement because it rejects as “anachronistic” the set practices of millions of Greek women of most age-groups in the early-1960’s. It “provoked”, because one section of the female population would continue using strips of cloth when they had their period. Pavlos Matesis, writing of the post-war era in his Η μητέρα του σκύλου [The Mother of the Dog, Εκδόσεις Καστανιώτη, Athens, 1990, p. 72), describes the use of such strips of cloth – his female character, «Ρουμπίνη», has this to say of the practice:

«… χρησιμοποιούσαμε πανί περκάλι, το
ράβαμε σε σχήμα Τ και τα μεταχειριζόμαστε
ξανά και ξανά μέχρι να ρέψουν. Άσε που τα
μπουγαδιασμένα τα κρεμούσαμε στο μπαλκόνι
ή στην αυλή, και όλη η γειτονιά ήξερε τις
ημερομηνίες μας. Και δώσ’ του κουτσομπολιό,
διότι μερικές γειτόνισσες κρατούσαν
λογαριασμό. Καλέ, σου έλεγαν φέρ’ ειπείν,
της Νίτσας του Καρατσολιά καιρό έχουν να
της έρθουνε, δεν είδα ρούχα απλωμένα, τι
συμβαίνει, καθυστέρηση, ή αρρεβωνιάστηκε;».

And further, the vast majority of women (approximately 80%) would take up and  continue to use the classical «χαρτοβάμβακα» for their needs. Whether as a result of habit, or so as to cut on expenditures, they would insist on such specific hygiene practices (some quite “primitive”, as in the case of the cloth; others not at all so, as in the case of the «χαρτοβάμβακα»).

The advertisement views their methods as symptomatic of a refusal to abandon the «παληό καιρό». And it goes even further: it seems to be telling the Greek female that she does not know the new epoch that has already dawned in Greece, and done so despite her. In that sense, it engineers an ideological divide and contradistinction between, on the one hand, “the epoch”, and, on the other, “the people”, as if it is not the latter that de facto constitute or make whatever “epoch”. This advertizing discourse is thus characterized by a show of the “global modernizing power” – expressive of the anarchically arrogant discourse of foreign advertizing giants (op. cit.) – which suggests that “modernity” belongs to it («η εποχή μας») and which those beneath such “power” had better adopt. The discourse could therefore alienate even the younger “Amalia-type”, who could have felt insulted by an advertisement that openly questioned a people’s awareness of the “modern times” that supposedly flew over their heads. And yet the “Amalia-type” could see herself – and finally even older women around her – naturally adopting the use of a serviette such as «ΚΑΜΕΛΙΑ» without at the same time feeling that they were bending to the instructions of an advertisement which admonished them for their lingering “anachronism” («Δεν ζήτε…»). Here, if the particular product «ΚΑΜΕΛΙΑ» was bought by the “Amalia-type”, it would have been done so given the “marketing mix” – as discussed above – which would accompany it. But much more importantly, the “Amalia-type” would have come to use whatever brand of serviette since such “type” as was Amalia constituted an organic part of the Greek process of “modernization”. It was of course foreign technology that offered such “type” the means for such “modernization” – it was that “type”, however, that was the historical agent of “modernization” in Greece. The products of so-called “capitalist technology” would have been no commodities at all unless the popular masses chose to consume them – it was precisely such fact that the «ΚΑΜΕΛΙΑ» advertisement would wish to obfuscate in its show of “global modernizing power”, and in that sense the creators of such discourse would be in full agreement with the likes of Adorno and company, who very simply reduced the phenomenon of consumption to a practice imposed on people.

But the discourse of the «ΚΑΜΕΛΙΑ» advertisement goes even further in its “provocation”: not only does it look down on a people who are supposedly blind to “modernity” – it also absolutely rejects their own «παληό καιρό». It thus fails to capture the socio-cultural reality of a people which combined their “traditionalism” and “localism” with the “modern”. As such, this advertizing discourse ignores the Leoussis principle that an advertisement should constitute a «συμπύκνωση… της ιστορικής συγκυρίας» (op. cit.), or ignores Bakirtzis’ insistence that an advertisement should show «τον ανάλογο σεβασμό προς το ευρύ κοινό» (op. cit.).

Now, as in the case of all or most ideological discourse, here too, the advertizing discourse of the «ΚΑΜΕΛΙΑ» advertisement could only but also contain elements of a certain positive material content: the fact of a new, more comfortable and perhaps more hygienic serviette could not have been ignored by any “Amalia-type” as an unnecessary “luxury”. In that sense, even this “provocative-interventionist” advertisement cannot be rejected out of hand as mere “manipulation”.

Even more importantly, the “provocative-interventionism” of the «ΚΑΜΕΛΙΑ» discourse had to contain elements within it which would control the “provocation” and delimit the cultural damage or shock it could effect – it would thus also contain elements of a positive ethical content, and which means that it would attempt to maintain a certain internal “balance” between its “provocative-interventionism” and the ethico-cultural codes of the Greek popular masses (and especially those of Greek women). How does it do this? The discourse shows a respect for the so-called “taboos” of the Greek woman of the 1960’s: it avoids using the term “period” in its choice of words – such word having been avoided by the popular masses generally in the 1960’s and even on to the 1970’s – and rather chooses to use the phrase «κρίσιμες ημέρες» as substitute. Specifically as regards this point, it abides by article 1 of the ΕΔΕΕ «Κώδικα Δεοντολογίας», which stipulates that the customs and ethics of the Greek consumer not be insulted (op. cit.). It here also abides by the Bakirtzis principle of «ανάλογο σεβασμό».