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Regular version of the site

Laboratory Seminar. Matleena Frisk, "New needs? Creating demand for disposable consumer products from the 1930s to the 1970s in Finland, an early draft"

April 10 at 5 pm Matleena Frisk, a doctoral candidate at the University of Helsinki, spoke at a seminar on the Laboratory for Environmental and Technological History.

The laboratory invites you to participate in the discussion of the report by Matleena Frisk, a doctoral student at the University of Helsinki. Topic: "New needs? Creating demand for disposable consumer products from the 1930s to the 1970s in Finland, an early draft".

  • Annotation:
    Many of the cellulose-based disposable consumer products such as paper handkerchiefs and paper towels were already established products in wealthiest western countries in the 1930s, but were not widely in use in Finland. During the second World war, rationing and austerity made these products important substitutes to fabric, especially cotton. Consumers became acquainted with them during the war, but this association was not necessarily an advantage after the war was over. However, the use of tissue paper skyrocketed from the 1960s on, and heavily advertised disposable products included table cloths, sheets and plates. This paper draws from preliminary look at various sources like advertising and business records to explore questions such as what were the needs that these disposable products were expected to fulfill, and how the expanding consumption was connected to cultural change.

 

Location - HSE, Griboedov Canal Embankment 123

Room - 317

Time - 17:00