Immediately after America joined World War II there was a short supply of consumer products. Commodities like rubber, fuel and automobiles were rationed or production ended completely. Even though there were high levels of disposable income and high employment, there was nothing for consumers to buy. After the war ended, economic depression was expected and combined with highly inflated taxes, this made the need for consumerism crucial to recovering the economy. Product marketers therefore started to create new types of products, using the technology gained from the war, along side new mass-production techniques to satisfy the product drought brought on by the great depression and war.
The 'American Dream' and 'World of Tomorrow' ideals were pushed to consumers through new concepts of products such as 'shiny new' TV dinners and futuristic design cars. Food brands, household consumables and any otherwise mundane product groups were given a marketing spruce-up to encourage consumers to make impulse purchases. Consumption was reinforced through patriotic themes of good citizenship in advertising. Mass consumption became even easier with the advent of TV, bringing new marketing strategies and possibilities to promote through video advertising. With animation being popular in the 1940's, it wasn't long before TV advertising also introduced mascots for branding, such as Reddy Kilowatt for Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) created in 1947. This new era of spending is what brought about the first credit cards and the concept of "buy now and pay later".
