Corey Ross, Pamela Swett, Fabrice dAlmeida Pleasure and Power in Nazi Germany (2011)(1)

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Beginningin 1937 and continuing through the first half of 1938, the Ad CouncilSelling Sexual Pleasure in 1930s Germany 59Figure 3.8 Hormones and the ageing process among malesSource: From the Titus Pearls brochure, Neues Leben, late 1930s.Courtesy of the LandesarchivBerlin (A.Rep.250-02-00, Nr.100).60 Pamela E.SwettFigure 3.9 Why discouraged?Source: Titus Pearls print advertisement from the mid-1930s.Courtesy of the LandesarchivBerlin (A.Rep.250-02-00, Nr.99).instructed company executives to remove all claims that the treatmentfought the ageing of certain organs, and demanded that the literaturenote explicitly that the product contained Yohimbe, a West Africanherbal supplement that while effective at promoting erections has seri-ous health risks associated with it.45 The Ad Council even reminded thecompany that it unwisely still used Hirschfeld s now-defunct instituteSelling Sexual Pleasure in 1930s Germany 61as proof of the legitimacy of the science behind Titus Pearls.And as anexample of the discord that continued among different state ministrieson the subject of sex, the Ad Council pointed the finger elsewhere, not-ing that the National Socialist health leadership did not wish to seepronounced ads for sexual strengtheners.46 The Ad Council was in adifficult position.Its members saw themselves as friends of industryand worked to ensure that they were not held responsible for the criti-cism they were delivering.Despite their mandate to create a Germanadvertising culture, the Ad Council had little real power to force anyof these changes through.47 Whether the company knew this or not isunclear, but it did stand firm in correspondence with the Ad Council,insisting that claims made in the ads were accurate and that the levelof Yohimbe content was insignificant.In the end, therefore, it appearsthat the extensive changes to the marketing strategy for Titus Pearlswere made largely on the company s own initiative beginning in 1933in response to international trends and their own reading of the mar-keting landscape.Despite the company s unwillingness to meet all AdCouncil demands, including the refusal to cut all links to Hirschfeld sformer Institute for Sexual Science, Titus Pearls succeeded in holding onto its domestic and export markets until late 1941, when shortages ofnecessary ingredients finally brought an end to production.48ConclusionWhat does this look at Titus Pearls tell us about pleasure in the ThirdReich? Does the Titus Pearls campaign represent an example of virtualconsumption ? I would argue that it does not.The product was certainlyreadily available to middle-class consumers, unlike the unattainable dura-ble goods that were promoted as coming attractions.Perhaps it promiseda life of youthful pleasures that was just out of reach, but so do many con-sumer items.In terms of standards for truthful advertising, Titus Pearlswas not as bad as many other companies.Yohimbe is still used today topromote erections and has also been used as an anti-depressant.Much AGwas fastidious about responding to and retaining customer complaints,and there are few letters of disappointment in the archival records forthis product.Perhaps disappointed men were too embarrassed to write,but we do have individual stories of success included in the New Life bro-chure.49 Regardless of the pills active ingredients, it is also likely that theoptimism and confidence gained by taking the supplement went part ofthe way towards easing the personal anxieties that led in some cases toimpotence and feelings of depression in the first place.62 Pamela E.SwettThe makers of Titus Pearls, like all companies in the 1930s, were try-ing to interpret the boundaries of the new marketplace, while continu-ing to respond to the needs and desires of their customers.Companyofficials no doubt hoped that they had read the signs correctly.Theygambled on a shift away from blatant sexual language and the ideal ofa happy marriage towards a more holistic sense of physical and spiritualpleasure for the male alone.Company literature picked up on the state sideological messages that emphasized the need for rebirth and regenera-tion, and the naturalness and importance of pleasure for male membersof the privileged race, while ignoring other Nazi messages like the callfor larger families.When the company overstepped the boundaries andwas slow to cut ties with its Jewish inventors and supporters, or madeclaims that could not be backed up, little was done by the Ad Councilto discipline the firm.With regard to the history of consumption inNazi Germany, the relative corporate autonomy demonstrated here is afurther sign that state representatives and company leaders could nego-tiate their interests, and find a middle ground from which both hopedto maintain their popularity.More importantly for our concerns here, however, the case of TitusPearls illustrates broader changes in the treatment of sexual pleasure.During this period, the discourse emphasized sexual pleasure, particu-larly for the man, as elemental to spiritual and physical health and notnecessarily directed towards building or maintaining marriages.In someways, this shift reflects trends we see elsewhere and in Germany s earlierdemocratic era, but the emphasis on male pleasure and on the spiritualsignificance of sex appear to be more representative of the Nazi period.The payoff for the regime, if Titus Pearls worked, was great: happier malecitizens.In particular, Titus Pearls could, according to its ads, delivermen who stood a little more closely to the National Socialist ideal: morecontent, youthful, virile and confident in their ability to control theirworld.Of course the advantages the regime might have seen in TitusPearls were not far from the desires of potential customers.Facing therealities of a changing economy, the uncertainties of a new government,and another war on the horizon, the middle-class male consumers ofTitus Pearls sought a product that promised success in the bedroom andbeyond a product that would return pleasure to their lives.Notes1.U.Herbert, Die guten und die schlechten Zeiten : Ueberlegungen zur dia-chronen Analyse lebensgeschichtlicher Interviews , in L.Niethammer (ed [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Linki