Psy-ops built car culture

I don’t care if you own a car, SUV, minivan, pickup truck, private jet, or one of each. This essay isn’t a judgment on consumerism. It’s about how the forces shaping our automotive obsession ripple into land use policy, infrastructure funding, government subsidies, and every facet of urbanism.

Once upon a time, did Americans flock to dealerships out of pure need—or were they herded by subversive forces? Was it free will or predestination?

The automobile’s rise was a master class in what the military would call a psychological operation, a psy-op. In a flash, the “household automobile” became the “personal automobile,” thanks to advertising genius that turned utility into aspiration.

The godfather of modern PR

At the heart of this shift was Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud’s nephew and the godfather of modern public relations. Bernays didn’t sell cars; he sold dreams, using emotional triggers to link vehicles with individualism, prestige, and progress. His tactics transformed cars from practical tools into must-have symbols of self-expression. Drawing from Uncle Freud, Bernays targeted subconscious desires. 

Early- and mid-20th-century ads were dry, like user manuals highlighting features. Bernays led the marketing pivot to allure. Chevrolet’s 1950s “See the USA in Your Chevrolet” campaign painted cars as portals to adventure and family memories. Manufacturers introduced annual model updates, rendering last year’s ride obsolete, a strategy Bernays tested for GM after Henry Ford dismissed it as sleazy. It worked brilliantly, birthing “planned obsolescence” and embedding perpetual consumption into our culture. 

Ford’s Model T was pitched as “the universal car,” bridging class divides. GM segmented its market with Chevrolets for “practical families” and Buicks for status seekers.

It’s funny that people today want to dismiss the consumerism psy-op as conspiracy theory, even though Bernays documented and openly bragged about his methods in TV and radio interviews over his 103-year life. 

Cars: A timeline

Here’s a snapshot of some of the auto industry’s milestones:

• 1900-1910: From 8,000 registered cars in 1900 to over 400,000 by 1910, fueled by early hype.
  
• 1908-1916: Henry Ford’s assembly line dropped the Model T’s price from $825 to $360, marketed as “the car for everyman” to symbolize modernity.
  
• 1920s: Automakers spent the equivalent of $2 billion in today’s dollars on ads that shifted from facts to feelings.
  
• 1920s-1950s: GM’s yearly changes cut car lifespans from five years to two to three, creating upgrade culture.
  
• 1950s: More than $300 million spent on ads emphasizing freedom and status; car ownership ranked second only to homes as a status symbol.
  
• 1960s-1970s: 80% of cars bought on credit, with ads focused on lifestyle, then pivoted to “green” virtue-signaling amid environmental concerns.
  
• 21st Century: Auto ads remain a top-10 spender for a population of buyers that is predominantly completely on personal cars to get around.

Emotional forces

The best advertisers understand that humans are feeling creatures who sometimes think, as opposed to thinking creatures who sometimes feel. Cereal, shoes, cars—it all preys on the same impulses. The auto industry’s success defied logic because even as saturation hit, demand surged. They were and are enjoying the outcomes of a culture that believes everyone 16 and up needs their own personal car.

I’m a car owner, and I’ll be the first to tell you motor vehicles are incredible inventions. The more I learn about human behavior and our decision-making process, the more examples I see in my own life where my behavior was nudged by outside forces tugging my emotional strings.

If you’re interested in changing how the built environment is planned, designed, and maintained, understanding the power and tools of persuasion will help you immensely. So much of culture is downstream from propaganda.