Virginia Postrel: The Glamour of Harmony

… [the 1939 New York World’s Fair’s] merchandising sold both political planning and commercial products—and packaged both in glamour. It encouraged visitors to project themselves into a future not only of abundant goods and impressive technology but of effortless harmony and order. The fair did not acknowledge any contradiction between individual choices in the marketplace and ‘cooperative’ political planning. In its glamorous depictions of the future, all groups worked together in harmony, and individual and collective plans exactly coincided. By editing out conflicts, the fair heightened the allure of both its commercial exhibits and the politically directed future. It sold a world where everyone wanted the same thing, a world without trade-offs or losers.

– Virgina Postrel, The Power of Glamour, pp. 191-192