Overview

One of the world's largest tyre makers and an international corporation with interests in countries around the world, Michelin is also a uniquely French company, one that throughout its history has closely identified itself with the country's people and culture. In the process, it has helped shape the self-image of 20th-century France. This volume offers a provocative history of the company and its innovative advertising campaigns between 1898, when Bibendum - the company's iconic ""Michelin Man"" - was first introduced, to 1940, when France fell to the Nazis and the company's top executive, Edouard Michelin, died. Both events indelibly changed the company and the national context in which it operated. Harp uses the familiar figure of Bibendum and the promotional campaigns designed around him to analyze the cultural assumptions of ""belle-epoque"" France, including representations of gender, race and class. He also considers Michelin's efforts to promote automobile tourism in France and Europe through its famous ""Red Guide"" (first introduced in 1900), noting that, in the aftermath of World War I, the company sold tour guides to the battlefields of the Western Front and favourably positioned France's participation in the war as purely defensive and unavoidable. Throughout this period, the company successfully identified the name of Michelin with many aspects of French society, from cuisine and local culture to nationalism and colonialism. Michelin also introduced Fordism and Taylorism to France, and Harp offers a nuanced understanding of how the firm effected Americanization and modernization despite the protests of the French public. Through its marketing efforts, Harp concludes, Michelin exerted a profound impact on France's cultural identity in the 20th century. His study offers a fresh perspective on both French social history in these years and the relationship between corporate culture and popular culture in the 20th century.

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9780801866517

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Reviews

<p> Harp encourages us to rethink many of our assumptions regarding the oppositions between tradition and modernity and between national and regional identity... This book is a fascinating contribution to the literature on modernization, regionalism, and consumer culture in twentieth-century France, and it will be of interest to specialists and general readers alike. -- David Allen Harvey, American Historical Review

<p>Harp argues that Michelin is a prime example of how businesses can reshape cultural attitudes and assumptions, particularly through advertising. He analyses the cultural assumptions of France, including representations of gender, race, and class, in a way that is lively, interesting, and informative.--C. R. Day Histoire Sociale (01/01/0001)

Author Information

Stephen L. Harp is an associate professor of history at the University of Akron.

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