In the 1960s, if you wore long hair and protested the Vietnam War, you were sticking it to the man. At least, that's what we like to tell ourselves. But Thomas Frank, a historian who basically redefined how we look at advertising, argues something much more cynical and, frankly, much more interesting in his seminal work. He calls it the conquest of cool.
It wasn't just that "the man" eventually caught up to the hippies. It’s that the corporate world was already bored with its own suit-and-tie monotony long before the Summer of Love kicked off in San Francisco.
Business leaders in the late 50s were suffocating. They hated the "Organization Man" archetype just as much as the beatniks did. Imagine sitting in a gray office, wearing a gray suit, selling gray ideas to a gray public. It was soul-crushing. So, when the counterculture arrived with its colorful flares, rock music, and "do your own thing" ethos, Madison Avenue didn't just see a market to exploit. They saw a way out of their own boredom.
The Conquest of Cool: It Wasn't a Hostile Takeover
Most people think of the relationship between capitalism and rebellion as a war. We imagine the suits in the boardroom desperately trying to figure out how to stop the kids from burning their bras and draft cards. But Frank’s research into the archives of agencies like Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) proves it was more like a long-overdue first date.
Take the Volkswagen "Think Small" campaign. This is the holy grail of the conquest of cool. In an era where Detroit was pumping out massive, chrome-heavy boats on wheels, DDB launched an ad for a tiny, ugly German car that basically told the consumer: "You don't need all that status stuff."
It was genius.
It turned consumption into an act of anti-consumption. By buying the car, you were signaling that you were too smart, too hip, and too "cool" to fall for traditional advertising. You were participating in the conquest of cool by rejecting the very system that was selling you the car.
See the irony?
DDB pioneered what we now call "creative revolution" advertising. They stopped using the "hard sell"—that annoying guy shouting at you about "New and Improved!" suds. Instead, they used irony. They used self-deprecation. They let the audience in on the joke. It made the consumer feel like an insider. Honestly, it made us feel like we weren't being sold to at all, which is the most effective way to sell something.
Why the 1960s Weren't Just About Peace and Love
We have this collective hallucination that the sixties were a pure, untouched moment of radicalism that was eventually "corrupted" by the 1980s. That's a nice story. It's just not really true.
The conquest of cool happened simultaneously with the marches and the festivals. Look at the fashion industry. By 1967, the "Mod" look from London was being mass-produced by the very garment district titans that the mods supposedly despised. Department stores didn't fight the youth quake; they built "boutiques" inside their walls to house it.
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The revolution was televised, sure. But it was also sponsored.
The traditional American values of thrift, sobriety, and "keeping up with the Joneses" were actually bad for business. If people are thrifty, they don't buy new stuff. If they are sober and restrained, they don't indulge in impulse purchases. The counterculture, with its emphasis on "now," hedonism, and constant self-reinvention, was a gift from the gods for marketers.
Rebellion became the primary driver of the economy.
The Pepsi Generation and the Birth of Lifestyle Branding
Before the conquest of cool, you sold soda by saying it tasted good or gave you energy. Then came the "Pepsi Generation."
This wasn't about the liquid in the bottle. It was about who you were. If you drank Pepsi, you were young (at heart, anyway), vibrant, and part of the new wave. Coca-Cola was your dad’s drink. Pepsi was the drink of the "revolution," even though it was a multi-billion dollar corporation.
This is where the shift happens. We stopped buying products for what they did and started buying them for what they said about us. This is the core DNA of modern branding. Whether you're buying a Patagonia jacket because you're an environmentalist or a Supreme hoodie because you're "street," you are operating within the framework established during the conquest of cool.
It’s about identity. It’s about being "in" on the secret.
The Illusion of Choice in a Consumer Culture
Thomas Frank points out something pretty uncomfortable in his book. He suggests that by adopting the language of rebellion, corporate America actually made it harder to truly rebel.
Think about it.
If the system itself tells you that "breaking the rules" is the highest form of personal expression, how do you actually break the rules of that system? When Nike tells you to "Just Do It" and Apple tells you to "Think Different," they are co-opting the language of the dissident. They’ve made the act of purchase feel like an act of defiance.
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It’s a perfect loop.
You feel like an individual. You feel like you’re bucking the trend. But you’re doing it by using the exact tools provided by the people you think you’re rebelling against. This isn't just a 60s phenomenon. It's why every time a new subculture emerges—be it punk, grunge, or "cottagecore"—it takes about six months for it to end up on a mood board at an H&M headquarters in Stockholm.
How the Creative Revolution Changed the Office
The conquest of cool didn't just change the ads; it changed the people making them. The "suits" were out. The "creatives" were in. This is the era of the copywriter and the art director as rock stars.
They brought the counterculture aesthetic into the boardroom.
- Jeans replaced slacks.
- Ping-pong tables appeared in breakrooms.
- Hierarchies were flattened (at least on the surface).
We see the direct descendant of this in Silicon Valley today. The "casual Friday" that turned into "casual every day" is a result of the conquest of cool. The idea that a CEO should wear a hoodie instead of a blazer is a 60s marketing tactic that became a corporate reality. It’s a way of saying, "I'm not a boss, I'm a disruptor."
But let's be real: a disruptor with a billion dollars is still a boss.
The Lasting Legacy of the Conquest of Cool
So, where does this leave us? Is everything fake? Not necessarily. But it does mean we have to be a lot more skeptical of brands that claim to share our "values."
The conquest of cool proved that capitalism is incredibly flexible. It doesn't fight change; it eats it. It digests rebellion and turns it into a product. This isn't a conspiracy—it’s just how the market works. It seeks out the "new," and in our culture, the "new" is almost always whatever the kids are doing to piss off their parents.
If you look at the landscape of 2026, you can see this playing out on TikTok and Instagram every single day. The "de-influencing" trend? That’s just the latest version of "Think Small." It's a way of performing authenticity by rejecting the obvious commercialism of the previous week, only to inevitably be used to sell a different, "more authentic" product next week.
The cycle is faster now. But the mechanics are the same as they were in 1964.
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What We Get Wrong About "Selling Out"
We used to talk about "selling out" like it was a crime. A band would sign to a major label and their fans would riot. But after the conquest of cool, the very concept of selling out started to feel dated.
If the market is everywhere, there’s no "outside" to sell out from.
We’ve reached a point where we expect our revolutionaries to have brand deals. We expect our social movements to have hashtags and merch. We’ve fully internalized the idea that to be seen and heard, we must participate in the very commercial systems we might be trying to critique.
That is the ultimate victory of the conquest of cool. It didn't defeat the counterculture; it just made it the dominant style of the culture itself.
Navigating the Modern "Cool" Landscape
If you're a business owner or a marketer, the lesson here isn't to just copy the latest trend. People have "authenticity radar" that is sharper than ever. The conquest of cool worked because it was a genuine shift in how people viewed authority.
Today, people are looking for transparency, not just a "hip" facade.
- Stop trying to be "cool." Seriously. Nothing is less cool than a corporation trying to use Gen Z slang incorrectly.
- Focus on the "Why." The most successful brands post-conquest of cool are those that actually stand for something, even if that "something" is just making a really good, simple product without the fluff.
- Acknowledge the tension. The best advertising today often admits that it’s advertising. It respects the audience's intelligence.
- Understand the history. You can't navigate the current market without understanding that the "rebellious consumer" is a persona that was carefully crafted sixty years ago.
The conquest of cool changed everything about how we buy, work, and define ourselves. It turned the radical into the fashionable. It made the "outsider" the ultimate "insider."
Next time you see an ad that feels like it "gets" you—that feels like it’s on your side against the boring, the old, or the "mainstream"—take a second. Look at the logo. Remember that the feeling of being a rebel is one of the most expensive things you can buy.
It's been that way for a long time.
Actionable Insights for the "Cool" Economy:
- Audit your brand’s "authenticity": If your marketing relies on subverting a status quo, make sure your internal business practices don't embody that same status quo. People check.
- Study the DDB archives: If you want to understand how to talk to a skeptical audience, look at the work of Bill Bernbach. It’s still the gold standard for high-IQ advertising.
- Read "The Conquest of Cool" by Thomas Frank: Seriously, go to the source. It’ll change how you look at every billboard and Instagram ad you see for the rest of your life.
- Look for the "Anti-Brand" opportunity: In a world where everyone is trying to be "cool" and "edgy," sometimes being straightforward, honest, and even a little "boring" is the most radical thing you can do.
- Question your own consumption: Ask yourself why you like the brands you like. Is it the product, or is it the story they told you about who you are for buying it?
- Understand the co-option cycle: Recognize that as soon as a movement becomes "cool," its original power is being diluted for mass consumption. This helps in identifying genuine social change versus mere aesthetic trends.