After the privations of the Second World War, and the Depression, people suddenly had a huge range of choice of where to dispose of their discretionary income. And with the boom in consumer goods came a boom in advertising and marketing. Increasingly sophisticated advertising was backed by developments in the science (or should that be art) of market research, which explored the psychology of the purchaser, and led to a shift in the style of ads. And with the increase in available goods, and growing emphasis on the purchaser, Australians were defining themselves more than ever before through the things they bought.