Westminster hosts pop-up exhibition examining how advertising shaped identity of the British teenager

Running between 28-30 September at the University’s London Gallery West, the exhibition was part of HAT's 50th anniversary year and marked the first time the organisation, which has spent half a century preserving the nation's advertising heritage in its Norfolk archive, has taken its work to university campuses across the UK.

To kick off the exhibition, Westminster hosted a launch event where an industry expert offered insights about the sector and its history. That speaker was Loz Horner, a Strategy Partner from a top UK advertising agency Lucky Generals, who spoke on advertising to teenagers over the decades using case study examples from his agency’s portfolio. 

This was followed by an opening reception attended by board and trustee members of HAT as well as colleagues and students from the University’s School of Media and Communication and one of the industry sponsors of the touring show Pearl & Dean. 

Teenage Kicks explores one of the underexamined stories in British social history: how the teenager, as a distinct cultural and commercial category, was invented in postwar Britain, and how advertising was central to that invention.

Set against the backdrop of the postwar Baby Boom, rising wages, the 1944 Butler Education Act and shifting social expectations, the exhibition traced how a generation of young people with unprecedented disposable income became the most coveted, and most studied, consumer group in British history. Through archival material drawn from HAT's collection of over ten million items, the exhibition explores the key product sectors through which teenage identity was visualised, promoted and sold.

Teenage Kicks is supported by Currys, Nationwide, IPA, Pearl & Dean and Ocean Outdoor. The exhibition will now tour the UK, visiting a range of universities and spending one week at each host institution.

Dr Carl Jones, Senior Lecturer and Pathway Leader for the University’s Digital Media, Public Relations and Advertising BA Honours course, said: “For our students, Teenage Kicks is a valuable opportunity to engage directly with advertising’s cultural history and its continuing influence on how young people see themselves and the world around them. It is an invitation to look critically at the stories, images and values that brands create in order to sell.”

Richard Warren, Director of Brands and Marketing at Nationwide, said: “As curators of the ad industry’s heritage, HAT’s 50th is something to celebrate and we’re pleased to be supporting them on their university tour”

Through bringing in industry leaders to the University the exhibition directly contributed to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth and 17: Partnerships for the Goals. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.

Find out more about media and communication courses at the University of Westminster.