Manufacturers started a “massive” campaign to sell refrigerators in the early 1920s (Strasser, 1982, p. 265). The picture above shows advertising from that period (Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, undated, as shown on http://keepitcool.com/history_of_the_refrigerator2.htm). General Electric used “outlandish advertising and public relations techniques.” A franchisee in New York constructed a neon sign that could be read 3 miles away and staged promotional parades; another franchisee in Philadelphia had his store designed in the shape of a Monitor Top. Special railroad cars toured the country to display refrigerators. In 1928, a Monitor Top was sent to the North Pole, and, in 1931, the millionth Monitor Top was presented to Henry Ford during a radio broadcast. In 1935, a nearly hour-long Technicolor comedy-romance film, with stars including Hedda Hopper, was produced to publicize refrigerators (Cowan, pp. 137-138).
Depression-era women’s magazines advertised refrigerators, but not many stoves or washing machines. Companies competed with refrigerator features, such as special drawers and compartments, shelves on the doors, interior lights, installment payment plans, increased storage space, and separate freezer compartments (Rubin, 1998, pp. 48-49; Strasser, 1982, p. 265). By 1934, GE moved the compressor inside the base and created the Flat-Top refrigerator. In the same period, Sears offered the Coldspot. In spite of the Depression, manufacturers managed to sell 10 million units during the 1930s with their advertising push (Strasser, 1982, p. 267), new features, and lowered prices from mass production (Cowan, 1983, p. 94).
In 1922, in nine small towns (2,000-5,000 population) within a radius of 150 miles of Kansas City, a survey of 227 upper and lower class and 167 "better class" homes found only 1% had electric refrigerators (Frederick, 1922, pp. 1-2, 74). By 1931, 16% of homes in Appleton, Wisconsin had a refrigerator, but market researchers for Time, Inc., indicated that only about 10% of families in the U.S. had one at that time (Strasser, 1982, p. 265). By 1935, 40% of “better off” households with “adequate housing” in Muncie, Indiana had a refrigerator (Cowan, 1983 pp. 173-174). In contrast, many farm households in the 1930s had no electric power to operate a refrigerator. During the 1930s, efforts were made to stimulate use of refrigeration on farms (Anderson, 1953, p. 222), but the typical farmhouse in 1936 still had an icebox (Cohen, 1982, p. 5). Iceboxes continued to be common into the 1940s, especially in rural areas (Cohen, 1982, p. 26).