Abstract

“Even Better than the Real Thing”?: Exploring Imitation Products through the Lens of Electronic Organs

Artificial trees, engineered hardwood floors and fake diamonds are among the many products that might be termed "imitation products." These products are not copies or forgeries, nor are they direct substitutes for the "real" versions that they imitate. Instead, imitations claim to be "like" other products in a category and to offer a core valued attribute. For example, artificial trees acknowledge that they are not "real" trees. Instead, they claim to offer a key attribute (appearance). Imitation products therefore implicate both authenticity, which is concerned with the "real," and categorization. The literatures on both authenticity and categorization focus on how entities can be perceived as authentic and recognized to belong to a desired category -- an emphasis that is understandable in light of the well-documented benefits attached to these perceptions. But this same literature gives us little insight into how firms position products that are, by definition, not authentic and that defy categorization by virtue of their "unrealness." In this paper, therefore, I explore this phenomenon. My setting is the introduction of the electronic musical organ, which was made in imitation of the pipe organ. In 1935, two different firms introduced the first electronic organs: the Everett Orgatron and the Hammond Organ. Drawing on nearly 450 advertisements between 1935 and 1954, as well as extensive archival materials, I investigate how even as these instruments targeted the same musicians and were advertised in the same publications, their manufacturers positioned them in very different ways: The Orgatron attempted to mimic the pipe organ as closely as possible, whereas the Hammond attempted to enhance the pipe organ by offering (claimed) improvements. In turn, these different approaches led to very different trajectories for each instrument. My study holds implications for the literatures on technology evolution, authenticity and categories, and technologies in cultural industries.