“For Pete’s Sake, I’m Not Trying to Entertain These People”: Film and Franchising at International Harvester

Using McCormick-International Harvester (IH) as a case study, this article examines the function of moving-image media in business franchising. I argue that IH used sponsored and training films to establish claims to concern for the franchisees that enabled IH to expand its operations across the country. These claims to concern provided dealers with routine assurance of the franchisor’s care that extended beyond contractual obligations. Films that employed these claims—for example, by attending to the pleasure of dealers within corporate communications—pursued an affective bond between franchisor and franchisee that demonstrated IH’s recognition of and care for franchisees as partners. This emphasis on IH’s ostensibly generous caretaking, in turn, elided power differences endemic to franchise structures to secure franchisees’ voluntary participation in a subordinate economic position.