On Tuesday, the company behind the Dow Jones Industrial Average said it would make the biggest change to the average in nearly a decade, dropping three companies (Hewlett-Packard, Alcoa, and Bank of America) and replacing them with three others (Nike, Goldman Sachs, and Visa). We think of the Dow as a way to track the stock market, but it also can serve as a barometer for how consumer culture has evolved during the Dow’s hundred-and-seventeen-year history.

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