The documentary we watched in class today described the 1950s as a "couples society," with very few women in the workforce and 97% of all marriageable men and women (meaning they were in their 20s and finished with their education) married. This era was perhaps one of the most sexist in American history, with an emphasis on women's roles as housewives who existed solely to clean the house, prepare food, bear and look after children, and keep their husbands happy. In researching the culture of this era, I came across the following print ad, which I think encompasses both the extreme sexism and the avid marketing and consumerism that dominated the fifties:
Ads like this would cause an uproar today, but I think they tell us a lot about the society in which they were produced, because real people in the fifties probably came across them without batting an eye, and they actually went out and purchased this and similar advertised appliances!
The following link includes nine other ludicrously sexist print ads from the 50s, if you're interested:
http://www.businesspundit.com/10-most-sexist-print-ads-from-the-1950s/?img=21450
Hey Sonnet! Thanks so much for your post. I found that so crazy as well that ads could be so sexist 60 years ago, in the era of our parents and grandparents!
ReplyDeleteI think what is so outrageous about these ads is how upfront these ads are. Even in our own society if there is a simple allusion to chauvinism we would be in an uproar. However, looking at these ads in the past, women were forced into the stereotype without any other way of interpreting the ad. Even in the ad that Sonnet posted, the item that is being marketed is a kitchen appliance, yet another showing of this typical "house wife."
Another thing to think about regarding females in advertising is to think about the evolution of the definition of beauty over the past several decades. In these ads we see that the stereotypical beauty would be that of the secretary that Mr. Stewart described in class today - blond and "voluptuous." The woman were expected to be paler, as to not associate as much with the working class, and curvier to represent a child-bearing and wholesome woman. Now, it is interesting to see in our ads that woman can be tanner and tend to be skinner.
Thanks so much for bringing up this topic of woman in advertising! I think that media is always a good way to track the certain mindset of the public of an era.
http://womeninads.weebly.com/history.html
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ReplyDeleteThanks Sonnet! When we learned about this, I did not realize the extent of the sexism in these ads. I found the Dacron Leggs ad particular shocking, where the man was standing on the women who resembled a tiger skin on the floor.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to agree with your statement about how sexist ads today cause such a large reaction from today's audience. Specifically, I wanted to cite the repeated GoDaddy.com commercials of today.
In 2011, GoDaddy released Joan Rivers as the new "GoDaddy girl," and included a shot zoomed in on her chest which read "GoDaddy.com." 2012 featured a commercial where two girls in tight leather bodysuits, including Danica Patrick, a successful racecar driver were painting on an unclothed model. In 2013, a kiss was shared between what today is stereotyped as a "nerd" and an attractive woman. All of these commercials involve tight clothes and a focus on women’s sexualized body parts. In many of these as well, a man is seen gaping at the sight of these women, indicating that a woman is merely an image to look at.
2011: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htFlkfjOkNA
2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIZpumDnUq8
2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWB32V4w1xM
GoDaddy stirs much controversy every year, and usually manages to evoke a large response. In 2012, people were criticizing the corporation for objectifying Danica Patrick, and undermining her success in a male field. However, they continued the suggestive commercials until the 2013 kiss posed as a threat to their company, starting the #NotBuyingIt trend on twitter, which gathered eight million followers, and starting sites such as http://breakupwithgodaddy.com/ which advocated for a boycott of the corporation. To control the damage they had done, they decided to hire new executives that would reduce the emphasis on sexuality of women in their marketing.
During the past two years, they have been working on this transformation, and last year, they released a commercial involving many men and a single woman, still in minimal clothing, and this year, they showed a woman quitting her day job. This is not only a shift from objectifying a woman, but it is actually showing her as an independent business woman.
It is just interesting to see how much is able to be changed as a result of personal opinions, and how much personal opinions have changed since the 1950s.
http://wiselit.com/arts-culture/voices/internet-got-godaddy-stop-objectifying-women-sexist-commercials
Thanks for posting this Sonnet! The documentary was very sad in the fact that these women didn't really even acknowledge the fact that they were victims of sexism. Now a days, there would have been an uproar by the general public if these advertisements had been displayed. But at the time, no one really questioned this advertisement because all they were really allowed to do was work in the house.
ReplyDelete