11th February 2012 / No Comments Yet
Woman's Weekly /
11th July 1969
Ah, the Pandora’s Box that is child rearing. Obviously, it would have been in Heinz’s interests to promote their foods as the ideal weaning solution, and it’s interesting that these foods still cause controversy today, as what was reported as a link between industrially-produced baby food to childhood obesity in the UK media, actually, erm, isn’t. However, the main point I have about this advert is that copy which is ostensibly intended to reassure new mothers actually provokes anxiety in me; a clever skill!
Tags: dodgy advice, food, Heinz, motherhood
13th November 2011 / 8 Comments
Woman's Weekly /
16th April 1965
I’m sure regular readers can guess my problems with this ad, especially the idea that you’d put up with replacing one of your meals with Trimetts biscuits and milk on a long-term basis. Maybe the idea was that the horrible flavours they sold the biscuits in was enough to put you off food for the rest of the day.
Tags: diets, dodgy advice, trimetts
30th August 2011 / 6 Comments
Woman's Weekly /
2nd May 1969
This is a profoundly misguided advert, and heaven help the poor women who decided to send off for the C.D. Indicator! I’ve got no idea what they mean by ‘mechanical’ or ‘chemical’ methods of contraception either, given that the only methods that I can think of are barrier or hormonal. I’d love to see what they thought was a ‘mechanical’ method though: the mind boggles!
Tags: blatant sexism, contraception, dodgy advice
21st August 2011 / 5 Comments
Woman's Weekly /
26th March 1965
YES! Get yourself high and you too can fit in a nice dress! This article suggests that these pills were probably amphetamines, so presumably, if you didn’t have 20 shillings to spare once you came down, you put all the weight back on through eating normally, and, most likely, you put more on through comfort eating as well. The article linked to also gives details of modern diet pills, which don’t sound that pleasant either. As ever, eating sensibly and exercising regularly is the only proven long-term method of weight management, and you should talk to your doctor if you need support.
Tags: blatant sexism, diets, dodgy advice, health
25th July 2011 / 3 Comments
Woman's Weekly /
9th April 1965
In fact, I don’t envy her figure, mainly because she looks like a smug 13 year old, and that’s not my style. I found it curious that this is called a Milk Diet, because it doesn’t have an awful lot to do with milk at all, apart from it being the one comfort that you’re allowed during this week of misery. The milk is obviously there to replace the fat and calcium that you wouldn’t have otherwise, and although I think it’s likely that you would lose weight on this diet, it’s hardly a sensible long-term eating plan. Quite what they expected you to do after the week was up, I’m not sure: feel smug for a week and then realise you’d put it all back on?
Tags: blatant sexism, diets, dodgy advice, food, health
13th July 2011 / 5 Comments
Woman's Weekly /
2nd April 1965
Right. So this advert’s saying that you can’t attend family events if your hair’s a bit of a state, as if any of your loved ones would really give a damn. Still, Prom does look tempting; after all, you might get flirted with by a camp-looking photographer!
Tags: blatant sexism, dodgy advice, emotional blackmail, perms, Prom
2nd May 2011 / 2 Comments
Woman's Weekly /
20th March 1965
You really can’t, y’know. The NHS say so. The main problem is that it’s cow’s milk, which shouldn’t be given to a baby under 1 year old, due to it not having the correct nutrients and being difficult for a baby to digest. Formula milk IS cow’s milk, but it’s specially treated so it fits a baby’s needs, which I’m pretty sure is more extensive than the milk being in ‘globules’. So this advert was really rather irresponsible! Horray! I found this fascinating article on weaning whilst researching for this post, which details some hair-raising ideas from the not-so-distant past!
Tags: Carnation, dodgy advice, food, health, motherhood
19th December 2010 / 3 Comments
Woman's Realm /
11th March 1967
Starch has been accused of causing weight gain for many years, but there’s not any conclusive evidence for this. As this NHS article says, it’s more likely to be portion sizes that make the difference. The problem with the approach of this ad is the short-termist nature of it, because woman cannot live on Energen alone! My auntie is a perfect case study of someone who periodically dieted by eating virtually nothing but Ryvita (Energen under a different name, really), and then put the weight she lost back on when she came off the diet, because she hadn’t changed the eating habits which put the weight on in the first place. As for the husband who magically loves his wife again because she’s lost a few pounds? Yeah, same old, same old…
Tags: blatant sexism, diets, dodgy advice, Energen, retail
7th October 2010 / No Comments Yet
Woman's Weekly /
4th April 1969
Ah, Susie Orbach would be delighted with this one. The language says it all: “Make this your disappear year!”. Of course, you’re far less likely to want to campaign for equal rights when you’re worried about taking up too much space, with that stupid body of yours. However, while you’re waiting for Bisks to work their magic, remember: most overweight women have beautiful forearms.
Slimming biscuits have been around in some form or another for years, but they don’t deal with the elephant (ahem) in the room: just what happens when you’ve lost the weight and are sick of the sight of them? My aunt is a case in point: going hell for leather powered only on Ryvita isn’t actually an effective healthy eating plan, because, yes, she just puts it all back on once she starts eating normally again.
Tags: blatant sexism, diets, dodgy advice, retail
26th September 2010 / No Comments Yet
Woman's Realm /
11th March 1967
Call me cynical, but isn’t that model’s radiant look less down to PLJ, and more down to the make-up that they’ve plastered all over her? In terms of messages given to women at this time, this ad really does take the biscuit. Not content with persuading women that wearing a nylon strait-jacket and not telling your husband that you dye your hair is normal behaviour, they’re now on at you to look great at 7am. Bastards.
Tags: beauty, blatant sexism, diets, dodgy advice, retail