Woman's Weekly / 11th April 1969
So there you are. The Flour Advisory Bureau are suggesting that if you don’t feed your kids bread, you’re a bad mother. At least pseudo-sciency bullshit used to be more clearly attributable back in 1969…
Tags: emotional blackmail, Flour Advisory Bureau, food, kids
Woman's Weekly / 4th April 1969
We’ve already got an advert from the Cheese Bureau on here, but I couldn’t resist this one. She doesn’t even look fat! What this ad fails to mention is that cheese has a fat content, so may not be the ideal slimming food at all…
Tags: blatant sexism, cheese, Cheese Bureau, dodgy advice, food, health, kids
Woman's Realm / 18th March 1967
Yep, just a nostalgia-fest this afternoon, I’m afraid. I remember an Eighties variant of this measuring machine that was automatic. As it closed around my young foot, I remember not being at all sure about the whole idea.
Woman's Realm / 6th October 1967
I have to say, out of the many fab adverts I’ve found in the course of doing this site, the ice cream ones are probably my favourite. I adore the packaging, and the sight of all those artificial colourings and flavourings are so evocative of my childhood. Yum!
Tags: food, ice cream, kids, Lyons Maid, retail
Woman's Realm / 11th March 1967
Chances are that if you’re around my age, this ad will bring back memories of similar ‘cut out and dress’ games in, say, Bunty. Do little girls do this any more, or are they too busy putting their Lelli Kelly slap on?
Woman's Realm / 11th March 1967
Erm…I’m stunned. For foreign or younger readers, the Minipops was a short-lived UK show with children dancing and signing, often dressed to be a bit older than they really were, so they’d look like the acts they were taking off. It was unsurprisingly taken off the air once questions were raised in the media about the ethics of the show. This ad seems to come from the same sort of mindset, and surely wouldn’t make it into print nowadays, even though it’s clearly meant in an innocent way. However, it’s only fair to point out the hysteria over paedophilia sits uncomfortably with some of the clothes and toys marketed at young girls in the UK, so we’re probably more confused over children’s sexuality now than we were back then.
Tags: adverts totally made of wrong, fashion, kids, misplaced morality, retail, social history
Woman's Weekly / 11th March 1967
This advert wins on two counts: a) the cute kids, and b) teaching us what the name ‘Club’ originally referred to.
Tags: food, kids, retail, social history
Woman's Own / 14th July 1967
Don’t you just love emotional blackmail? This instructive ad, which includes the famous Fay Weldon line “Go to work on an egg.”, also includes the line “…children who start the day with a proper cooked protein breakfast feel, look and behave so much better than those who don’t.” This reminded me of the famous line from Brass Eye: “That is scientific fact. There’s no real evidence for it, but it is scientific fact.”
Although some studies have certainly found that breakfast is beneficial for overall health, there’s no suggestion that a cooked protein breakfast is necessary. If you’re interested in what you should eat for breakfast, take a look at the British Dietetic Association’s advice.
Tags: blatant sexism, emotional blackmail, food, kids, motherhood
Woman and Home / 1st January 1962
Great ad: shame that it’s for suet. If you don’t know what suet is, here’s the Wikipedia entry. Blegh. Also, I have NEVER heard of ‘hard sauce’, and was fascinated by the ‘Robin Hood Roll’ being called ‘Quorn Roll’ when Quorn is now a well-known meat substitute.
Tags: Atora, blatant sexism, cooking, food, kids, motherhood, retail, social history
Woman / 17th August 1973
Kellogg’s have suggested recipes to consumers of Rice Krispies for years, but this is the first example of activities I’ve seen them suggest without using the famous cereal. The recipe suggestions continue up to the present day on their website, but it’s a shame they’ve turned Snap, Crackle and Pop into such annoying twats on the US version.
Tags: food, Kelloggs, kids, motherhood, retail