6th May 2010 / 3 Comments
Woman's Realm /
11th March 1967
This ad attracted me because of the little illustrations around the text, but what struck me about this was the way that Shredded Wheat was marketed then the same way as Shreddies are now, i.e. keeping your loved one full until lunch. It’s especially interesting that the tone is the same as well, because Shreddies are aimed at children, continuing the trend we’ve seen in some ads that husbands were to be looked after just like you would a child. Given that Shredded Wheat is now marketed as a product which is good for your heart, it’s a bit weird to see the serving suggestion ‘lots of milk’n sugar’! Let’s hope the little diddums got off to work all right!
Tags: blatant sexism, food, marriage, retail
21st April 2010 / 4 Comments
Woman and Home /
1st January 1962
Wow, so much hilarity in one advert. Firstly, a brand of bog roll called ‘Bronco’, and secondly, the idea that men were scared to talk about toilet tissue. Really? Would it not be more accurate to state that they probably didn’t care that much? I have no idea how pleasant this product was, but from the picture, I wouldn’t mind speculating that ‘Bronco’ referred to the way you walked after using it. It gave me ‘fond’ memories of ‘Izal’…
Tags: blatant sexism, dodgy advice, marriage, retail, social history
22nd March 2010 / 4 Comments
Woman's Own /
14th July 1967
I’m trying to work out what the message of this ad is. I’m drawing a blank so far. Are they trying to tell women that buying After Eight mints will turn them into middle-class bores?
Tags: After Eights, blatant sexism, confusing, food, marriage, retail
23rd January 2010 / 3 Comments
Woman's Weekly /
9th March 1957
Because, y’know, a bit of rough skin might damage them irreversibly, or something. All part of the rather depressing message sent to women that they not also had to work all the day long in the house, but they couldn’t show any symptoms of having done so, because reality might upset not only their husband, but their children as well.
Tags: adverts totally made of wrong, blatant sexism, emotional blackmail, marriage, motherhood, retail, social history
12th December 2009 / 5 Comments
Woman's Weekly /
2nd August 1957
Crikey, this is the advertising equivalent of shouting “GET ON WITH YOUR BLOODY WORK AND STOP MOANING!” in some poor woman’s face. Note that no-one’s casting doubt on whether the husband’s the same man she married, probably because, well, yes, he IS: because when he got married, all he did was swap his mum for his wife, with regular sex as an added extra. And if his wife wasn’t happy with that? Well, it must be HER fault…
Tags: adverts totally made of wrong, blatant sexism, dodgy advice, emotional blackmail, marriage, retail, Sanatogen
28th November 2009 / 2 Comments
Woman's Own /
21st March 1969
“You can’t feed a family without breaking eggs.” I think vegan families may beg to differ, but I chose this ad because I thought it was visually striking, as well as being amusing in itself. I miss all these marketing boards for food staples; the leek pie ad was placed by the Flour Marketing Board.
Tags: blatant sexism, Egg Marketing Board, eggs, emotional blackmail, food, marriage, motherhood, social history
26th November 2009 / 8 Comments
Woman's Own /
21st March 1969
Oh my. Don’t you just love the sorts of adverts which patronise women horribly, whilst being under the impression they’re doing them a favour? Reading this advert, you wouldn’t have thought that women in the UK have actually been driving since around WW1, although, to be fair, I do remember my mother telling me that ‘women didn’t drive’ when she was growing up. I’m particularly tickled by the idea that, because housewives were coping with more complex domestic gadgets by 1969, they were better equipped to tackle a big scary car. You can’t fault the moral “a washing machine today – the family chauffeur tomorrow!”, either. Oh. Sorry. You can.
Tags: blatant sexism, BSM, marriage, motherhood, motoring, retail
21st November 2009 / 9 Comments
Wow. Although I’m very happy bringing you the best/worst of advertising from my own collection, the Times have displayed a collection of images from blogs who are focusing on outrageously sexist adverts. My favourite is the Lysol advert, which made me cover my lady parts in horror, especially when the ad talked about alternative ‘remedies’, like salt. Salt?! Enjoy, gentle readers…
Tags: adverts totally made of wrong, blatant sexism, dodgy advice, emotional blackmail, marriage, retail
13th November 2009 / 7 Comments
Woman's Weekly /
26th July 1957
Yes, no wonder John grumbled, when he was used to women looking after him all day from birth. Why would he understand how tiring housework actually was pre-white goods, when he never had to do it? Luckily, Lucozade is marketed as a sports energy drink nowadays: for BOTH sexes.
Tags: adverts totally made of wrong, blatant sexism, emotional blackmail, Lucozade, marriage, retail
1st November 2009 / 2 Comments
Woman's Own /
29th September 1967
Here’s another agony aunt: this time, Mary Grant of Woman’s Own. Obviously there’s around 10 years difference between this page and Mary Marryat’s, but there’s a definite difference in tone with Mary Grant, and I like her a lot more. Her advice to the poor woman being hounded to have more children (I wonder if her husband would have the same opinion if he had to carry the child and give birth to it?) is sound, with her advice to just about everyone else on the page also fair and level-headed. In the context of the time, her advice to the last writer does make sense, although nowadays, thankfully, the writer would be freer to leave a man who was treating her badly and to sort out her life. In 1967, it was very difficult indeed to be a single mother.
Tags: marriage, Mary Grant, motherhood, pregnancy, problem page, social history, teenagers