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Vintage Ad Sexism
If you like this, check out:
Colour hi-res photographs of London, 1940s- Vintage Playgrounds
The Romanov Family Albums- Mike the Headless chicken
Vintage Car Wrecks
Duelling with Wax Bullets, New York, 1909
Colour photographs of Edwardians- Old Spice Commercial, 1957
- 'Help Stamp Out Quackery', 1950s
Miniature Hell in 3D, 1860s- 'We call it a Penril Modem'
Steampunk Leather Masks- Amazing Mystery Button
- 'La Famille et l'Alcool' c.1900
- 'Man's Life' Magazine, 1950s
Advertising has come a long way, baby !
Extraordinary. Gives the lie to the idea that the past was a more innocent age, and that advertisers once didn’t go for the hard sell. It was ever thus…
This is one of my favorites in this very HUGE category:
Oh god, the Palmolive one! :0
Just in case anybody doesn’t know this one, interesting factoid: Lysol douches were primarily marketed as contraceptives (rather than terrifying vag-stank modifiers), so the text of those ads is mostly wink-wink nudge-nudge don’t get knocked up code. That’s why they talk so much more about doubt or fear that plagues you or your husband and keeps you from being intimate, rather than talking about how feminine you ought to be. Though any old-timey douche ad that talks about “germs” is actually coded talk about sperm.
Oh my word! Some of those are shockers!
OMG! They were making me sick – can’t believe our mothers were fed that crap and probably believed it Thanks for the great collection to make me appreciate what I have and didn’t even know.
Thanks so much for the explanation, Marie. I was sitting here completely flabbergasted by the horror of past generation’s gender wide va jay jay issues. What you said makes sense.
I am so very thankful for Susan B Anthony.
Oh. My. God. Just shows how far we’ve come – and how far we’ve still got to go.
I wonder how tomorrow’s generations will view the advertising and other media we accept as the norm today?
There’s already some discussion about the sexualisation of women and children in the media, so perhaps tomorrow’s society will be more conservative about ouvert sexuality, and think it is bizarre and disgusting that Lady Gaga used to walk around wearing barely anything.
Perhaps that’s enough twittering for one day.
wOW. I don’t quite want to live in that world. But when I look at the “Evolution of cheerleaders” post, I’m not so sure I like where this one is headed, either.
http://howtobearetronaut.com/2011/06/the-evolution-of-cheerleader/
Wow.
It sure is amazing how things used to be! I sure as heck didn’t like those ads, and women today wouldn’t go for something like that to be published in present day magazines!.. Definitely shows you where today’s modern woman stands…. I sure as heck don’t live to cook, polish anybody’s shoes, or live to spend my days to clean…. Women are so much more than that now…. Glad that I wasn’t a part of that world…
Lysol as a douche? Yuck! It’s sad that women were seen in this way for so very long, sadder still that some people still see them this way.
tnx God now is different situation
I’ve seen most of these before, but I have to say, the Lysol-as-douche gives me the collywobbles every time. Lysol is good for a number of things, but *there* is the LAST place I’d put it!
These are so horrid that they’re funny, but I’m a bit concerned that some of the comment-writers seem to think that present-day adds are free of sexism. Hardly.
“Ads,” rather.
Note the nice, empty thought bubble in the Hoover ad. Also, the Heinz one note how far they have come “MOST men don’t beat women anymore”….
We havent come far at all. We used to be good for housework and now we’re only good for sex. What’s the difference?
OK, I’ve looked at that ‘DANGER: Women’s suffrage would double the irresponsible vote’ for a while now and I cannot see any way that CAN’T be tongue-in-cheek (and taking the mickey out of blokes who might dare to vote yes). Unless it was written by a woman wanting to see how many men she could make idiots of? If it is suggesting that women shouldn’t be given the vote because they will ALL vote ‘irresponsibly’…then given that women make up about half the population, the only way giving them the vote is going to ‘double the irresponsible vote’ is if everyone who already has the vote (ie. men), is ALREADY voting irresponsibly.
Unless of course, I’m really tired and I’ve got the wrong end of the stick entirely!
Ha! Great point, Christina!
I am also amazed that women would use Lysol as a douche. Although re-reading the ad with the idea of preventing pregnancy does open up a whole new realm!
“sources of objectionable odor” – yes, that would be kids!
I thank the world for Margaret Sanger!
Anyone else see the unintended irony of the women’s suffrage ad? It would “double irresponsible vote”–I guess that makes the existing male votes irresponsible, too.
Those ads are bloody disgusting! Terrible! I for one would love to live in a matriarch and see the tables turned (for the better)!
Plase excuss my English but i donot understand what wrong whith these ads ???. Here in Kazakhstani wife be greatfull to get hoover of beirthday. If one of my wifes burn Braziere i make her make nuw one with sowing machine she hav with other wifes !. Wife in Kazakhstani gretfull for things husband by for her not like American wife.
It is quite clear that some of these ads are manipulated to get reactions like some of the ones i am reading above !. Look at the Hoover ad and you can clearly see the empty speach bubble above her head has been drawing on a computer!. The same with the text on the Kenwood chef ad. The lines between men and women are much more clouded these days, hell i work full time,cook,clean,iron, empty the bins,bath my 3 kids,read them their bedtime story,HOOVER!!! and thats just the start of the list
. Silly comments like
‘Those ads are bloody disgusting! Terrible! I for one would love to live in a matriarch and see the tables turned (for the better)!’ do not help.
That was your mum/grans war not yours and believe me women won that war as ever self respecting man i know does his share or more than around the house ( doesn’t mean i enjoy it though LOL)
Plenty of ads these days continually make men look like stupid “funny” buffoons, and in my view is the New Sexism.