Today's post is a diversion from the blog's
usual fare as I'm serving up unsettling nostalgia
with vintage sexist ads that may shock you,
depending on your birth year.
The vintage 1967 ad for baby oil above, urging us to
usual fare as I'm serving up unsettling nostalgia
with vintage sexist ads that may shock you,
depending on your birth year.
The vintage 1967 ad for baby oil above, urging us to
slather on the stuff for a deeper tan is craptastic for a
variety of reasons, yet this post won't be a feminist rant,
a scholarly commentary on sexist sins of advertising's past,
or the twenty ways to be offended by each ad
(though I can't resist a few cheeky responses in the captions!).
Let's view the this walk down memory lane
more as a wakeup call, since we sometimes recall
the good ol' days with fond recollections
of wholesome sweetness while framing
today's culture somewhere between steady
moral decline and 'going to hell in a handbasket.'
Something I noticed collecting these vintage ads?
Offensive though they be, they all tend to
possess a directness in regards to the message.
"Consume this to be more irresistible,
have less pain, and have more happiness"
is still often the central message in today's ads,
yet now they are designed by social scientists
to more subtly act upon the psyche...
with any sexism
more cleverly buried.
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| Girrrrl, I wore this fragrance! Did you? |
Let's explore lame historical ads
with an appreciation for:
present victories for women,
strides made in equality and multiculturalism,
and our culture's evolving consciousness...
while there's work to do be done,
it can be encouraging to occasionally
glance back at obstacles we have overcome.
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| What a contrast! |
Meet me and Serena at the finish line, and do share
what thoughts bubble up as you recall
how these messages in media affected
you then and now.
If you comment, I'd love to know your age,
if you don't mind including it!
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| Not for cramps. Not for your ability to function. For a feathered guy in Madras. |
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| Words every girl dreams of leaving her handsome dentist's lips. |
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| Look closely and then be killed directly in the face. |
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| I confess I loved these TV commercials...anyone remember: "You can try HARD or you can try soft?" where we were encouraged to let the boys win and to stop being so assertive? |
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| My generation did not wear girdles until a big brand disguised them as disco-attire. |
it makes up for it with cluelessness.
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| Before my time for sure, yet in the suburbs of Chicago in the early 70s, it was not uncommon to spy a toddler swigging Mountain Dew from a Playtex nurser (that's a baby bottle, kids). |
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| Sweet Cozy Moses on a wafflecone with a 19" waist. |
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| What do you despise more...giant collars or "I totally lack a brain" expression? |
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| More importantly...what creature laid those disturbingly large eggs? |
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| Am I being encouraged not to read? |
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| Inquiring minds must know: how did they ever get John John to model this super special atrocity, and how many were sold? |
Wow.
How do you suppose future generations
will someday discuss current ads?
Think they will be incredulous to our
superficiality, obsessions, consumption,
cruelty, or greed?
Can't wait to hear your thoughts,
about this vintage roundup!
Peace to you right where you are.
