Thursday, September 12, 2013

The "tiny" world of the 1961 housewife


This 1961 Boston Globe ad by BBDO stars a certain Pat White as the saddest housewife I have ever seen in an ad:



The weird part of it is that she's supposed to be fulfilled by this isolated existence, but when she says "I wouldn't change a single peanut butter and jelly sandwich of it" you expect her to head for the medicine cabinet for some phenobarbital.

Instead, she pours a cup of tea and opens the Globe, to be reminded that there is a great big world out there. One she can only read about, briefly, before returning to the soul-deadening housework.

Sure, times have changed. But not for everyone. Jezebel just ran a post today about some place called "Fix The Family" that thinks women should not go to college/university because "If we look COMPREHENSIVELY at the Catholic doctrine, we’ll see very little that promotes a woman working outside the home" (ALLCAPS not mine)

You've come a long way, maybe?

Tip via AdAge

3 comments:

  1. Christians love ALLCAPS. It makes everything they say RIGHT.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks like this calls for a long debate.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We Brits did a better job with the sexism in this Kellogg's ad from the 1950s. It's unintentionally hilarious and the husband comes across as a right cock.

    http://youtu.be/7admT4qE5v4

    ReplyDelete