Whether its Canadian Club or Unilever, the ad world is a pretty hostile place for women. Dare I say things have actually gotten better? The Daily Mail ran a piece today that included print ads from the time before “equality:”
And there is no doubt these adverts - many taken from the first half of the last century - reveal just how much women used to be caricatured as downtrodden housewives or hair-brained office girls.
The ads included in the piece are excerpted from a new collection, You Mean A Woman Can Open It?: The Woman’s Place In The Classic Age Of Advertising, and include some of the worst offenders, mostly appearing pre-1950. For example, this Pitney-Bowes gem:
I want to say times have changed, but this billboard apparently turned up on a roadside in Lockport recently:
The company’s explanation? “I think the mainstream understands it,” (the owner) said. “It’s unfortunate that some people are reading much more into it than they should.”
Us feminists, we just can’t take a joke? Violence against women? Ha Ha?
Oh my, how far we’ve come…
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three comments
That Pitney Bowes ad doesn't even make sense. Buy a Postage Meter because pretty women are...obstinate? I don't get it.
Ah, nothing says happy holidays like murdering your wife!
Posted by Thea
November 28, 2007, 3:20 PM
Oh damn, I shoulda read the Lockport article before I finished commenting.
This quote by the person who owns the cement company is infuriating:
“I told her my wife was fine with it; that my sister-in-law ... is the one who thought of it,” McCabe said. “If you know me, anyone who knows me, knows the intent was not (malicious).”
1) Just because some women thought it up doesn't mean it's not offensive. Come on now, what does your wife's opinions on violence against women have to do with anything?
2) Just because you didn't intend to upset anyone doesn't mean you didn't upset anyone. That argument always boggles my mind - behaving poorly is only really behaving poorly if you intended to behave poorly? Puulease.
Posted by Thea
November 28, 2007, 3:24 PM
Yeah, that Pitney-Bowes ad went right over my head too. Maybe he's all "Listen woman, you're so expendable I could replace you with this postage meter!" and she's all "Hmph, I'd like to see it try and stroke your ego while pouring your martini lunch and making excuses to your wife for you while you gad about with Tina from Personnel!"
Posted by Anna
November 28, 2007, 4:22 PM
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