I feel like we are stuck with the idea that nowadays our advertisements are a whole new kind of sexist. However, taking a look at these vintage ads you see that they not only were just as bad they had more words and blatant explanations of how it was a mans world. Is it better that our ads today hold more implied stereotyping and gender stratification?
The ads presented are about things that have nothing to do with men and women, yet, they are turned into male dominated scenes of power and even violence.
The first ad shows a man spanking a woman because she didn't buy the right kind of coffee. On top of that it is the woman's face -looking mildly pleased and shocked- that you see in the ad and the man's raised hand.
Another ad shows a woman on her knees in a robe serving her husband who is fully dressed. The caption above the picture is "show her it's a man's world" it's an ad for ties... today if we see an ad for ties it is usually on a fully dressed man occasionally there are half naked women surrounding him or they are in a sexual/ seductive position implying the same thing that this old ad is but it is better that it is left unsaid?
As for childhood sexuality there is a cosmetic ad featuring what looks like a painting of a 12 year-old child looking at the viewer with a seductive gaze. The ad reads "Love's baby soft. Because innocence is sexier than you think." hmmm. Again, is it better to have 12 year-olds dressed to look like they are older than they are without explicitly stating their age?
The old ad looks as if it appeals to men who are more interested in middle school girls rather than those their own age. Are there any ads like that today?
the rest of the ads are pretty self explanatory and all are shocking devaluing women and reinforcing the idea that "it's a man's world"
While I know these ads were not in as many magazines as we see today and the message they sent did not infiltrate as many types of media as those we see today. But, the idea was there and explicitly stated there was no dancing around the idea that men were (or still are) believed to be better than women.
Has the ad world changed more today just because there are not words explicitly stating that fact that it's a man's world or that it is a woman's job to cook and clean?
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