Extremely sexist classic advertisements
The world has changed a lot in the past 60 years or so; all you have to do is look at an episode of Mad Men in order to understand how different things really are now. I am not that old, but I certainly do remember that the difference in the sexes were handled very differently than they are today. These days it is difficult to imagine that anyone would be able to make an advertisement that even suggests that one sex has a difference to another (some people get upset when people say that there are only 2 sexes or that you can't choose your sex - which I think is nuts)
Anyway, I stumbled upon some vintage advertisements in an antique store of sorts yesterday and it sparked a conversation between myself and an old friend and I figured I'd share a few classic advertisements with you. I assure you, every single one of these is real.
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This ad would outrage people a lot of reasons today. I think it is funny because the mentality back in the day wasn't just that women were sexy and a bit dumb, but also that it was totally acceptable to smoke pretty much anywhere. Even when I was a kid in the 80's I recall video game arcades, which were mostly visited by kids, being equipped with ashtrays attached to everything. I would be playing a game and someone older would just be smoking right next to me and a bunch of other young people as well.
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This one nicely personifies a lot of what happens in Mad Men. Women simply didn't get jobs of any level of importance back in the early 1900's and that was just the way it was. Even as late as the late 80's / early 90's boys and girls were prepped for certain futures with classes like Home Economics or Shop Class. I always took Home Economics because I would be the only male in the class and it was a great way to get dates. :P
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I can't even imagine the outrage that something like this would inspire in people even though it is generally accepted by sane people that for the most part men are in fact stronger than women. It's funny though. I love the woman's expression in the photo... "Holy crap I can open ketchup now!"
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Believe it or not, even as late as the 70's it was extremely rare to have a friend whose family didn't function in a "Dad goes to work, and mom takes care of the house and kids" type way. My house was that way and so was everyone else that I knew. I didn't meet ANYONE with a single parent household until I was in 7th grade and it was very confusing to me that someone would live only with their mother.
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This one is going back a very long way to the time of one of the World Wars I would imagine. While I was not alive I have heard that this was actually a very widespread notion and that it was kind of an instrumental step in the right direction as far as women's rights were concerned. Virtually all of the working-class men in America were away on military service and companies still needed workers - and women stepped up to the plate!
I hope you found those as amusing as I did. I think it is a bit of a history lesson as well. If any of this offends you, you need to get your triggering in check. It was a very different time nearly 100 years ago and who knows what sort of advertising or global worldview we will have in the 2100's!
It's not really that the ads themselves are sexist, it's more the fact that women were always portrayed in these roles and not men.
I think society would be better off today if families could afford for one parent to stay home. Not that it has to be the woman of course.
i would gladly elect to be the one that stays at home. Bill Burr has some funny comedy about this topic "If you can do your job in front of a the TV in sweatpants, it isn't a hard job"
I wouldn't go so far as to say staying at home is necessarily the easier job, especially when multiple kids are involved. It depends on what the alternative is I suppose. But what is really hard is having to work a full time job AND take care of the kids, cooking, cleaning, etc. If no kids are involved, that's another story.
I am happy to see that @cryptoandcoffee commented on this because he has been sharing old and controversial ads on weekends for a while now. It is really interesting how things have changed so much. To think people used to even smoke on planes. These days you actually have to pay extra to have a cigarette lighter and ash tray in your vehicle when you buy them.
well even when i was a smoker i didn't smoke in my car or my house. I think that most smokers can agree that yes, it does smell bad.
It was fun to see all these ads (No intention of offending anyone). Fortunately we have come a long way, at least in many parts of the world, so this is really a history lesson as you said and should not trigger someone at this point (someone normal)
It is amazing how the thought process has changed and to be fair it wasn't that long ago either. Women were viewed as just extras in those days doing the bit around the house making sure the man was looked after. When i first got married my wife wanted to be a housewife looking after the kids and I was happy with that. I think my children benefited having a full time mom around during the early years. Obviously we sacrificed an income in order to do this.
I saw an article the other day that households where both parents work actually end up (on average) making less money than if one of them simply stayed home and looked after the house/ family. This is difficult to fathom really seeing as how everyone definitely lives beyond their means in today's consumer culture.
When i was young my father was a mid-level manager at a telecom company and while we didn't have the best stuff and even had hand-me-down and yard sale clothes, it was necessary because we were on a budget. It all worked out in the end though. I think families just need to be smarter with their finances... IE you cant just have everything and go out to eat all the time.
It ended up teaching me good life skills though because I had a paper route and worked on the weekends at a football stadium selling popcorn in the stands to buy my video games. It let me know that nothing is free... you gotta work for it.
Sadly, i think most of those youth employment opportunities would no longer be legal thanks to the deterioration of society in general.