The Shocking Way 1960s Ads Targeted Housewives

Some have called the 1960s the consumer decade. There was a substantive increase in consumer products and we all seem to have the money to buy them. Advertising sold us all kinds of stuff. And it followed trends including the substantive rise of women in the workplace with “their own money to spend.” As my subscribers know, I collect media not only that I participated in making but also that I feel expresses something interesting about the decades in which I have lived. I made television commercials from time to time but wasn't very good at it. Documentaries, real people, is what fascinated and still fascinates me. This clip presents a sales pitch to women that I see as the furthest thing from reality. My recollection is that these 1960 pushy consumer commercials worked especially on young women. Possibly this type of commercialism is one of the things that provoked the women's movement of the early 1970s. Also I didn't know any women who behaved anything like the way these women behave in this lengthy commercial. One wonders who they were intending it for and how they showed it to them as it is longer than a normal television commercial. In the 1960s, television advertising was a powerful tool for reinforcing traditional gender hierarchies. While technology for the home was rapidly advancing, the way these products were sold to women differed fundamentally from how products were marketed to men. The core difference lay in the perceived domain of authority. Advertising for women centered almost exclusively on the home and family. Women were depicted as "pathologically obsessed with cleanliness" or as "Mrs. Consumer," whose primary job was to keep a perfect household. Technology in the kitchen was sold as a tool for female emancipation—promising that a new oven or washing machine would grant "lashings of hot water" and ease the "drudgery" of housework. Men were rarely shown in the home. Instead, they were depicted in professional settings or as the financial decision-makers. Even when an ad was for a home product like electricity or a major appliance, it often targeted the man as the "investor" while the woman was shown as the "end-user" who would benefit from the ease it provided. Primary Goal a woman's advertising was to serve and placate the family; avoid "excuses" for poor meals. To provide, succeed professionally, and be "rewarded" at home. Often "frilly," verbose, or metaphor-heavy (e.g., "Magic Carpet" vacuums). Simplistic, blunt, and focused on status or technical performance. Ads suggested women were responsible for the health and happiness of the family. Status/Victimhood: Men were often shown as "victims" of a long workday who deserved "tender hugs" and perfect meals upon return. Interestingly, while kitchen technology was sold as a way to save time, it often served to reinforce the "Feminine Mystique." Research suggests that television of the era—including commercials and sitcoms like Bewitched—depicted women performing housework manually or obsessively to "fill the time" and combat boredom, effectively expanding domestic tasks to match the new technology's efficiency. If my video clips interest you and you would like to support my efforts to make more, please become a patron (www.patreon.com/allinaday). And let me know by leaving a comment whether you think advertising to women today is more meaningful then this was back then.