If you’ve been following the Founders’ Blog with any regularity, you know that I’m in the process of writing my senior honors thesis. My major (which we call “Concentrations” here at Harvard) is the History of Science. For my thesis, I’m tracing the origins of scientific terminology, imagery, and authority within advertisements targeting women. As such, I’ve been going through some archives of old advertisements a lot lately. I found a lot of REALLY interesting ads (disclaimer: I realize that I’m a huge history nerd and as such, I know that what I find interesting may not necessarily be interesting to all) and I thought I would share some with you.
Turns out, one of the main themes of ads in the 1930s-1950s was “you’re not married because…” or “you don’t have a boyfriend because…” or “you’re going to be alone forever because…”
Essentially, these ads played upon the insecurities of women regarding finding a boyfriend/potential husband. Guess what girls – that insecurity has been around a LONG time! Here are some ads to prove it.
All images are from the Duke University Ad*Access Archive http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adaccess/