Retro Dee is a regular contributor to The Grooveyard’s website, writing about music, fashion and other trends of the 1950s. Check out her blog, Retro Dee’s Guide to the Best Era Ever here, and her column here every week.
Hi folks and Welcome to “Slogans From The 50’s You’d Never Hear Now”.
The 1950’s were a very different time. Life back then was far less complicated and people’s goals and ideals were much different from what was to come. This could not be more evident in the advertising slogans of the day.
For this Episode of “Slogans from the 50’s You’d Never Hear Now”, we’ll be looking at an ad that some of us today might consider “offensive”. This ad has been around the internet for a while and is a prime example of the difference between today’s world and the 1950’s world.
Are you ready? Okay. This advertisement for Van Heusen ties says:
“Show Her It’s A Man’s World”
Uh oh, okay, don’t freak out. At least, don’t blame me because I wasn’t even born yet. This ad is undeniably misogynistic and definitely shows some of the weaker aspects of that time period. Of course, we’d never see something like this after the 1970’s Women’s Lib era, but in the 1950’s, it was, more or less, “a man’s world”.
I’m not exactly a feminist myself, and even I don’t like this ad. But still, I think we’re looking at it differently today from the way folks were looking at it then. The man as the boss in a household, was completely normal in those days. It was the way society was set up. Men earned the wages and made the rules while women took care of the family, including their husbands. In fact, the ad says “tell her it’s a man’s world and make her so happy it is!” Serving your husband was not considered being his slave, it was actually a positive gesture and a sign of nurturing and affection. It was a normal duty of the typical, average housewife. Of course, the typical, average housewife in those days was limited, and therefore unable to do things that women of the next generations were allowed to do- such as have her own career.
In my humble opinion, the idea of the 1950’s housewife all comes down to the individual. Many women see it as a degrading, boring life that they wouldn’t want. But some women (including myself) like the idea of being homemakers and taking care of the family while the man is the provider. Just because the idea is considered “old fashioned”, doesn’t make it wrong.
Well folks, the bottom line of this post is that no matter how this ad makes you feel or doesn’t make you feel, there’s no denying that we’d never, ever see this kind of slogan today.
Thank you for reading this post!
For more, stay tuned and please follow Retro Dee’s Guide to the Best Era Ever on WordPress.
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