Feminist Perspective on Depression-Era Advertisements

     Following the Stock Market Crash of 1929, companies were fighting to entice the public to continue buying merchandise. Any form of money was a precious commodity, so people did not want to spend it frivolously. However, every company was attempting to persuade consumers to spend any spare pennies on everyday products. Through print advertisements companies could reach the public in newspapers or magazines, but these advertisements lost their luster in the shadow of the radio. The "Golden Age of Radio" was throughout the 1930's due to the rise in the purchase of cheaper radios, and it was a quick form of communication.  

     For my analysis, I looked at the two, print advertisements (pictured above) from the early 1930's that targeted feminine roles during the Great Depression. At first, I looked at the message portrayed on the surface of each advertisement. The advertisement on the left focused on the Thor Table Ironer providing simplicity (for women) in a household. Below the description of the ironer there is a bold, low price for a weekly rent of the product. A featured low price was essential to have in a print advertisement because it drew people to look at the product and determine whether they could spend their spare money on it. The advertisement on the right was released in 1933, and features a woman stating that her body image determined whether men paid attention to her or not. The product being sold is not the woman, but Ironized Yeast tablets which were sold as dietary supplements. Each advertisement poses an issue with regards to feminist perspective, as well as, offering some positive points to uncover. 

     Feminist perspectives seek to decipher why dominant ideology favors men and masculine perspective over women and feminine perspective. The first advertisement has has strong, patriarchal undertones that are hard not to miss. The man in the advertisement, Santa Clause, is smiling down upon the woman ironing, but almost in a dominating way. Also, he overshadows her in size and dominates the top half of the advertisement. The woman is put at a lower level than the man and is the only one who utilizes the iron. Nonetheless, the advertisement does not directly call out women. The pronoun "you" is utilized in the advertisement to entice men to consider why they might need the iron. The "No More Skinny Girl" advertisement depicts women as objects for men's pleasure according to the radical feminist perspective. Also, this advertisement points out heteronormativity in this era of time. The woman is not speaking about looking good to attract a woman, but looking attractive enough for a man. Granted, during this time there were zero advertisements produced for the general public that promoted any other type of relationship. A positive of this advertisement is that it does promote women being of fuller figure and embracing a natural body type, even though the means to get the body is not so natural. 

     Altogether, these advertisements were very enticing to the public during the Great Depression. From the low prices to the instant results, it was inevitable that these products would sell. Today, I do feel like we can take a couple lessons from these advertisements. Mainly the points having to do with encouraging women to be themselves, whether that means being proud of their bodies or encouraging men to look at "women's jobs" and seeing how they can take part.