A while back Yvette sent us a vintage ad for a children’s laxative that was posted over at Boing Boing. It’s a great example of changing expectations of parenting, disciplining children, and parental anger. In the ad, the mom and dad are arguing because the dad wants to use a hairbrush to spank his son, who is apparently crying because he doesn’t want to take a nasty-tasting laxative:
Transcript of dialogue:
“Don’t let daddy lick me again!” An old, old problem solved in an up-to-date way.
1. Mother: Oh, John, why don’t you let him alone? He’s only a child.
Father: Well, somebody has to make him listen to reason.
2. Mother: That’s the first time I ever heard of a hairbrush being called “reason”!
Father: Look! Let’s settle this right now! He needs that stuff and he’s going to take it whether he likes the taste or not!
3. Mother: That’s right, Mr. Know-it-all — get him all upset and and leave it for me to straighten him out.
Father: Aw, don’t get yourself in a stew!
4. Mother: I’m not! All I know is that Doris Smith used to jam a bad-tasting laxative down her boy’s throat until her doctor put a stop to it. He said it could do more harm than good!
Father: Then what laxative can we give him?
5. Mother: The one Doris uses — not an “adult” laxative, but one made only for children…Fletcher’s Castoria. It’s mild, yet effective. It’s safe, and Doris’ boy loves it!
Father: OK. I’ll run down to the druggist and get a bottle. But boy, he better like it!
6. Mother: Would you believe it? I never saw a spoonful of medicine disappear so fast!
The mom wins out, and clearly spanking the boy isn’t being advocated. But the company felt perfectly comfortable presenting a dad as angry and even aggressive, and in need of calming from his wife to avoid him spanking his child with a household item, yet still a perfectly good dad once Mom had intervened and fixed the immediate problem, returning family harmony.
Given increased attention to issues such as child abuse and domestic violence, and changes in expectations of parenting that have replaced the “father as nothing but breadwinner and strict disciplinarian” role, many viewers today would likely interpret the narrative in the ad (not to mention the line “Don’t let Daddy lick me again!”) as inherently problematic, not as a taken-for-granted commentary on family life and the need for helpful products to smooth over domestic conflicts.
Comments 45
kutsuwamushi — July 10, 2011
The mom wins out, and clearly spanking the boy isn’t being advocated.
An important point - the mom wins out only because the advertised product was more palatable to the boy, and the boy behaved by taking it. Had the boy refused the new laxative too, the dad would have beat the boy with the hairbrush regardless of the mom's opinion. He's the final authority on household discipline.
Cocojams Jambalayah — July 10, 2011
This ad's caption is also quite dated because of more information about pedophilia, and the other common definition for the word "lick".
Legolewdite — July 10, 2011
Violent patriarchy - one more reason not to be nostalgic.
Anonymous — July 10, 2011
Also worth noting: the (apparently routine?) need for medicinal products to smooth out gastrointestinal tracts.
Natalie Red Morse-Noland — July 10, 2011
Another thing that's changed since then is the idea that you should regularly give your kid laxatives. That seems... unnecessary.
Guest — July 10, 2011
This ad seems like a Freudian's dream -- forced regulation of bowel habits (the idea of laxatives for kids was a Victorian one, thought to stem masturbation urges), threats of beating on the buttocks (using the slang term "lick," as well), and triadic struggle between child and parents over oral pleasure (pleasant versus unpleasant medicine).
C — July 10, 2011
So when your kids are constipated, you're supposed to beat the crap out of them?
Ned Trifle — July 11, 2011
3. Mother: That’s right, Mr. Know-it-all — get him all upset and and leave it for me to straighten him out
- Oh, I hear you, mum from the past!
BillyT — July 11, 2011
Does everyone really think that this type of behaviour is dead and buried? Just change the date and subject matter and there you have it. Shouldn't still be this way but probably more prevalent than we think. And jeez, Freud and dictionary definitions in context?
Michael Nilsen — July 11, 2011
A Hairbrush Called Reason
Dara Grey — July 12, 2011
When I first saw this over at BoingBoing my first response was "OMG pedobear, what kind of father licks his children? that's incredibly creepy."
Only later did it dawn on me that they mean "licking = beating".
Anonymous — August 6, 2011
Perfect rememberance of growing up in the 50's! But, there was no going to Mom, as she was holding my legs as Dad licked my bare butt cheeks with the wooden brush, and then his halved belt!
N M — January 3, 2013
This ad is far more progressive than most posting here have acknowledged. The mother is clearly challenging unquestioned male authority, corporal punishment, and insensitive treatment of children in general (i.e. forcing a foul tasting adult laxative down their throats). Hence, if the child had continued to resist the laxative, the mother probably would have tried to come up with another nonaggressive solution rather than allowing the father to use the hairbrush on his son.
The reason why so many here insist that the ad is enforcing a patriarchal world view may be because our ideas of the 1950s are too reductive--we see it as noting but repressive and backward. Hence, even when we come across material that challenges this narrow view, we automatically assume that it too is really just enforcing patriarchal norms. (Also, truth be told, it can be fun to get smug and judgmental of the backwardness of the past.) Any era is more complex than this, however.