Dmitriy T.M. and Laura McD. sent in this awesome one-minute clip of 1950s commercials in which men insult their wives’ coffee. There’s something just stunning in the nature of the relationships portrayed. The men seem so entitled to their wives’ service, and so disdainful of her genuine efforts to please him. It’s sad.
Comments 20
Julio A. — September 26, 2011
I had an admittedly immature desire to run with this topic on my own
blog (juliosus.com), since I've found that there's a strange pop culture trend that links
coffee with sex.
jojohaligo — September 26, 2011
"I'll get some at the plant."
Douglas Haddow — September 26, 2011
That video is actually quite hilarious. Are you sure it wasn't satire?
Don Saxton — September 26, 2011
Remember that what they are selling is the fear of what nobody's telling you. Today's deodorant ads are even more direct, "you stink."
Lyttle Bird — September 26, 2011
Am I the only person who had the suspicion that all these men are sublimating their sex lives onto their coffee?
Missdisco — September 27, 2011
"Oh really honey? Mine tastes fine. Maybe it's all the rat poison in yours instead of sugar."
Anonymous — September 27, 2011
Entitlement indeed. "So why don't you make the coffee" doesn't seem to exist in their vocabulary
Ravi M. Singh — September 27, 2011
Sometimes I think Mad Men is exaggerating a bit to get points across about sexism, but if this is actually a real ad, then I think that Mad Men actually tones it down.
I think one thing that stands out, however, is that despite better acting and production values, advertising today hasn't changed a whole lot.
Alisha — September 27, 2011
It made me really nervous when he stood up, put his finger in her face, and said, "So you admit it!"
Larrycharleswilson — September 27, 2011
So, do we have any idea as to which coffee company made these ads? There is definitely one advertising firm behind these ads. Unfortunately I was a teenager in the 1950s and didn't drink coffee and don't have any memory of them.
Coffee - outraging husbands and preventing women's depression since the 50s | Women's Views on News — September 27, 2011
[...] The story highlights a video montage of coffee adverts from the ‘Mad Men’ fifties – yes, they called the series that for a reason – that repeatedly show husbands belittling their wives for their appalling coffee making. [...]
As Equals and as Friends — The Good Men Project — December 17, 2011
[...] less than perfect human beings. Even as recently as the 50s, the “father knows best” mentality was simply a given, so maybe we’re witnessing men who are just angry that they might be treated as less than gods. [...]