This ad’s unabashed assertion that a mushroom cloud can have a “silver lining” reminds me of our posts on the evolution of the word “atomic” and Miss Atomic Bomb (1957).
Via Vintage Ads.
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Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Jamy B. snapped this photo of an ad for a U.S. Army “live action” show in the D.C. metro:
The show is called “Spirit of America” and the slogan along the top reads: “Celebrate the spirit, strength and history of our nation!” The inclusion of a white woman and a black man alongside what appears to be a white man, suggests that the ad-makers want us to understand that the “spirit of America” involves racial and gender inclusiveness. Of course, this is in contrast to historical fact. Being “patriotic,” I guess, means erasing historical injustices.
Frankly, I have some sympathy for the promoters of this event. Inclusiveness is a nice idea. Unfortunately, they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place in trying to bring together ideology and reality.
NEW! Simon H. sent in a British poster (found at Free Market Fairy) urging men to sign up to serve in World War I. In this case, the British Empire is portrayed as a family of nations, all happily working together with the same patriotic aims:
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Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
World War II was, among other things, an engine for the development of new technologies. After the war, however, companies needed new markets for their products that would allow them to continue to reap profits. We’ve posted below on this effort as related to food. The 1948 ad below, for a scent-reducing and slimming camisole, is a great example of this in that the text makes it explicit (via):
Text:
During the war, The Springs Cotton Mills was called upon to develop a special fabric for camouflage. It was used in the Pacific to conceal ammunition dumps and gun emplacements, but the Japanese learned to detect it because of its lack of jungle smells. To overcome this, when the fabric was dyed, it was also impregnated with a permanent odor of hibiscus, hydrangea, and old rubber boots. The deception was so effective that when Tokyo fell, the victorious invaders hung a piece of this fabric on a Japanese flagpole.
This process is top secret, and the fabric is now available to the false bottom and bust bucket business as SPRINGMAID PERKER made of combed yarns… the white with gardenia, the pink with camelia, the blush with jasmine, and the nude dusty.
If you want to avoid dancers’ diaphoresis* and the steatopygic stance, kill two birds with one stone by getting a camouflaged camisole with the SPRINGMAID label on the bottom of your trademark.
* Commonly known as Rhumba Aroma.
And also, a quick google search shows, “ballerina bouquet” and “skater’s steam.”
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Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Nora R. pointed out a Navy Facebook page that presents female members of the Navy as ground-breaking women who redefine femininity. The photo:
Here’s the text below the photo:
Applauding women who define life on their own terms. Intermingling the stereotypically feminine and masculine. Women in the Navy are amongst those paving the way in redefining femininity in the 21st Century.
I think it’s fascinating that they refer to feminine and masculine characteristics as stereotypes, rather than simply saying they mix feminine and masculine traits (thus accepting them as meaningful categories).
I went over to the Navy page on women from Facebook. Another image:
Some text from that webpage, which again emphasizes equality, empowerment, and the idea that ideas about gender are stereotypes, not accurate beliefs:
What’s it like being a woman in today’s Navy? Challenging. Exciting. Rewarding. But above all, it’s incredibly empowering. That’s because the responsibilities are significant. The respect is well-earned. The lifestyle is liberating. And the chance to push limits personally and professionally is an equal opportunity for women and men alike.
The notion of a “man’s work” is redefined in the Navy. Stereotypes are overridden by determination, by proven capabilities and by a shared appreciation for work that’s driven by hands-on skills and adrenaline. Here, a woman’s place is definitely in on the action. And women who seek to pursue what some may consider male-dominated roles are not only welcome, they’re wanted – in any of dozens of dynamic fields.
Besides equal pay for equal work, you can also look forward to the opportunity for personal development in the Navy. Take advantage of the chance to learn, grow, advance, serve and succeed right beside male counterparts – sharing the same duties and the same respect.
Farther down there’s this paragraph:
Spending time with family and friends. Going shopping. Getting all dressed up for a night out. As a woman, you’ll find there’s ample time for all of that in the Navy. Time when you’re off-duty. Time for the everyday things and the “girly stuff.” What you do as a woman in uniform may not be considered typical, but the life you lead outside of that can be as normal as you want.
I think the message there is partially that you don’t have to give up all the things associated with femininity if you’re in the Navy, but also the implication is that in the Navy you’ll be empowered and liberated to break stereotypes that you won’t be able to do as much in the outside world, where you may want to act more “normal.”
We’ve posted before about the use of female empowerment to sell products (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). In all of those instances, liberty or empowerment comes through simply consuming the right thing, whether it’s Virginia Slims, a better cleaning product, or a pre-packaged food item. It’s a completely superficial use of the idea of women’s liberation. In this Navy campaign, however, some very real advantages are promised: equal pay for equal work, respect, equal opportunity at work, the ability to enter “what some may consider” male-dominated fields.
Of course, that doesn’t mean all of these things happen. For instance, the Navy can say women are welcomed into male-dominated roles; that doesn’t mean the male soldiers are going to be thrilled and welcoming. After all, 26 female Navy members reported being sexually assaulted by fellow sailors in 1991. But the book The American Woman 2001-2002 lists the Navy as the branch of the military with the second-lowest levels of gender discrimination (after the Air Force; not surprisingly, the worst branch is the Marines) and says that after the 1991 Tailhook incident the Navy undertook major efforts to deal with gender discrimination. According to the book the Navy has “the largest number of women moving into nontraditional occupations” (p. 163). Women are allowed on combat vessels, while the Army still does not allow women in combat positions.
I don’t know. I have to say, this seems to be more of a sincere effort to recruit women by focusing on equality and skills than most I’ve seen, in which empowerment is depicted as taking on “masculine” roles or characteristics, and in which the idea that they are masculine isn’t questioned as a stereotype. I know many people will say that getting more women into the military isn’t necessarily a great advancement. But just as a marketing effort aimed at women, this is one of the more interesting ones I’ve seen, since it highlights specific types of equality (pay, etc.) as opposed to some vague idea of “liberation” and challenges the femininity/masculinity binary.
UPDATE: Reader Samantha C. says,
You know, I was all over this until the bit about “as a woman, you’ll totally still be able to go shopping and dress up tee hee”. And calling that life that of a “normal woman”. I just really hate those interests being universally assumed of all women.
I think it’s an excellent point.
I found these ads for Matchbox via Copyranter. In them, war toys are sold by situating small boys in realistic, not at all playful, conditions. The blurring of the lines between pretend and real war is really interesting. Whereas pretend war could be fun, real war is certainly not so. And, oddly, the facial expressions and postures of the children in the ads do not suggest that they are having fun at all. The ads seem to reveal, more than most, how play is also socialization.
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Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
At one time in history (vague, I know), elite sons would make their mark on the world, first, in battle. Increasingly, however, in the U.S., elites use their privilege to avoid military service. The most recent wars have been fought, disproportionately, by men and women from the working class.
The military knows this, as illustrated by this Army National Guard recruitment pamphlet sent in by Leafan R., who found it on the Rutgers University campus:
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Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
On the heels of our Frito Bandito post, comes this (I think) 1975 ad for Tequila Gavilan. Slogan: “One taste…and you’re not a Gringo anymore.”
If I’m reading this ad correctly, both the woman and the man in this ad are supposed to be Mexican. What’s interesting, then, is the different social construction of Mexican men and women. While the male is the familiar “Frito Bandito,” sombrero-wearing fool, the female is a hot, spicy Latina. Today the Mexican fool is a risky stereotype to pull out, but the hot spicy Latina is still a very common trope.
From another angle, this reminds me a bit of the history of colonization and war. All too frequently, male ethnic others in war are considered enemies, while female ethnic others are considered the spoils of war. So the idea that the racially-othered men are disposable, while “their” women are desirable has a very long history in Western thought (see, for example, Joane Nagel’s great book, Race, Ethnicity, and Sexuality).
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Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Time magazine offers readers a history of the bikini in which they offer these two interesting tidbits:
First, the two piece bathing suit was, in part, justified/necessitated by war rationing during World War II. There simply wasn’t enough money to buy all that fabric.
Second, the bikini got it’s name from the oooh and awe resulting from a nuclear test at Bikini Atoll. Louis Réard, to whom the invention of the bikini is credited, followed the nuclear-loving fashion of the day. He named it after the location, hoping that “his invention would be as explosive as that test…”
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
