A friend sent me the link below from an old coffee ad. Boy have we come far in our modern marriages - or have we? What irks you most about this video clip?
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About Me
- AM Kingsfield
- Maryland, United States
- I am a yoga teacher and divorced mother of three fantastic kids. Having outlived Plan A, I have come to love living in Plan B - actually I think I'm on Plan H by now. I love to visit with friends on my front porch. Pull up a chair, kick up your feet, and tell me your story!
AM as Construction Girl
9 comments:
Being male, I probably shouldn't go any where near this topic, but ... I cook, I clean my own home, I wash my own clothes - at least to my own satisfaction. And I lent a hand in doing all of those things while I was married, too. Marriage has changed in many ways. Let me pose an alternate question. Which commercial would cause less discomfort at a family dinner -- this one or one for Viagra?
johjm makes a great point here. TV is virtually bombarded with ads for all kind of cures for ED -- not only Viagra but Cialis and Levitra too. And ED is not that nice talking horse I knew back from my childhood either.
That's "a hard" choice. Ugghhh !!!
Folks have to realize that back in the 50's Men were the only breadwinners and Women were esentially relegated to domestic engineers. Divorce was not an option as most women got married out of high school and did not persue careers or higher education. Kinda reminds me of Ward and June Cleaver or else Father knows Best.
Is this designed to incite a battle of the sexes ?
Today its almost just exactly the opposite -- look at Hillary Cliton for example. We know who wears the pants in that family.
Regarding johnjm's comment - I often watch sporting events with my 10-y.o. son and those ads for Viagra etc always make me uneasy.
Regarding Mike's point about the division of roles in the 50's - even then it wasn't as clear cut as this ad suggests. My family was working class. My mother and father both worked throughout my childhood. Dad worked on the factory floor; Mom was a bookkeeper. His wages paid the mortgage and utilities; hers kept food on the table. He worked the second shift and often wasn't home for dinner. I'm not lamenting any of this. It's just how it was. My sister and I helped around the house. My grandfather was around during the day, so I can't say we were really latch-key kids.
The public stereotyping of women (and most groups) in this ad has largely disappeared.
Speaking of ad portrayals: Is any one else irritated by the men in the Arby's commercials? Men so incompetent they can't crack an egg or open a bag of cereal. (I know, it's supposed to be humorous.)
My mom and dad always worked, as best I can remember. So when I see ads like this I have to say.. really? They actually put this on TV thinking it would sell coffee? And Johnjm.. you are right about the way men are portrayed in commercials... quite annoying! :-) Maybe it's just our turn?
What irks me most about the old coffee ad? The part where she DOESN'T slapp him when he makes all those insensitive remarks. Seriously, though, all she wants is to please the guy.
Like most of the others have mentioned, both of my parents also worked through the 50's, 60's, 70's. and most of the 80's. It was typical on my street.
Johnjm, you make an excellent case for not eating dinner with your family while watching television!
How did we get on the ED subject? That was a lateral arabesque.
We do walk a fine line when we joke around with stereotypes. At some point, it's not funny anymore.
Real life is always different that what you see in commercials, although commercials are more honest than they used to be with all those Viagra commercials!
There is some really "stiff" competition between all those parmaceutical products available for treatment of ED.
Lets face it there are also sexist commercials that go all the way back to the dawn of TV advertizing.
(case in point).
In the 50's 60's men could probably get away with such audacity and treat their wives more like domestic servants (as opposed to being equal partners).
Funny thing is women put up with it back then. Today that would never happen. Ward Cleaver would be wearing that coffee on his sleave (not to mention his face and torso )
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