Persuaded by living pictures

Extract

[...] Marchand's article also discusses how advertisers tried to gain attention by focusing on social class. Advertisers seemed to believe that clear boundaries existed between upper and middle class society. Considering these distinctions, Marchand explains: For their own tactical purposes, advertisers simultaneously stressed both the clarity of such boundaries and the ease of crossing them the first to enhance the exclusiveness and desirability of the life of the rich, and the second to suggest how easily the advertised product would eliminate barriers to upward mobility. [...]

[...] Marchand explains one of the most influential sources of the female image: The ‘Fisher Body girl' established the normative image for women in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The creation of illustrator McClelland Barclay, this heroine of the Fisher Body ads was slender, youthful, and sophisticated. Her finely etched facial features formed a slightly aloof smile, suggesting demure self-confidence in her obvious social prestige and her understated sexual allure. (181) However, Fisher Body often changed the image of the perfect woman. [...]

[...] Marchand explains that by giving women confidence as consumers, they were able to enjoy a newfound sense of power. However, this power was still far less than the dominance of the husband (Marchand 170). Since advertisers could not give women power equivalent to men's, they also attempted a strategy of making women feel like they deserved more leisure time in their lives. Some ads emphasized this so clearly, that the visual aspect was of the housewife relaxing, completely ignoring the product trying to be sold. [...]