http://blog.modernmechanix.com/mags/qf/c/ModernMechanix/7-1935/xlg_skinny.jpg
The featured advertisement is from July of 1935. While it is not a current advertisement, it does shed some light on how we got to where we are today. This appears to be one of the first implementations of modern day advertising. It attempts to make men believe they have to fit a certain image in order to belong and be accepted by a woman. The ad portrays the beginnign of rhetoric of love in marketing strategies.
The advertisement is for a yeast weight gain supplement product. It says you can gain five to fifteen pounds in just a few weeks. The picture shows a woman sitting high up above the skinny man saying "I could never fall in love with a skinny man." This makes men believe they need the product in order to gain weight and win the approval of women. Men want to be loved and find a relationship and the ad argues they can only do it through not being skinny and using the yeast product.
Today, this type of advertising is prevalent. Marketing strategies utilize the desires of men and women to help market and sell a company's product. Even though the ad's message might seem ridiculous, it plants the idea in the minds of consumers that they need their product to be accepted.
The featured advertisement is the earliest form of this type of marketing I have ran across. Is this the beginning of where we find ourselves today in advertising? In 1935 did this type of ad have the same effect on society as similar ones do today? It seems to mirror exactly the ads that influence us every day almost eighty years later.
It's interesting to look back on the yeast ad from 1935 and see the start of the theme are class is studying.
