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please your man
12 sexist ads that companies wish we'd forget they ever made
“Most husbands, nowadays, have stopped beating their wives.”
AN AD FOR Protein World — a diet supplement — caused much debate earlier this year.
After it appeared in London underground stations, it was the subject of hundreds of complaints to the UK’s advertising watchdog regulator – mostly from people who believed it showed an unrealistic portrayal of a woman that might make other women feel their bodies were inferior.
Some called for ads that encourage women to become thinner to be banned because they are sexist. MP Caroline Noakes has started a campaign to ban models appearing on fashion catwalks and clothing ads if they have a Body Mass Index of less than 18.
But … it could be worse, as these old ads show. Some of them are from major brands who doubtless cringe at what they did in the past.
Heinz, 1950: The ad begins, “Most husbands, nowadays, have stopped beating their wives…”
Van Heusen, 1951: “Show her it’s a man’s world.”
Chase & Sanborn, 1952: This ad makes light of domestic violence.
Schlitz, 1952: “Don’t worry darling, you didn’t burn the beer!”
Alcoa, 1953: Alcoa Aluminum’s bottle caps open “without a knife blade, a bottle opener, or even a husband”.
Pitney-Bowes, 1953: It’s so easy to use that even a woman with “no mechanical aptitude” can operate it.
Unilever, 1955: Guess who does all the dishes?
Budweiser, 1956: “Budweiser has delighted more husbands than any other brew ever known.”
Drummond, 1959: Woman are “a drag”.
Kenwood, 1961: “That’s what wives are for!”
Acme, 1963: The most important quality in coffee is how much it will please your man.
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