"Oh Dad!"

[spuzzlightyear.livejournal.com]

I am used by the usage of the word "Lady" in this ad. It just makes it all of a sudden condescending.

Comments

[marchenland.livejournal.com]

What year is that first one? It actually seems pretty progressive: "I'll never again argue that Helen's job is easier than mine." Considering that some people STILL think being a stay-at-home mom is an easy life...

I worked at a summer camp in the 90s, and non-campers were responsible for doing their own laundry. The laundry room used this same basic concept, industrial 2-tub washers, and while it was a bit more babysitting than I was used to, the spinner was actually MUCH better than anything a spin washer can do.

[carriepika.livejournal.com]

My mother has a washing machine for her cabin that's just like this. A more modern version, from sometime in the 70s I believe, but the same thing. A tub for agitating and a separate spinner.

The spinner works far better than any of the all in one washers I've used. My Mom said the same thing when I mentioned it to her. It spins the clothes drier than even her big $2000 Maytag!

I kind of want to see if I can find one for my house. I'd save scads on electricity with laundry that wasn't too heavy for my clothes line or that could even be hung in the house to dry!

[cactuswren.livejournal.com]

What year is that first one? It actually seems pretty progressive

...right up until you notice the unquestioned certainty that men are the ones who decide where and how to spend money.

[marchenland.livejournal.com]

Right, which is why I wondered about the year. It's clearly baby steps at best, but like I said, there are still people out there who think being a stay-at-home mother is easy, and who could benefit from walking a mile in Helen's shoes. Depending on the year, that copy may or may not sure some awareness.

Of course, the year when my boyfriends were both not working and I was, you better bet I decided what we spent money on.

[spuzzlightyear.livejournal.com]

October 1947

[seamonkey-mags.livejournal.com]

I think it's an interestingly back-handed way of preserving the status quo. If you say housewifery is so easy any idiot can do it, then why should women do it? If you say "gee, this sure is hard", then it seems more valued for women who do it.

[marchenland.livejournal.com]

I think this is very true, as well - especially since the OP noted the date as 1947, so post-war. I was thinking it was older than that. I think women's war experiences really changed what they were willing to put up with in the home. (Then there's the fact that "labor-saving" devices are generally anything BUT...)

But like I keep saying, I've quite literally heard people - men AND women - in the workplace comment on how EASY it must be to stay at home with the kids. Today. In 2010.

[baron154.livejournal.com]

I really don't think it's progressive. It's sort of comedy, mocking the idea of a man doing domestic chores. As in, comically unimaginable that a man would ever do it. Fish out of water! and in 1947, less of a man. Declaring himself a mother sort of reinforces gender norms- men were supposed to see this ad and shudder, or laugh at that emasculated sap.

[fridgedicebunny.livejournal.com]

There is also a tendency even now for all cleaning ads to be directed at woman with the punchline indicating that men are "incapable" of doing housework. That is by no means liberating either; if men believe themselves to be superior at running the planet, there's no way their brains "can't handle housework". It's another way of preserving the status quo, as well as shuffling off distasteful chores via very bullshit compliments.

[thisprairielife.livejournal.com]

Butchest mom ever.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

"Harry, by you you're a mother. By me, you're a mother. But, Harry, by mothers... you're no mother."

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

cool

I saw an ad yesterday for a unit that was a waist-high fridge with an electric stove on top of it - perfect for a tiny apartment, actually. I wonder if they were unsafe, or just unpopular?

[neuralclone.livejournal.com]

"Man Gets Pregnant" ... oh, right. He's just doing the cooking and cleaning, "just like mother!" For a moment there I thought I was witnessing medical miracle. *G*

[vp19.livejournal.com]

I'm a native of Syracuse, and I've never heard of the Easy Washing Machine Corporation. I'm assuming the company either went out of business or was absorbed by another firm.

As for the ad, it's a '50s version of "Mr. Mom."

[hazeltea.livejournal.com]

"Look, lady, you want this fridge or not? You'll save lots of money. Yeah, it did fall off a truck, what of it?"

[moonwalker.livejournal.com]

"I put on this apron for laughs, then BOOM my genitalia transformed and babies fell out of my crotch! Now I have to do laundry."

Mary MMM

[amelia-eve.livejournal.com]

I never knew Coolerator was a brand -- I thought it was slang. I only knew it from the lyrics of Chuck Berry's You Never Can Tell (http://www.lyricsdepot.com/chuck-berry/you-never-can-tell.html). Nice to know it's a real product.

[moonjaguar.livejournal.com]

For some unfathomable reason, my brother bought an Easy washer off eBay early this year. The logo on the machine is so weird that I thought it said "Kiev".