Sunday, August 20, 2006
Unintentionally Disturbing Coffee Ad
Here's a 1950's TV commercial for Folger's Coffee where a husband quietly threatens his wife with adultery unless she improves her coffee-making skills.
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5 comments:
That was a disturbing commercial. It was also disturbing that the woman was portrayed as one whose self-esteem seems to be tied to her ability to please her husband by doing things like making a good cup of coffee. I am not saying that wives should never please their husbands, but that the submission to each other should be mutual (Ephesians 5:21), whereas the submission in this commercial was so one-sided.
My Christian leadership prof emphasizes the important distinction between being a servant and being servile.
And of course, a wife is neither.
Good distinction.
Have we really come very far though. From mentally abusive husbands requiring his wife to be servile (a la Folgers) to that stupid geritol (i think) commercial from the 70's (who can forget "My wife, I think I'll keep her") to the commercials today which treat women as sex objects.
Objectification in marketing is not restricted to the female gender. Men in commercials are made out to be vulgar simpletons controlled by base urges. Fathers are morons to be patronized.
When you have 30 seconds to sell a product, and PVRs and VCRs with fast-forward buttons, it's all about the easy laugh and/or the glimpse of flesh, male or female.
That said... folks watching TV when the Folgers commercial was aired were not so unsophisticated as to mistake the campy, over-the-top humor for something serious.
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