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Introduction
Advertising is an unmistakably unique way of communicating with the target audience that requires a profound understanding of the specific needs of the selected demographic, the specifics of its culture, and a thorough understanding of the issue that the offered service or product seeks to resolve. Though the core purpose, goals, and, ultimately, strategies of advertising a product to a specific demographic have remained the same, consumer culture has changed drastically, which has been reflected in advertising campaigns across decades. Procter & Gamble (P&G) is one of the accurate examples of the specified phenomenon. Specifically, its advertising campaign of P&G demonstrates the shift in consumer culture toward a more frugal lifestyle, while still upholding the status quo in regard to gender roles.
Discussion
The advertisement campaign launched by P&G in the 1940s reflects the described trends quite accurately. On the one hand, there is an obvious propensity toward ensuring that, despite the shift in the gender relationship dynamics, the status quo remains the same. The described issue is particularly prominent in the focus on the nurturing roles traditionally associated with women and maternity. Specifically, in the advertisement promoting the use of Ivory Soap as the means of minimizing the adverse effects of coarse soap on a toddlers skin, the direct reference to the mother enhances the idea that womens main role is that one of mothers and caregivers: Mummys hands are trough! ( Help! Mummys hands are rough! 1940). The described effort to retain traditional gender roles could be even as a direct response to the gradual shift in the perception of women solely as housewives and the development of an image of a woman as an active part of the economic and political life of the U.S. Specifically, the described advertisement campaign contrasts with the famous image of Rosie the Riveter (Jofre et al., 2020). While the latter represents a woman empowered to become a part of the workforce and, therefore, gain economic and cultural independence from men, the image constructed by P&G in its ad campaign portrays the direct opposite.
Similarly, the choice of wording or the advertisement reduces the role of a woman to that of a housewife. Specifically, the following sentiment suggests that household chores should be relegated solely to women and that the specified responsibilities are expected to be womens primary concern: Would somebody tell mummy to use pure Ivory in her dishpan? ( Help! Mummys hands are rough! 1940). The collocation her dishpan implying the inherent connection between a woman and kitchen utensils, as well as the direct mentioning of mummy, relegates a woman to the role of a housewife, which enhances the gender status quo and strives to prevent the social trend of subverting gender expectations from entering the popular culture ( I shudder at the touch of a rough hand! 1940). Therefore, the advertisement campaign in question can be interpreted as the echo of the patriarchal culture that confined women solely to the roles of wives and mothers while depriving them of the opportunity to explore other options, particularly, the ones associated with employment and personal development.
Indeed, despite the emergent necessity for women to accept the responsibilities associated with the active production of essential goods due to the wartime crisis, there have been continuous efforts to control the described change. The commodification of womens empowerment as the means of enhancing the manufacturing process and producing the required amount of ammunition for WWII while ensuring that gender roles remained fixed was prominent in the specified time slot. Specifically, the study by Wollney and Sternadori (2019) explains that Although posters and ads encouraging women to support the war may have evoked a change in how they viewed their own capabilities (Rupp, 1978), this sentiment was not generally shared by the rest of society (p. 5). Moreover, the study continues to demonstrate that a significant portion of organizations sought to counteract the trend of female empowerment, encouraging the traditional perception of womens role in society: Some wartime ads stressed womens caretaking role. Bell Telephone labeled its female employees soldiers of service (p. 6). The outlined conflict between the obvious need for change and the open rejection thereof within conservative U.S. society is, therefore, unintentionally reflected in the specified ad campaign.
Arguably, the specified concerted effort to reinforce the traditional standards of gender roles and the enforcement of femininity on women could be regarded as a means of continuing to maintain the established business structure without the need to spend extra costs to diversify and adjust to the emergent needs of liberated women. With the emphasis on the expansion of womens roles and the image of a woman in society, in general, P&G would have lost a significant portion of its target demographic since a number of women would have refused to continue participating in the established consumer culture and comply with the obtrusive femininity standards. In turn, the advertisements that P&G designed served to communicate the ostensible importance of femininity and feminine appearance: For you, too theres a hint on helping your hands stay smooth ( I shudder at the touch of a rough hand! 1940). With the active promotion of the set gender standards and the opposition against the emergent trend of women accepting more masculine roles and responsibilities, the advertisements created y P&G served to maintain the existing consumer culture supported by rigid gender stereotypes.
However, even with its obvious refusal to accept the evident cultural change and the resulting shift in consumer culture, P&G still demonstrated certain flexibility in its adjustment to economic change and the associated concerns. Namely, with the effects of WWII leading to the necessity to reduce spending, P&G has responded with a slightly altered message and a shift in its rhetoric regarding gender stereotypes and, particularly, womens appearance. Namely, the company demonstrated a transfer from the focus on the use of makeup to the emphasis on maintaining a natural and healthy look as the main marker of beauty: 33% more luster in your hair ( Lustrous hair wins love games, 1940). Granted that the specified advertisement still demonstrated gender stereotypes by placing an excessively high value on youthful looks, it still illustrated a transfer to a different perspective in regard to female appearance. Compared to the previously discussed portrayal of traditional gender roles in its advertisement of the Ivory Soap, the specified perspective was surprisingly refreshing.
Therefore, the message represented in the advertisement in question represents a change in the consumer culture and the companys resistance to the specified change. While each of the advertisement pieces mentioned above aligns with the preexisting concepts of gender normativity and supports the patriarchal idea of womens roles being confined to the household, it incorporates subtle hints at social change. Specifically, the fact that each of the ads in question addresses its target audience directly demonstrates an increase in womens agency and the diversification of their roles, including that one of an active consumer and, therefore, a participant in economic relationships: YOUR mirror tells a thrillingly different story ( This lustre-revealing shampoo brings out the glamour in you, 1940). Thus, while upholding some of the gender stereotypes, the advertisement campaign designed by P&G implicitly incorporates the symbols of the ongoing social change and the transformation of womens role in the American community.
Arguably, the fact that the described shift in P&Gs advertising campaign was observably small, as well as the fact that the company was insistent in its reinforcement of the status quo, may have stemmed from the lack of social support for the transformation of perceptions of gender roles and the shift toward challenging gender stereotypes. Indeed, the need for a different perspective on womens roles within the U.S. community was primarily encouraged by the necessity to maintain the quality and consistency in production during WWII so that the U.S. would not suffer a massive economic recession (Ehric, 2019). In turn, the movement geared toward the liberation of women and the promotion of the resulting transformation of American society was only in its conception, and it would not be introduced as a full-fledged social trend up until the 1970s (Ehric, 2019). Therefore, without the strong support of the subversion of gender roles, the platform for promoting sex-based oppression could not be destroyed. In turn, the advertisements of the era, including the one discussed above, continued to encourage the traditional perspective on gender stereotypes and enhanced sex-based oppression of women.
Thus, the advertisements under analysis could be seen as a desperate attempt to retain the traditional perception of gender roles and prevent the promotion of womens liberation from taking place. The efforts to reintroduce gender biases to the target audiences are portrayed explicitly in the choice of words and images, therefore, catering to the consumer culture that has been in place in the U.S. economy for decades. The specified culture is characterized by the dominance of the so-called Consumer Era, during which the emphasis has been placed on the production and active consumption of the offered process (Denton & Weber, 2022). While being spurred by the increase in manufacturing as a response to the drop in resource availability caused by WWII, the specified trend would percolate into the further decades as the U.S. economy experienced an impressive rise.
Furthermore, with the need for women in the industry having been reduced as WWII approached its end, the opportunity for introducing equality between the sexes shrank significantly, which the advertisements offered by P&G predicted. Thus, being a conservative response to the emergent change in the social perception of gender, it also predicted the further development of the social trend within the consumer culture as it gradually shifted toward a clear delineation between gender roles and the resulting promotion of gender roles (Aguierre, 2018). Therefore, the advertisement in question could be seen as an effort to contain the pace of progress and retain the stereotypical perception of women in U.S. society.
Moreover, the choice of imagery used in the advertisements in question indicates the companys willingness to promote gender-specific consumer culture and imbue it with gender stereotypes. Specifically, the use of childrens pictures suggests that motherhood and the associated responsibilities should remain at the center of womens attention and priorities. In turn, while the images containing the promotion of hair products and promoting the P&G Ivory Soap as a cosmetic option also contain tacit hints at the established gender stereotypes; particularly, the portrayal of impeccable facial features and women in makeup indicates the trend to align with the principal standards of gender roles in society at the time. At the same time, the imagery in PO&Gs commercials in question also incorporates the tendency within the consumer culture of the 1940s to be geared toward a more economic and cost-efficient approach to product use and purchase. Specifically, the clothes that women in the advertisements have reflected the problem of product scarcity, being primarily practical and inexpensive. Therefore, the imagery in P&Gs advertisements also illustrates the specifics of the consumer culture, particularly, gender-associated issues within it, of the time quite accurately.
Conclusion
The incorporation of the symbols associated with traditional gender roles and the focus on an economic approach indicates that the advertising culture of the West has shifted toward a more careful use of resources in the early1940s. The observed change is quite pronounced in the series of advertisements launched by P&G to continue promoting one of its essential brands, Ivory Soap. Being excessively cheap, it has become one of the core symbols of the era in regard to household issues and the efforts to reduce expenses. Furthermore, the advertisement implicitly introduces the soon-to-be-observed shift in gender roles in Europe and the U.S. Particularly, the efforts of the advertisement campaign to reconstruct the status quo in gender normativity and promote the traditional concepts of femininity, as well as the role of a woman as that one of a nurturer, is evident. However, the specified efforts appear to be particularly desperate in the context of the focus on women in the workplace.
References
Aguierre, R. (2018). The evolution of the We Can Do It poster and American feminist movements. McNair Research Journal SJSU, 14(1), 3.
Denton, C., & Weber, H. (2022). Rethinking waste within business history: A transnational perspective on waste recycling in World War II. Business History, 64(5), 855-881.
Ehrick, C. (2019). Buenas Vecinas? Latin American WOMEN and US radio propaganda during World War II. Feminist Media Histories, 5(3), 60-84.
Help! Mummys hands are rough! (1940). Duke University Libraries. Web.
I shudder at the touch of a rough hand! (1940). Duke University Libraries. Web.
Jofre, A., Cole, J., Berardi, V., Bennett, C., & Reale, M. (2020). Whats in a face? Gender representation of faces in Time, 1940s-1990s. Journal ISSN, 2371, 4549.
Lustrous hair wins love games. (1940). Duke University Libraries. Web.
This lustre-revealing shampoo brings out the glamour in you. (1940). Duke University Libraries. Web.
Wollney, E., & Sternadori, M. (2019). Feminine, competent, submissive: A multimodal analysis of depictions of women in US wartime persuasive messages during World War I and World War II. Visual Communication Quarterly, 26(1), 3-21. Web.
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