Domestic Violence in Advertising

752 Words2 Pages

Domestic abuse is a very important issue. Someone can be abused physically, mentally, and verbally. These 1950’s Ads show woman being abused mentally and physically. Even though the ads aren’t explicitly promoting abuse, they use abuse to help sell their product. The ads argue that women are inferior to men because one shows a woman basically slaving over her husband and in the other one the husband is beating his wife.

The image of the husband spanking his wife because she hadn’t been buying the fresh store-bought coffee is in black and white. The fact that is in black and white argues that it is an image that came out in the 50’s. During this time, women were only seen as being domesticated house wives, only to attend to their husbands. These were the time where there was no such thing as domestic abuse and hitting your wife was just your business. This image also indicates that women are only to be domesticated because ad is advertising fresh coffee and coffee is made typically in a kitchen. Therefore, a woman should always stay at her duty and do the house work or make sure her husband is getting fresh coffee. The ad is obviously aiming towards the female spouse because at the top of the image it says “If your husband ever finds out you’re not store testing for fresher coffee” indicating that if she doesn’t buy the right kind of coffee, which in this case is Chase and Sanborn Coffee, she will be spanked and humiliated. The ad is basically implying that woman need to be taught a lesson when they do something wrong, almost like they are children and they don’t know any better. The ad wants to get women to fear their husbands when the women don’t obey.

The second ad is advertising a tie by the company Van Heusen. In the picture there is a man lying in bed being served by his wife. The wife in this ad is on her knees looking up at her husband at the side of the bed. Her being on her knees makes her look weak and vulnerable. Her being in her robe also could symbolize that she is vulnerable because someone in their robe is typically at home. The husband on the other hand, is in a relaxed position with his hands behind his head.

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