Popular Culture Review Vol. 5, No. 1, February 1994 | Page 125

ImaRes of the Housewife

121

independent meaning.^ This statement is clearly illustrated through
the impact of copy and images of women used in 1920s advertising.
As advertising historian Roland Marchand pointed out,
advertisers in the 1920s frequently used images and copy to create
"social tableaux." Usually these were depictions of a contemporary
"slice of life" meant to suggest that the inuige reflected the larger
society or the ideal society.
Marchand maintains that the
housewives of social tableaux ads were cast in "modem" roles; they
were "the little woman, G.P.A." [general purchasing agent]
competently running efficient homes with all the latest prod ucts.^
Ads began to portray a distinct set of images of the women they
targeted. The message was clear: to be like the woman in the
advertisement (or to avoid being like her if the image was negative),
a woman must use the advertiser's product, regardless of how much or
how little the product had to do with creating or maintaining that
image.
The home economics profession often advised advertising
executives on the development of these images. For example, home
economist Christine Frederick, a self-appointed "spokeswoman" for
the homemaker, often advised the industry on the make-up of the
modem homemaker. In 1929, she described the average housewife as
being of limited education and intellectual capacity, illogical,
maiupulable, and functioning on instinct. Paradoxically, Frederick
also told advertisers that women were expert consumers. "Mrs.
Consumer of today is the sophisticated flapper of yesterday, who
quite literally--'knows her groceries.’"^ Advertisers seemed to
believe that the housewife was capable of being a discerning shopper
but was also susceptible to subtle manipulation via advertising
images and copy.
Image vs. Reality
An examination of the images of women in popular press
advertising reveals that the life depicted for the "advertising
woman" bore limited resemblance to the reality of life for most
American women. Instead the "social tableaux" linked socially
constmcted meanings of femininity to sexuality and consumption in
new ways. This study surveyed more than three hundred issues of
woman's magazines, general interest magazines, and newspapers
published between January 1,1920 and December 31,1929, including: