Leader Board Ad

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Thin is in, but fat's where it's at!

It should be no mystery that body image is the number one motivator of Americans, at least based on the history of advertising. We have been brain-washed for over a hundred years, first with print and then in electronic media as well.  It wasn't until my latest and greatest find that I realized how fickle the ads can be. I am not so gullible as to complain that all ads should be in concert and choose one solution, or one regiment for curing problems. But "media creates reality," meaning that if you ascribe to "perception is reality" then you've covered pretty much what advertising does all day (and night), re-enforces the perception of the products as the only solution. And who better to establish and re-enforce new perceptions to?
In my previous post I described how I got these, but I didn't know what they were until I got them home. Would I normally buy a stack of women's magazines? No, not unless they were a hundred or more years old, then, Yes! There were 13 in the pile ranging from 1904 -1907. Most of the cover art looks similar to the one above. A Victorian lady of the day lovingly illustrated by George Blake. I have not been successful in finding a biography of either the magazine or the artist.  But, putting that mystery aside let's turn to self improvement.
These magazines have a lot of articles that I should probably be reading so I can get a real sense of the period, but the ads are much more fun. I really enjoyed exploring each page page and seeing the self-image vicious cycle.
Maybe the advertisers think this covers it? Or, maybe they'll never reach the multitudes in denial that feel they don't belong to either group. I would expect to see something marketed to the "perfect crowd," the problem is they don't need anything. The real confusion begins when these ads are placed right next to each other.

But wait there's more! These magazines were full of inappropriate, misguided, tasteless and damn funny ads. Weight loss was only one category. Look for more posts featuring adds from the these amazingly well-preserved pages.

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