Term Paper on "1950s Advertisement"
Term Paper 5 pages (1646 words) Sources: 2
[EXCERPT] . . . .
1950s AdvertismentOne of the most important themes in Elaine Tyler May's work, "Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era," is the theme of feminism. Starting from the theme of domestic containment and going as far back as the 1930s and 1940s, she is keen to mark the existing split in the role in society between man and woman. There are a couple of significant examples in this sense, such as the fact that the New Deal targeted male unemployment while really doing nothing about female unemployment. The 1950s marked a return to the "domestic containment," where women primarily remained at home to take care of the household.
The advertisement presented here is very strange exactly from this point-of-view, because it promotes an unexpected role of the woman during this period of time. The ad presents a coffee vending machine (largely spelled), with a drawing of a woman apparently buying herself coffee from the machine. The strange thing about this is that the woman has a very business-like manner and, indeed, you would expect this scene to be happening in the workplace, where women would be present in fewer numbers. It is the type of advertisement where you would expect the male, the main provider for his family as a characteristic during the 1950s, to be in the office space, getting his coffee from the machine. We don't know whether on purpose or not, but this advertisement has a very feminist air to it.
The text is very suggestive as well for the society in the United States during the 1950s, especially two particular sentences that give a bit of the spirit in the U.S. At that time: "coffee break aids efficiency" and "eliminate time lost goin
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On the other hand, during the 1950s, right to the end of the decade and before information on the actual status of things leaked out, there was a common fear that the Soviet Union was more advanced in terms of its industrial and economic development, as well as, most importantly, its military development. This meant that the national effort had to concentrate on increasing productivity and catching up with the Soviet Union and this included increasing efficiency and productivity in factories and offices. The advertisement does emphasize somewhat on the urgency of things by repeating twice in a matter of just a couple of words the actual role of the vending machine: aid efficiency and eliminate time lost. There seems to be a certain anguish to it, specific of the 1950s when the world came to believe that a nuclear war would be inevitable.
As previously mentioned, one of the important elements in Elaine Tyler May's book is the suburban domesticity and the importance home played in the life of the American family during the 1950s. Most likely, home presented the optimal retreat as "the cold war took hold of the nation's consciousness." In a period of continuous changes and, further more, of constant danger and challenges, of threats such as the possibility of an atomic war starting, home appears a peace oasis. Home is a place where the dangers seem to not exist and where the passing of time seems to stop still, thus stopping progressive movement forward into the unknown.
The advertisement here shows exactly the importance of homes during that period as a retreat from the madding crowd. An advertisement for property insurance, without any pictures, the insurance company is named the HOME. I think that the name of the company is extremely important for the message it wants to convey. From this point-of-view, most likely, the advertisement could be made up just of the subject of the advertisements ("property insurance") and the name of the company ("home"), both suggestive for the message of the advertisement and as a direct reflection of the U.S. society in the 1950s.
The descriptive text below, however, further explains the role of the company as "America's leading insurance protector of American homes and the homes of the American industry." The word home appears twice in this one line description and obviously has several meanings. First of all, it wants to reflect the name of the company as often as possible and emphasize on the fact that the property insurance company is suggestively called "THE HOME."
On the other hand, it awakens a subconscious feeling about the importance of home in the American society during the 1950s. This is not only the home where the family meets, but also the homes of American industry, the numerous factories or production units. It is a wider notion of the concept of "home," meant to encompass its dimension from all points-of-view.
The third advertisement is perhaps most relevant for both the consumerist society that Elaine Tyler May describes in her work and the way that men and women seemed to be bound together during these times often as a singular entity. On the other hand, the way that this advertisement places the action outside the home rather than inside is intuitive in describing, at least in a subtle, tacit manner, a certain emancipation of women (somewhat similar to the advertisement for the coffee vendor machine, where a woman was expected to use this at work), in the sense that they were not simply confined to their home space as May seems to suggest in many of her passages.
The scene, in this case, is at a bowling alley. One of the images shows a woman bowling, while another shows a man and woman close together, the woman with a bowling ball in her hand and the man holding two glasses of beers (presumably Bud), in his hand. The image itself is full of an interesting sexuality: the woman seems to be whistling, most obviously at the beer, however, there is a slight impression that she is actually making a gesture towards the man.
I think this description comes to support the idea that sexuality during the 1950s began to move out of homes and manifest itself, in different, sometimes subtle forms, outside the home. While May insists in her work around sexuality within the home, an advertisement such as the one presented here moves it in a larger environment. This is a bit of a different message than the one we have previously seen related to the property insurance advertisement and to May's own perspective on the development of the home as a place of refuge. Indeed, we see here individuals enjoying themselves and having a good time outside their homes, at a bowling alley, benefiting from the perspective of spending a leisure evening together.
The more tense perspective that comes from the previous advertisement gives way here to a very relaxed atmosphere, one that almost doesn't fit with the descriptions we have so far presented on the period. There is no tension of the cold war and of the dangers we have previously discussed, all seems to give way to simply living the moment.
The text itself is also very casual and somewhat allusive to easy living, especially since some of the words are marked with italics, so that the reader cannot ignore this. For example, the text spells a… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "1950s Advertisement" Assignment:
WE WILL PAY $100 for this one!!
assignment is to choose different topics covering the 1950's period such as marriage, nuclear bombs, consumerism.. and show how the atricles reflect that time period. I need to know which articles are being discussed because i need to print them out and bring them into class. please specify which articles are being used. They can be found in the Panther FIU library online database- (all the information is provided below)The sources are based off these articles and the Foner book that he is speaking about is the text book I use in class which cover the basic information of that time period.
Below are the instructions:
I will also e mail the instructions but this should cover it all.
If there are any questions please call: 786 201 3275
Your second writing assignment requires you to examine advertisements that appeared in the New York Times in the 1950s. You will:
1.Examine one week*****s worth advertisements from the Times;
2.Select two or three advertisements that reflect some theme about the postwar United States discussed in either Elaine Tyler May*****s Homeward Bound or Eric Foner*****s Give Me Liberty! (chapter 24);
3.Write an essay (1300-1500 words) that not only describes the advertisements you selected, but analyzes how they are illustrative of the world of postwar America.
All essays are due in class on Wednesday, November 14.
Instructions for accessing advertisments in the New York Times
1.Go to http://library.fiu.edu ( my Id number is 21199003823122)
2.Click on *****Find Articles & Do Research*****
3.On the right, click on *****A-Z Databases***** (second box down)
4.Go down the page and click on *****New York Times (Historical File)*****
5.Click on *****More Search Options***** on bottom tab
6.In the *****Date Range***** section, enter a beginning date and ending date that will allow you to view a week*****s worth of issues (for example: 01/07/1954-01/14/1954)
7.In the *****More Search Options***** section select *****Display Ad***** in the *****Document Type***** box
8.Click the *****Search***** button
9.Click on the first document listed in the search results
10.Resize document as necessary to view
11.To view the next advertisement, click *****Next***** at the top of the page
12.Choose your ads; if you do not like any that you find, go back to step 5 and choose a different range of dates
Important: You must print off a copy of each ad you use in the essay and staple them to your essay when you submit it.
Some Suggestions for Choosing Advertisements
1.Make sure you have read May and Foner before beginning the assignment. Take some notes about themes you detect in each.
2.Do not give up if you don*****t find ads you like immediately. Give some time to your searching.
3.Any type of ad can be used, but those with appealing visuals are often the richest for analysis.
4.That being said, don*****t forget to analyze the text of the advertisements; you will find many textual ads are gold mines of material.
5.Some ads will be interesting, but may not say much about the times. Choose instead those ads that say something about the themes you*****ve studied (e.g. marriage; domestic life; nuclear war; etc.)
6.As you choose your ads, think about the analytical thread that will hold them together as you write your paper. It will be very difficult to write a paper about three ads that have little in common except that they came from the same newspaper.
Some Suggestions for Writing Your Essay
1.Remember that you are to analyze the ads, not just describe them. The best way to keep to this task is to write a strong thesis statement that sets forth your analysis/argument in clear terms.
2.Outline your paper in a way that sets up each paragraph to propel your argument forward. You can organize these either by theme or by advertisement. The latter way will probably be clearer.
3.Choose active, simple past tense verbs to keep your sentences clear.
4.Write a conclusion that pulls the argument together in a logical way.
All essays must include the following
1.A title that clearly defines the essay*****s purpose and theme.
2.A clear introduction.
3.A strong thesis statement.
4.Orderly paragraphs with smooth transitions.
5.Correct spelling and punctuation.
6.Footnotes for each citation of outside works. References for the advertisements should only be made on the first mention; subsequent citations are unnecessary for our purposes.
7.A clear conclusion.
*****
How to Reference "1950s Advertisement" Term Paper in a Bibliography
“1950s Advertisement.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2007, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/1950s-advertisment-one/1416044. Accessed 30 Sep 2024.
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