It is fascinating to me to read old magazines from the 50s and 60s and look at the way our advertising world has changed. I suppose this could apply to television ads as well. I think the drastic change in our advertising completely shows how our world is different now and what the “powers that be” have decided we need in our lives. Think about it: when’s the last time you have seen an ad for . . .
. . . shower curtains? Now, this ad did send me down a bit of a rabbit hole because I had never heard of Kleinert’s before. This from their website:
Isaak B. Kleinert founded Kleinert’s, Inc. in 1869 in College Point, NY, initially known as I.B. Kleinert’s Rubber Company. As an innovative inventor, Kleinert created many enduring products like the shower cap, shower curtain, dress shield, and waterproof baby pants. By the mid-20th century, Kleinert’s had become an international manufacturing powerhouse, supplying rubber life rafts to the US Air Force during WWII.
From the 1970s to the 1990s, Kleinert’s expanded its product line to include children’s clothing, footwear, and personal protection products. Embracing e-commerce in the mid-1990s, Kleinert’s launched its first website and grew its direct-to-consumer business.
Since 2003, Kleinert’s, now headquartered in Elba, Alabama, has been a leading manufacturer of products for excessive sweating and incontinence. We proudly produce all our goods in the USA, supporting local jobs. Our customers include Disney, Broadway shows, military academies, and more.
We continually innovate, offering advanced products like Fabrapel-treated fabrics and Sweat Shield Ultra wipes for hyperhidrosis. Kleinert’s remains committed to enhancing lives and extending the longevity of clothing.
The more you know, I guess.
Continuing . . .
When’s the last time you saw an ad for . . .
. . . good ol’ regular curtains? These, of course, are quite prevalent in magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens from the Midcentury. Heck, you could even get a free curtain booklet.
Now, tell me . . . When’s the last time you saw an ad for . . .
Fake stick-on tile? That color rocks my world, by the way. It is always the color I am drawn to when I am buying vintage items. The picture is great as well. He pauses mid-installation to look back at his ecstatic wife in her apron and oddly maniacal expression. Obviously, this was a marriage that worked — for whatever reason.
Oh – notice the “Magic Congowall show” advertised on the inset text? Why does that sound like something I’d like to attend?
When’s the last time you saw an ad for . . .
. . . refrigerators made by tractor companies? (I apologize for the non-straight scan here; this ad came out of a bound book full of Better Homes and Gardens magazines from 1950 and it’s pretty huge; it is impossible to straighten the pages enough to get a straight copy.) I had never seen this company name attributed to appliances until I ran across this ad; I only knew it as a company that made farm equipment. However, Google informed me that IH did venture into the appliance manufacturing sector from 1947-1955, and then they sold out to Whirlpool. I love the totally sexist “femineered” sales pitch and the “Egg-O-Mat” storage option. “Diffuse-O-Lite” as well. Just so 50s and so fun. At some point they would offer colored door handles to match your color-coordinated kitchen:
(Note that they were really set on the “femineered” sales pitch.)
I do miss how one could get appliances to match their kitchen. Now we have white, black, stainless, black stainless, gray, dark gray, light gray, medium gray . . .
I jest, but the color options are severely lacking.
IH also gave housewives a great idea — or should that be “great” idea? Cover your fridge with fabric to match your kitchen!
I notice the third line touts a “door pedal” . . . for what? Why doesn’t my fridge come with a door pedal??
Even more interesting is the text at the waaaaaaaaay bottom, which says that IH was based at 180 N. Michigan Avenue in Chicago. I now work just a few blocks from there. Here’s the building after its completion in 1937:
And here is the building today:
And, finally . . . when’s the last time you saw an ad for . . .
. . . a TV with a 19 1/2″ screen — or just a TV in general?
I think manufacturers have just assumed that we are going to go to Wal-mart hunting for the best and the biggest TV we can find.
Back then a TV was part of your household; it wasn’t going to be replaced every other year. It sat like a rock in your living room because after it got wrangled into your house, you were too old and tired to wrangle it back out.
My husband and I grumble while watching our TV provider – Hulu – because it seems like every freaking commercial is either Burger King (with that ultra-annoying off-pitch singing) or an ad for a drug company. Look at the ads in modern magazines; modern medicine has a firm hold on our advertising, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Bring back the ads for curtains and stick-on fake tile. If I have to watch one more time the Wegovy group inexplicably walking down the street like a pack of zombies, I just might be shooting the TV, Elvis-style.
Of course, if this were 1950 and my TV weighed as much as a refrigerator, I would have to think very, very carefully before taking such drastic action because then I’d have to get it out of my house.
Chalk another point up for 1950’s design right there.
