Blog 7- Magazine Ads

It took me awhile to find the magazine section of the library for this blog assignment but it was interesting checking out the lower level of the library. When I finally came to the room I checked through a couple Life magazines. I looked at the 1936 volume which I believe is one of the earliest sets if not, the earliest. It was kind of difficult looking through the already-worn and discolored pages as I tried to flip the pages without making it worse than they already were. There were so many ads for alcohol which I never realized that most of the ads were alcohol with a couple food or item ads. Since we couldn’t use those ones, I came across 2 Campbell’s soup ads- December 7 and 14 of 1936…

The first one’s headline said: Campbell Soups are Condensed to Give You Double Value. It had a scene of a grocery aisle with the shelved soup cans and all the varieties (21 at the time). On the right side was the woman on the right side was younger, dressed in black dress and hat with a huge fur trim, red lip, a hand placed on her hip with red painted nails, and a smile. On the left was the grocery clerk-white older male with his left hand holding up a can and his right hand using a pencil to point at the can. I thought that the woman’s dress and demeanor seemed to outshine the product. It was particularly awkward how the clerk needed a pencil to point at the can. I had no idea how to read that gesture. Overall, the ad pumped up the value of this product because it is a condensed soup but with still reasonable prices. The Campbell’s girl cartoon in the corner highlights this very fact.

The second one’s headline read: An Old Fashioned Soup Goes to Town-with the attention drawn to the chicken noodle soup. It featured two women, one on either side of the headline. The woman on the left is completely covered in an older Victorian dress and her facial expressions were of her eyes closed, very reserved, coy, and quaint. On the opposite side you see the woman is in a fur coat but only reaches below the knee and we actually see her heels. Her face is more attentive from the profile angle which prominently shows her facial features as well as her eyes being open. Event he cartoon girl was featured kind of ashamed or embarrassed to be still in the Victorian era dress.

I was surprised to see that the Campbell’s look has not changed much since then as well as the ads. I thought what set the ads apart from modern advertising was how the people were portrayed and the issues that they threw out to the audience for attention which gauged the changing times. You can see the women of society really changing and advancing already just through Campbell’s soup ads.

Adam Mack. "Food Is Love: Food Advertising and Gender Roles in Modern America. " Journal of Popular Culture 40.2 (2007): 393-395. Research Library. ProQuest. WWU Library. 15 May, 2008.041 http://www.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/