This propaganda advertisement was created by Alcoa Aluminum in order to advertise easy-to-use bottle caps to consumers. This piece of propaganda was produced in 1953. Embedded in this piece of propaganda was a negative idea and view of women. During this time, women were viewed in their typical gender roles. Women were thought of as inferior, not as useful as men, as well as very dependent on men. Women even felt societal pressures in the 1950’s to orient lives around their husbands, children, and family in general. A dominant theme presented in the methods of media during this time was that a woman getting married and obtaining a husband, also known as a “Mrs.” (pronounced M.R.S.) degree, was far more important, or practical, than women obtaining an actual college degree. The media veered more toward focusing on a woman’s role in the home than towards women attaining jobs in the workforce, as depicted by this advertisement. The 1950’s was also known as the era of the “happy homemaker”. Since women were getting married and having more children at a younger age than ever before, the media idealized domesticity. By the media highlighting and making the women’s place in the home, women were then encouraged to stay home and take care of the kids and the home, if the family was able to afford it. In turn, women who chose to work when the family was not in need of the money were considered selfish due to putting themselves before the needs of their family.
The purpose of this propaganda was to show that even though women were very dependent on others and submissive to their male counterparts, they were still able to open this bottle on their own with the advancement of the new easy-to-open bottle cap. This advertisement for this product was seen as surprising because women were actually able to open the cap of the bottle on their own. The woman’s face in the advertisement is even looking at the consumer shockingly, with her mouth open. This showed the consumer just how easy it was to open. The advertisement is portraying the woman as shocked due to the fact that she was able to open it on her own, her facial expression shows she wasn’t even sure she would be able to. The target audience is older adult males. This advertisement is geared toward the husbands of stay at home moms and wives, it showed males that since the woman on the advertisement was able to open the bottle easily, their wives were also going to be able to open the cap of the bottle on their own and won’t have to rely on their husbands to open it for them.
The production techniques used in this form of propaganda was simplify ideas. Suggesting that other bottle caps were too hard for women to open, but this bottle cap is different and superior to the other models on the market and women are able to open it without any problems. The advertisement attracts and holds attention to the audience by the bright red lipstick and nail color on the woman. Since the woman’s lips and hands are near the bottle your eyes are immediately drawn to the contrast of the red color to the yellow background. The color also is appealing because features of the woman are red such as her lipstick and her nail polish, but the color of the bottle is also red drawing the two together in your mind. The white border of the advertisement also draws your eyes toward the words, “You mean a woman can open it?”. These words were meant to help persuade the consumer to purchase the product. Since men were going to think the bottle cap is superior to the competition, they would want to purchase something that would make their wives happier and more easily accessible to them. Men would also be more drawn to purchase the product since the woman of the household was the person in the relationship who was going to be preparing and making all the meals, using this very product.
The lifestyle that is represented in this advertisement is one where gender roles and norms were socially enforced. Men went to work and made money to provide for their families. Women stayed home and watched the children, cleaned the house, and cooked all the meals. It seems like the demographic that this advertisement is geared too values simplicity. Males and females will interpret these messages differently especially if it was an advertisement viewed in our more open culture in the 21st century compared to when it was being advertised in the 1950’s. Today, I don’t believe the majority of males would support an advertisement that presents women as weaker and males as the dominant gender. In our society today I believe the majority of people want to see females and males being equal and having equal opportunity. Females today would find this advertisement to be a disgrace as well as very degrading to women.
Something that is omitted is the actual use of the bottle cap. The woman in the advertisement isn’t even opening the bottle cap or even touching it. From this advertisement, we cannot even tell if the Alcoa Aluminum bottle cap is more functional or easier to use than the original bottle cap that was being used prior. I think this advertisement was viewed as beneficial in the 1950’s. I don’t believe many people took offense to this advertisement in the 1950’s. If there were people, mainly women, who took offense to this advertisement they felt as though they were unable to speak up and display their feelings on the subject. I believe it was a useful advertisement and men in that era would be more inclined to purchase the product. I think today, it is a harmful message toward women and it is demeaning advertisement saying that of all people, a “woman” can open it, having the consumer assume that it is an easy to open bottle.
In the reading written by Hobbs and McGee, it stated on page 57 that “propaganda involves the intentional sharing of facts, opinions, and ideas designed to change behavior or motivate action.” I believe that the example of propaganda I choose exhibits this. In the 1950’s men who saw this ad would change their behavior by no longer purchasing regular bottles with the original bottle caps, but instead purchasing bottles that had the easier open bottle caps that Alcoa Aluminum made. The intentional sharing of the idea that this newer model of bottle cap is easier to open, and would therefore make women’s lives easier, would change the behavior in which consumers purchased products
In the reading written by Hobbs and McGee, on page 59, the propaganda device that was at use in this propaganda was “Plain Folks”. This is because the author of this propaganda was displaying that the woman portrayed in the advertisement, as just being like normal woman during that era. She is dressed nicely, her hair is short, she has a slight amount of makeup on. The woman in the advertisement is barely sexualized at all. Her top is buttoned all the way up and you cannot see any unnecessary skin as you would in many advertisements in the 21st century. The only part that could be considered sexualized is that her mouth is close to the bottle/bottle cap and that could help draw more attention toward the bottle cap than otherwise would have, especially with the red pop of color her lipstick is displaying.
References
Hobbs, R. & McGee, S. (2014). Teaching about
Journal of Media Literacy Education 6(2), 56 – 67.
https://propaganda.mediaeducationlab.com/rate/1953-bottle-cap-advertising
