Stereotypes And Advertising In The 1950s

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Many changes had happened since 1950; technology, human rights, economy, politics, fashion, media, etc. As an instinct of human, we always seek for the better. So, we develop every second, trying to make our lives better, faster and easier. Still there are some facts that we just can’t change; greed, self-destruction, lie, violence, bad habits, lust, envy, pride, judgments, etc. Even tough they diminished, they still exist and they always will. Today, we look back to movies, media and advertising back in 50s and think we have developed so much. Have we? Did we get rid of racism, sexism, stereotyping form our media, adverts or even our lives? We might not be in the same level as they were in 50s, but I believe we still have few more decades…show more content…
The word ‘stereotype’ comes from early printing, where it had to do with using a metal plate to produce the same image over and over. Nowadays, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, it refers to an “oversimplified idea” that is used, like those metal plates, over and over again. (Pardun,2014,125) Walter Lippmann had once said; Stereotypes are that construct the way we see the world around us before we have a chance to look for ourselves. I believe we still judge each other by what we wear, where we come from, what we eat, what we like and dislike, etc. Every culture has different stereotypes, so it changes from one culture to another. We try to observe people around us and create certain groups and decide who goes where, that way we can adapt our attitudes towards them. In some extent it’s a good thing, respecting to the others for their differences, but in many ways stereotyping is a brutal way of being racist, sexist or…show more content…
Either you lived the high life or you worked hard to have it. Everyone was trying to be that person on the posters or TV. They didn’t care about the product, as long as it was going to help them be in that high class. They were uninformed or misinformed about the products. On the adverts; babies were suggesting their mothers to smoke cigarettes to calm down, dieticians were advising to put ice cream on their cereal, babies were drinking 7up and Coca Cola, and women were furnishing their homes with chemical objects like fiberglass. They were doing and buying what they told on TV or adverts. Despite the unhealthy advertising, sexism and racism was playing a big role in the adverts. The 50’s were distilled into a world of pink and charcoal gray; the blandness of the man in the gray flannel suit, versus the pink pouting lips of sex goddess, Marilyn Monroe. (Heimann,2001,29) Men would be working and enjoying their new car, drinking or smoking meanwhile women would be cleaning, doing the dishes, taking care of family and of course being week and lower than a men. If not women would be used as sex objects to provoke men. When it comes to racism; African Americans were only used as cleaners, servants or constructers in the

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