August 16, 2009

The ecstasy of housework.

Joy... fabulous... at your finger-tip's command... perfect, generous-sized... dishwasher fashion... absolutely different... toast'n jam... touch no dirt!... why wait for someday?... the famed Flexicorner... Dad's tickled pink... 4 heat settings... someday you'll be a star... Twindow!

Vintage ads... from back when "some day" was one word and every appliance was - apparently — a sex toy.

(Via Instapundit.)

21 comments:

New York said...

These ads used to strike me as sexist and I'd think I'm so glad that women today aren't so superficial.

Then as I got older I noticed that women sounded more and more like the ones depicted in these ads. The ads don't even strike me as so sexist any longer.

Bissage said...

The truly generous man-of-the-house, handy with tools, could adjust the Whirlpool Surgomatic so that it vibrated like there was no tomorrow.

Touch-button control?

You betcha.

fivewheels said...

"Someday" is one word. At least "sometimes. "

rhhardin said...

Products involving cleaning have to be marketed to people who are most uncomfortable with messes.

That's women.

Guys only clean when it needs it, every couple of years.

Not enough to support fixed costs in any marketing plan.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Inflation has penetrated all aspects of our lives.

Everything at the magazine stand was up up up.

Jason (the commenter) said...

It wasn't just housework. I was looking through an instruction manual for a printing calculator and the women using it looked really happy, too.

(It could multiply decimal places!)

I also found a blood coagulation timer instruction manual; sure enough, it also showed an ecstatic woman using it.

Synova said...

Sometimes I think... since housework still has to be done... that presenting it as something that will get raves when done well might be a good thing.

Jason (the commenter) said...

I wonder if exposure to all of these images is the reason Althouse chose a photo of herself where she smiles so much as her "About Me" photo.

rhhardin said...

since housework still has to be done

Not true. It's actually pretty optional.

Major cleaning up is only necessary before you get a new puppy, to put out of reach anything he'd like to chew on or eat, which includes for example dust bunnies.

Crimso said...

I own a very very old house (by TN standards). Been doing some work on the new addition (that was added in the late '40's), including plumbing. Some of the plumbing under the house was wrapped in insulation, then further wrapped with newspaper. Replacing these pipes with PVC, we discovered we could unwrap and read the newspapers. The papers were from early Dec 1962, Nashville and Chattanooga. Had ads like these. And the prices! One of the apapers had a story in it about how mortified the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce was to find they had mistakenly invited a "Negro" business owner to join. There was to be an upcoming meeting to discuss whether to rescind the invitation or let it stand. Don't know how it turned out in this particular case, but I'd bet they let "Negros" join now. The business owner in question didn't think it was any big deal. Never occurred to him that he might be breaking a color barrier, he just figured they appreciated the success of his businesses. Things may not have changed as much as they need to, but they've changed a Hell of a lot since then.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

You would be thrilled too if you no longer had to use and clean out a wood cook stove or scrub clothes using hand operated washing machines.

rhhardin said...

Nifty cooling arrangement, moving cool basement floor air to the computer chair on the first floor, on the few days you need actual cooling.

basemant inlet,

hall outlet.

I was just thinking no woman would ever allow this clever and cheap to run setup.

Laura(southernxyl) said...

I was struck by the woman doing an interpretive dance to demonstrate her dishwasher.

My husband's comment was, "Oh, to be a TV."

Chip Ahoy said...

rhhardin, that's clever. If your washer is in the basement, it could double as a laundry chute.

Bissage said...

(1) Effective, efficient, and it keeps the radon levels down, too!

(2) Fourteen comments and still not a mention of: (a) Charlton Heston, (b) Rex Harrison, (c) Michelangelo or (d) Pope Julius II.

Hmmmmmmm.

* scratches head *

(3) wv = denes, as in Rooty Tooty Fresh 'n' Fruity.

rhhardin said...

The house already has a laundry chute.

Two heavy duty extension cords share it with laundry, in order to put the switch for the fan upstairs, in fact.

Nothing goes to waste.

BJM said...

Any one remember the Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster? Bread automatically silently lowered and rose; toasted to perfection.

I recently scored a 1950's era Sunbeam T-20 on ebay and banished the pricey Dualit to the pantry and now we're in toast Nirvana.

Gran's 1930's GE "Diana" waffle iron still works like a champ too, producing a perfect crispy waffle every time.

Gran had a similar wringer washer when I was very young. I remember her beaming with pride as the neighbors exclaimed over and admired her new automatic Maytag washing machine, just as they did the humongous Muntz TV console.

American companies made some damn fine products and produced characters like Earl "Madman"Muntz (the prototype TV huckster and consumer electronics opportunist).


wv: bionia - The Sony TV ad model's first name.

Ken Pidcock said...

As always, the Picturphone® ad remains most baffling. Why would anyone want to talk anyone who can see them?

Your Correspondent said...

If any of you need some of that housework ecstasy; I've got enormous ecstasy potential in my bathroom and under my kitchen sink...

Plus: Truly orgasmic dust bunnies under my bed!

Scott M said...

Despite that era's direct impact on why American men are treated so poorly in today's advertising, I have to admit that there IS a certain zen attainable through housework. Couple that with the instant gratification factor and I'm not quite sure what anyone was bitching about in the first place :)

Big Mike said...

A long time ago I read something about advertising in the 1950's and 1960's -- the ads presented the product in a way to ask the question "Lady, are you a good lay"?

Looking at some of these ads, I think I get it.