Ad Women: How They Impact What We Need, Want, and Buy

Citation

Wood, N.T. (2010), "Ad Women: How They Impact What We Need, Want, and Buy", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 393-394. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363761011052431

Ad Women: How they Impact What We Need, Want, and Buy, is, in essence, three stories woven together to create one book. The first story is of the evolution of the advertising profession from the late 1800's to current day. The second explores how advertising to women has changed over time, and the third, which is the central premise of the book, examines the role of women in advertising. As interesting as each of these stories may be, the final product is unfortunately not an entirely inspiring read. The discussions on the advertising profession and advertising to women are without a doubt educational, and interesting. However, the discussion on womens' contribution to the profession, which (according to the title) is the focus of the book, is not as arousing.

Throughout the ten chapters of Ad Women Sivulka includes profiles of a number of women who have played a key part in American advertising. Unfortunately, many of these profiles are repetitive, and fail to provide any real insight into “who“these women were, and what was so unique about them and their work, that made them pioneers. Each profile is primarily a biographical sketch of each woman's upbringing, education, family/personal life, and places of employment. Less detail is provided on the driving forces behind these successful women, such as their business philosophy. As a result, the impact that each of these women had on the profession, and the conclusions that can be drawn from their work, is not always as clear as it should be.

Although the book fails to deliver in this area it does succeed in the other two. Chapter 1, “Customers become consumers” provides a nice overview of the evolution of marketing and advertising from the industrial revolution in the 1770's up until the early 1900's. What is particularly good about this chapter is the inclusion of key marketing terms, which will benefit those readers who area less familiar with the profession.

Chapter 2, “The entering wedge” offers an insight into the first of three waves of advertising women. There are some interesting stories on the challenges that women faced, not only in the workplace, but also in obtaining a higher education.

For those interested in the evolution of marketing and advertising research, Chapter 3 (“It Takes a Woman to Sell a Woman”) is a must read. This chapter also discusses the popularity of, and growing market for periodicals. The reader is offered a very brief glimpse into the early days of advertising to children.

Chapter 4, “The business of femininity” explores the 1910's and 1920's. This chapter provides an interesting discussion on the use of advertising appeals and spoke characters, such as the famous Betty Crocker (General Mills), and the growing importance of celebrity endorsers:

Hollywood offered the creative department endless possibilities to reach Mrs Jones, the typical women buyer with visions of love, romance, riches, and glitter. For her the movies provided a change from the day‐to‐day troubles of life. She could imagine herself as the glamorous Greta Garbo, and handsome men like Gary Cooper fell in love with her. And through the movies, she could also visit homes of the wealthy, where the husband is immaculately groomed, children are all charming, and the women wear smart clothes (p. 142).

Chapter 5, “The depression and war years” examines the challenges facing the advertising profession during the war years. During this time radio advertising became popular, and with it the introduction of product placement. “Ina complex relationship, women's work on radio programming had a significant influence on shaping lifestyles, reinforcing stereotypes, and gendering consumption” (p.177).

Chapter 6, “The fabulous fifties: redesigning Mr. and Mrs. Consumer” describes the post war economic boom – a time when there was an increasing demand for housing, home furnishings and all things domestic. Sivulak offers a succinct overview of the work of motivational researchers Ernest Dichter and Herta Herzog, and the impact of their work on sex and symbolism in advertising. This chapter will appeal to those readers with an interest in consumer behavior.

Chapter 7, “The fabulous fifties: selling Mr. and Mrs. Consumer” examines the stereotyping and sexualization of women. It also explores the redesigning of male dominated products for the female consumer.

…Chrysler produced a fun, high‐end model for the fine ladies of the day – the Dodge La Femme in 1954 and 1955. It symbolized Detroit automakers' idea of femininity with two‐tone exteriors painted in Heather Rose and Sapphire Rose or a lavender and white option … But the crowning touches were its feminine accessories with compartments to stow a woman's essentials, including a matching rose‐colored compact and lipstick case. The 1955 model also featured a seat cloth with little rosebuds and a rain ensemble with folding umbrella to match (pp. 266‐267).

“The second wave of ad women” (Chapter 8) takes us through the 1960's and 1970's, and the rebirth of feminism. The writings of Betty Friedman (The Feminine Mystique) and Helen Gurley Brown's (Sex and the Single Girl) is explored, and how they inspired women to “have it all.”

Chapter 9, “The womanists” is an interesting look at the black consumer market and black women in advertising. In addition to discussing back feminism and attempts to connect with African Americans, it also covers the introduction of new advertising vehicles, including Ebony magazine.

With picture story after picture story, Ebony gave middle class blacks their first intimate glimpse of black entertainment stars, sports heroes, politicians, and entrepreneurs. More important, it showed how blacks, in spite of the pervasive racism, were able to achieve in virtually every category of American life (p. 319).

The 1980s brought about “The third wave of ad women” (Chapter 10). It was the era of yuppies, dinks, and McMansions. This chapter explores the famous and controversial advertising campaigns of Calvin Klein. It also examines the use of psychographics and geodemographics to identify and understand new markets.

To the author's credit, this book is a solid historical account of the American Advertising profession. From the detailed chronological account of events, to the inclusion of illustrations, advertisements and photographs, the reader is offered a window to the past. It is obvious that an extensive amount of time and effort was spent researching the subject. Given the amount of material covered it is not a casual read. But for those who have an interest in the women's movement, or the history of advertising in America, it is enlightening.