“Remember, They Named it Rely” (1980)
Really? You have got to be kidding me. This is my fortune on November 8, 2009: ”A man’s best possession is a sympathetic wife.”
Loony Tunes produced this cartoon “Goo Goo Goliath” in 1954. Though first distributed in theaters, the cartoons were part of my after-school television routine by the 1970s & ’80s. Current cartoon fans don’t like this episode much, but I think it is a fascinating commentary on 1950s mores, with the baby dominating every facet of home life. The baby controls everything, even dad’s car. And, it reinforces the stork myth to help produce naive children.
This series of Swiffer commercials is really distasteful. This one assumes a woman’s love affair with housework and the technology of the mop. Next, it plays into the trope of the disaffected boyfriend. Others I’ve seen have the mop nearly stalking the woman. When there are real issues with restraining orders, this whole theme of the man (the mop) who just can’t take “no” for an answer is not very funny for anyone.
The Flicker shaver from the 1970s is a good example of “pinkwashing” an object for women consumers, thereby re-designing a once masculine technology to be feminine. But does it actually work any better?
I was just thinking about what a crazy marketing scheme the Leggs Egg was to sell nylons, or “hose” as my mother would say. The eggs were the best for toys, and a boon at Easter to be fill with lots of goodies.
