Abstract

This project, The Cultural Consequences of Early American Advertising on Women, identifies and addresses the portrayal of women in early advertisements and how these portrayals influenced women’s lives during a time when mass marketing and advertising were still new concepts. Such emphasis is put on the objectification of women in today’s society that it is important to realize that this form of sexism did not begin in recent generations, but rather over a century ago.  Women were not only put on display in advertisements for undergarments, but were also depicted as homemakers, an image that perpetuated the gender roles of the late nineteenth century. This contradictory ideal nature of women as both good housewives and  sex objects set the tone for the depiction of women in advertisements for the following century. This conclusion was found through the study and analysis of Victorian-era advertisements with a corresponding knowledge of gender roles of the time.