Fear sells

Fear mongering, playing on our primal instinct to survive and dodge danger is a tactic long chosen by the clever advertisers. Biologically speaking, fear produces epinephrine in our brain, the "feel-good" -hormone that rewards us for experiencing frightening situations. (Horror movies, anyone?) That is why we get pleasure out of being scared, and the sensation is both contagious and addictive. Fear also overtakes reason in our thinking, and there is nothing more powerful of  a persuader than a crippling sense of danger. And this is how we make a lot of our purchases. Really. Let´s see some toothbrush images.



Feeling those gums going tender? A slice of horror in a commercial. But this is nothing new. Let´s have a look at the olden goldies.




That dust sure is a monster. Because we just cannot be clean enough, every gal needs a dose of radioactivity!


Fear of failure, or how they say "feared self", is the engine driving most of the marketing of cosmetics.
Anti-wrinkle creams, soaps, teeth whitening strips, line-control eye balms... Do we really need them, or do they even work? Or are we actually resorting to the "aid" offered to us because we _fear_ what might happen otherwise? L´Oreal states that "I am worth it", but am I worth more that gasping every single tube and case they are pushing as a boost for self-esteem? Like it or not, the message is that we are simply not acceptable without the chemicals on our skin. Be it radioactivity, DDT or parabens.




Unilever´s "Dove" -products gained a lot of good PR with their message of "real" beauty and decision to use "real" women on their advertising. This was, however, another case of smoke and mirrors. Pascal Dangin , the magician of a photoshopper, came forward to admit that "a lot" of photoshopping was needed and performed on the raw images of "real beauties".

Fear sells

Look! She really does not care!

It is amazing the stuff they can sell with women´s bodies. Even now. Here´s an ad from "The Saturday Evening Post" from the golden fifties. This was the age of rising consumerism, belief on a never ending supply of energy, resources and constant economic growth. Women were curvier, blonder and well, "domesticated". At least according to the image this commercial portrays. She seems to be having an orgasm from the simple pleasure of having her breasts being watered by a random strange man. (Seriously, how can that happen? Do you know how cold that hosed down water usually is?) Hmm, I have a feeling this whole picture could be just a metaphor for something quite else going on between a man and a woman. I might be wrong. But the illustrator must have/had some imagination going on in that head of his.


Her hair, makeup and the entire outfit look high maintenance. Yet she does not mind it all being ruined by a splash of water. Because she doesn´t care! Everyone wants to win the Miss wet t-shirt contest, orchestrated by a man in a lab coat -all in the name of science. The things we just have to do, or what, ladies?

And this ad was brought to you by the Continental Oil Company, defunct company since 2002.

Look! She really does not care!

Kitchen Dreams in the 1950s

Back in the 50s, people had high hopes for the future. It was commonplace to believe in a colony in Moon, talking robot helpers and glowing democracy that would save us all with a wink of capitalism.
So no wonder the scientists dreamed up all kinds of fancy aids to help in the kitchen.

This beautiful dream was cooked up by the engineers at General Motors in 1954. Electric mixers and food blenders would rise out of the counters and motorized cabinets move up and down.

In this idea, everything would work out like magic with the touch of a button.

And this image shows us a quite advanced scifi-kitchen. As in, it is still not possible. Frigidaire´s and General Motors´Kitchen of Tomorrow in 1956. The IBM manufactured card containing a recipe file not only shows the picture of a dish on the screen, but it would dispense the ingredients and start preparing the dish itself. Automatic laundry machine would start washing clothes on its own when the load reached 8 lbs.Now that would be a  housewives/or househusbands savior!

This era is quite charming. Capitalism and peer pressure pushed the middle class into buying all the new shiny toys for their new suburbian houses, and commercials emphasized how having all the latest gadgets, floors, furnitures etc. for your home was absolutely necessary. Otherwise you were an unacceptable house(wife). Everything was pushed with appeals to technology, modern times and normality. It was "abnormal" not to have a modern kitchen and a house. Nowadays advertising is much subtler, which can be noticed while watching this video.

Kitchen Dreams in the 1950s