Advertising and the Seven Deadly Sins

Author: Dorothy Gray Salon
Date: 1951

    Place of Publication: New York Herald Tribune

     When looking at this advertisement, the eye is immediately drawn to the woman's face taking up a third of the picture. Behind her is another man and woman, seemingly close due to their proximity and cordially intimate touching. The rest of the advertisement contains information about the product being sold, which is a variety of skin creams and lotions. The catchphrase for this ad is "Does your husband look younger than you?", referring to the nervousness plastered on the main woman's face. A smaller picture on the right shows the woman happy with the man in the background, and has the caption, "Happy results reported by woman everywhere".

     Looking beyond what is explicitly said/shown in the advertisement, the message is one of defining attractiveness based on what a husband thinks of one's appearance. The woman in the foreground is in obvious distress, not only because of her facial expression but because of the black/white color scheme used in the photograph. By looking at the bottom two-thirds of the ad, it can be seen that color was a printing option in the 1950s. At this point, pictures could be taken in color, but were very expensive. Thus, a largely dispersed newspaper would have chosen to use black and white for mass production. However, the author could have chosen to use a hand painted picture in color rather than a photo. This means the author believed the best way to get across the theme of distress was to use a black and white photo to show how a woman with poor skin lived an uninteresting life. Her life was essentially without color: pointless and apprehensive.

     The intended audience of the advertisement is an essential part of how it was created and its relevance to the time period. As it was created in the United States in 1951, women lived a more domestic lifestyle with a heavy reliance on a man/husband. Beauty was highly desired as a means to attract a suitor, thus this ad appealed to a woman's wish to be considered beautiful. The bold text under the slogan reads, "You may side-step the tragedy that overtakes so many wives...", using an ellipses to draw the reader to continue reading the advertisement. Having poor skin is described as a tragedy; its negative connotation paired with the importance of bolded text contributes to the idea of standardized beauty.

     While the obsession with appearances can be attributed to society, a woman's desire to

be physically perfect can be considered a form of vanity. Finding a suitor aside, women (or at least the desired audience for this ad) believed that females should look and be younger than males. They preferred youthful skin because it was considered delicate and feminine, as it showed they did not have to leave the house to get their hands dirty. Women with hardier, worn skin were associated with the working class, and due to standards of 1950s society, were looked down upon. Thus, women suffered from pride because they mentally placed themselves over others and wished to be attractive to determine their status in society.

     In addition to vanity, another instance of one of the seven deadly sins is lust. In the background, a man is intimately associating with a woman, much to the chagrin of the woman in the foreground. The man is presumed to be the husband to the woman in the front, due to the mention of "husband" in the slogan and them being happily together in a later picture. While in modern American society it is looked down upon for a man to cheat on his spouse, it was not always considered detrimental in decades past. If a man cheated on his spouse, it could be considered the wife's fault if she did not maintain an ideal outward appearance. Yet, the man's actions can still be considered a sin because the Christian Bible forbids adultery. Cheating on an unattractive spouse may have been allowed in America's society, but according to the New Testament, a husband and wife must remain faithful to one another so long as they are married.

     Do to its use of two "Deadly sins", this advertisement is a prime example of how mass media appeals to its intended audience. Dorothy Gray Salon may have only targeted American women, but this audience is still rather broad. The sins of vanity and lust appealed to them because they play off women's insecurities of remaining young and vibrant so their husbands would remain faithful. Since this is an advertisement, it is possible that the scenarios in the pictures/text are exaggerated to stimulate a more emotional reaction from the audience. A woman may act on impulse and buy one of Dorothy Gray's products, as the primary purpose of the text was to sell merchandise. The placement of the ad in a newspaper, a popular source of information at the time, made it accessible to those in New York and beyond. To conclude, this ad, while controversial with its stance on women, is successful at delivering its message because of the subliminal use of the deadly sins and societal norms