This old ad takes sexism to whole other level. It was published by the Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation. In 1951, it appeared in Collier's Magazine. The advertisement shows a well dressed man lying in bed while a woman kneels on the side serving him food. The purpose of the ad is to persuade men to buy Van Heusen ties. At the bottom of the ad, there is writing that is promoting the ties by promoting a "man's world." The most ridiculous part of the ad is how it thinks man domination will make women happy. It says, "man-talking, power-packed patterns that tell her it's a man's world...and make her so happy it is."
The ad supports a "man's world" in which the men have all the power and the women's purpose is to serve them. The message is that men will gain confidence and power just by wearing these ties. It's trying to persuade viewers to buy this product by convincing them that male domination is right in the world. The fact that the woman is kneeling shows that females were seen as subservient and powerless at the time this advertisement was published. By putting women down, the ad gives more reason to men for buying the ties. The written part of the ad further persuades men to buy the ties by the ridiculous assumption that by showing women it's a man's world, they will be doing their wives a favor. The chauvinist language tries to make it seem okay that females are less than males.
The intended audience of the ad is men who are most likely older and married. They are also probably middle and upper class. The publisher also uses stereotypes to portray gender inequality. It uses typical gender roles to get the point across. For example, the man is dominating over the woman in the household. Also, the man seems to be employed while the woman's job is to stay at home and do the cooking.
The deadly sins the advertisement portrays is pride and avarice. Pride is shown by the man as he relaxes and seems perfectly content being served food by his wife. The advertisement uses pride as a persuasive device by boosting men's confidence and power. It's telling them to take pride in being men and using their power to get what they want in life. Therefore, they should take pride in wearing these ties. Avarice is also shown because it displays men as wanting anything that benefits them. They're greedy for power and will take anything they can to truly have a "man's world."
I think this is a well done analysis of a 50s ad, but I don't think you fully considered the affects the culture of the 50s had on the advertisement. Sure now the ad seems outrageous and the product itself would most likely never sell, but back then this is probably what advertisers had to do to sell their products. I don't know if you can put the fault all on the advertisers or the culture in general. After all the advertisers were just doing their job to sell it. I find this a very interesting bit about the advertising business in general. They do what they have to, to sell a product, even if that means being sexist or racist or promoting stereotypes. Anyway, I also wanted to suggest maybe that the add also promotes the sin of sloth. It seems in this ad that the man is not really doing anything and sitting back and relaxing as the woman does all the chores. I feel this would fit the criteria for sloth as it's promoting a sort of laziness to the men. Overall, I enjoyed reading your post and thought it was an excellent analysis.
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