The Attic explores advertising images in McClure's
Magazine, a popular women's periodical and muckraking magazine. In
the 1920s, advertising
was coming into its own, buoyed by an incorporated America that
produced innumerable products for women and the home as part of an
emerging consumer society. These excesses came to a head in the
roaring 20s, as these images from McClure's show. At left, Earl
Christy's
January
1923 cover gives a Gibson-Girl
spin on the '20s' woman of fashion. I decided to work on advertising
because it is a byproduct of consumerism, which is increasingly becoming
the foundation of America. Consumerism has changed everything from the art
world to the domestic world. McClure's in particular shows this
through
these four images I have selected. Products like hosiery and makeup
were marketed as essential for the modern woman. The Cream of Wheat ad
tells women how to "start the new year right" -- with a bowlful of
cream of wheat. The washing machine ad depicts a woman happily washing
her clothes in the lastest washing machine. This ad reveals not only
the changes in technology from the '20s, but the impact it could have
on women's everyday lives. These advertising images, and even the
covers of the magazine that housed them, can give us one vision of the
1920s woman. At left, John Held, Jr's
illustrated
February 1928 cover. Articles
Advertising Images in
McClure's
Hosiery, 1922
Makeup,
1928
Cream of Wheat, 1923
Washing Machine, 1923
In Behalf
of
Advertising: Introduction: N.W. Ayer & Son explain their vision of
advertising in this book of essays. Here are a few sample
articles.
The Power of the Printed
Page
The Little
Woman G.P.A.
A Nation's Shopping
List