I was flipping through a magazine the other day and came across very interesting ad. I have to say that this class has made me more aware of ads and I find it to be a lot of fun to look at one and dissect it into it main themes and techniques.
The company- Thermador, " An American Icon", the product- a super efficient oven, its tag line " the beauty of POWER". It features a women in her late 20's with her hair up in a scarf, wearing blue, collar popped, cuffed at the sleeve, her arm raised gripping the the oven handle in a "we can do it" attitude. sound familiar? it should. ladies and gentleman, i introduce Rosie the Riveter of our era. except this one doesn't wear overalls, but a beautiful gown with pumps.
I recognized the iconic image right away, it jumped off the page at me. I am disturbed that this once powerful icon of WWII had been made into a kitchen maven. Her once inspirational call to the women of the United States, "We Can Do It" has been turned into a cry from the kitchen aid market saying " Come on ladies, we can bake that ham in half the time".
Talk about raising morale.
For those of you who are unsure of who Rosie the Riveter was ( if you haven't stopped reading this to google her by now) here is brief explanation. Rosie was an ad campaign during WWII to draw women into factories, plants, and shipyards across the country. She actually IS an American icon
So, is this really a call to women everywhere? Has the kitchen become our call of duty? To serve from it while our brave men and boys leave home to wage a new century's war? Or perhaps it is only the doings of a clever advertiser.
To see the Thermador ad go here
http://www.thermador.com
To see and read a little about Rosie go here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_the_Riveter