The Chef does everything but cook-- That's what wives are for!

The advertising industry has long been one that perpetuates ideas and feelings through images, audio, video, etc. The industry of advertising relies on persuasion techniques which may not be politically correct. Advertising has always relied on themes that pique the interest of consumers. One theme that is repeated throughout advertising history is the use of sexism in ads. As men are usually in charge of these media/advertising companies, the image of woman has been subject to ads that promote inequality of women in society. These ads usually discount women from productive members of society to objects of men who only know how to serve, cook, and look pretty. In the past few decades however, women's rights have come a long way in fighting these sexist advertisements.

One instance of sexism being perpetuated by the media is an ad for Kenwood chef kitchen mixer. The advertisement shows a man and his wife in a kitchen with the man wearing a suit as if he is going off to work. The wife is shown in a submissive posture wearing a chef’s hat. This kind of scene is not very degrading on its own, however, in large print; the ad reads “The Chef does everything but cook- that’s what wives are for!” This advertisement while meaning to sell a kitchen mixer, is devaluing women as a whole and supports the stereotype that all women can do is stay at home and cook for their husbands.

As this advertisement is trying to merely sell a mixer(intended purpose), the ad contains a message that suggests that women are cooking machines and that staying at home are all that women are good for(unintended consequence). This advertisement probably circulated in the 1960s does not take into account the active women in the workforce. This advertisement when examined however, does not appeal to women directly as the buyer of the product. The product is actually aimed at the husband, most likely because the male has more spending power in the household which would make him responsible for buying new equipment for his wife to use. This article affects both sexes as men may only see women as cleaning machines/household specialists while women may see this as their only identity to identify with and conform to the stereotype that women are only good at home and are not active contributors to society. This can be detrimental to all age groups in women as well as identification of these advertisements from young girls may create a false image which shows that all they have going for them later in life is serving their husband and taking care of the home which can be detrimental to the formation of goals and dreams for many of these young children.

I believe this advertisement was done in a time where it was considered politically correct to circulate this kind of advertisement. If this advertisement were circulated in the present time, women’s rights activists would jump on and protest such an absurd advertisement. However, this article was created where the workforce consisted primarily of men at a time where only one member of the household was needed to support the family. Although this advertisement definitely perpetuates sexism, I do not feel that it was created purposely to devalue women.