Wednesday, April 17, 2019

What were they thinking, Part 2?

We've come a lonnnnnng way since 1962.  Smack dab in the middle of the MAD MEN era comes this actual commercial.  Where was #MeToo when that generation needed it? 

28 comments :

Anonymous said...

Lighten up, Francis

Mike said...

Ask your friend Jennifer Tilly what she dislikes in poker. All-women tables.

Pidge said...

I guess you never bothered to read Rona Jaffe’s “The Best Of Everything”.
This was the bible for female dreams and ambitions in that era.

Jim S said...

You should look up the Flintstone commercials on YouTube where Fred and Barney sing the praises of Winston cigarettes.

That's a real thing that really happened.

Brian said...

There are plenty of O YE GODS! ads like that, but this was an egregious one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScysMkhjvs4

Joseph Scarbrough said...

What I don't understand is how this past Christmas, radio stations were banning "Baby it's Cold Outside" because #MeToo said it was a "rape song" (and yes, I know it was initially just one station, but a few others followed suit afterwards), yet they're not doing anything about Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" for blatantly promoting objectifying women and fornication. Let alone, all the songs Bruno Mars does about wanting to get his rocks off.

Mike Doran said...

To any of you who believe that Things Have Gone Too Far:

- Go to YouTube.

- Enter the name Pinky Lee in Search.

- Watch just about anything that's in the overall list.

- Remember that you're looking at stuff that aired on broadcast TV 60+ years ago.

- After that, just think about it.

It's called perspective.
Give it a try sometime.

John Hammes said...

These "What Were They Thinking?" posts could (and possibly might) run for years. There is certainly no shortage of material. Who could have ever imagined this historical "treasure trove" of material, available at anytime to anyone.

Also, a somewhat humbling reminder that every generation has different (hopefully forward and humane) sensibilities, that future generations will also look back at us, and say "What Were They Thinking?", in ways we can not understand at the moment!

(Maybe they will say, at the very least, "...they were good people, they did the best they could, they MEANT well...)

123v said...

Perhaps it would be easier if you understood the former is about a man trying to coerce a woman to stay and be amorous, versus the latter examples of men taking about what makes them amorous.

Frank Beans said...

I don't exactly want to defend the add, but I think it was meant as mostly tongue-in-cheek, almost satirical of corporate office dynamics. 1962 was certainly a different time regarding lots of things, but I don't think people in general were completely backwards.

And I hate to even go here, but look at the prevalence of sexism today...

Mike Bloodworth said...

Don't do it! It's a TRAP!! The boss asks her out because she's "Fresher" than the other secretaries. They have a couple of martinis at lunch. When they get back he makes a "dictation" joke and Gloria Allred pops out of the supply cabinet. BUSTED. Then Miss Fresh collects a big settlement check. It's like the worm on a fish hook. It may seem inviting, but it's ultimately deadly.
Or maybe that's why the boss didn't ask her out. He was on to her game.
M.B.

Lemuel said...

There's a Tab commercial from the early 70's with "Be a Mindsticker" as it's slogan, featuring a young woman daintily romping through a fuzzy green landscape. The female singer croons "Don't you want to have a good shape? He wants you with a good shape"

Jeff Maxwell said...

It’s clearly not the deodorant. I don’t blame her boss. She obviously has anger and control issues.

Brian said...

How this even made air is everyone's guess:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoxsEnKMKfM

D McEwan said...

Wow.

Is she that desperate for food? How long has it been since she last ate lunch? Years? Maybe her boss's wife objects to him dating commercial actresses. Maybe her boss is a her. The important thing is, the woman has stopped stinking up the joint. (Note also that this woman is complaining that her boss is not being inappropriate with her.)

"Mike Doran said...
To any of you who believe that Things Have Gone Too Far:

- Go to YouTube.

- Enter the name Pinky Lee in Search."


Hey, 65 years ago, when I was three, I LOVED Pinky Lee. OK, his show seen when one is older than three does not exactly hold up, but what a man. ("Thindy Thue, Thindy Thue!")

Catch the movie Lady of Burlesque, based on the novel The G-String Murders by Gypsy Rose Lee, starring Barbara Stanwyck. First off, it's a very entertaining movie, but it's also a remarkably realistic look at the world backstage in Burlesque. Pinky Lee is in it, basically playing himself though his character name is "Mandy." Gives you an idea of what he was actually like off stage, and what kind of acts he did that built him into the guy on early 1950s kiddie TV.

YEKIMI said...

Maybe her boss is gay!

Buttermilk Sky said...

I agree with Jeff Maxwell! Also, I'm old enough to remember manual typewriters and you could work up quite a sweat. Not to mention arms like Harmon Killebrew.

Cap'n Bob said...

Rule number one for executives: Never scrogg your secretary (or whatever self-esteem title they have today).

Jahn ghalt said...


"My boss still hasn't asked me to lunch!"

Quite a stretch to lump this with #METoo. The lady aspires to nothing more than Joan or Jane (from MadMen).

No coercion involved - coercion not even implied.

I suspect many "assistants" in 2019 have exactly the same aspirations - and why not?

Thanks, BTW, for the insight and the eye-candy.

Stephen Marks said...

Mr. John Hammes, who posted about 3 or 4 slots above me, said it best....these could run for years, there is no shortage of what were they thinking stuff.

In fact here's one from last week. Every pundit who thinks they have knowledge of hockey picked the Tampa Lightening to win the Stanley Cup and the Columbus Blue Jackets to wimp out in the first round. Guess what, last night the Blue Jackets finished a sweep of the Lightening to pull off the biggest upset in the history of the NHL. If there are any Columbus, Ohio folks here congratulations to you, you've suffered for years and deserve this.

Earl Boebert said...

"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there. "-- L.P. Hartley.

Peter said...

Was there an alternate take in which the voiceover said "Fresh doesn't guarantee she'll give you head"?

Ba-dum tsss! I'm here all week, try the linguine.

Peter said...

Hard to believe that back in the day Coca-Cola was advertised as a "healthful" beverage.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ba/0b/d8/ba0bd8dd2ed756cb20dc5de213e13a00.jpg

Nothing says healthful like 10 teaspoons of sugar in a can!

I'm Outraged! said...

It could be interpreted that she wants a promotion and the opportunity to discuss it over lunch while not smelling bad, as opposed to wanting to get ahead by seducing her male boss with sweet smelling flirting, as you are assuming.

Mike Doran said...

D McEwan:

Sixty-five years ago, I was three years old.
And loved The Pinky Lee Show for what it was.
And in the intervening years, I know full well that it's not really state-of-the-TV-art any more, and all that.
And I have seen Lady Of Burlesque (got a dollar-store DVD and everything), so there's that.

All that said, I mentioned Pinky in the context of this particular post.
I think maybe you missed the point here.

Ken (and all the rest of you):
I'm suggesting that you check out Pinky's avid embraces of the kids - and their mommies - during the opening of his shows, as archived in YouTube.
You know, just to see how this sort of thing might play with the #MeToo crowd these days.

… and I didn't even mention one 1954 show in which Pinky Lee sings "I'm Sittin' On Top Of The World" with Molly Bee, who was somewhat underage at the time …

Just sayin' is all …

Peter said...

1961 advert for Coca-Cola.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8zTDbpxT8ZI

Drink Coke to stay thin!

Brian Phillips said...

Boy, people sure were gullible back in 2015. I wasn't around then, what was it like?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1SlBjbG7BQ

Brian Phillips said...

Hey, Lemuel!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDBJ2ktSZpI