Early 1920s ad textbooks sold crude stereotypes about women’s suggestibility

Evidence

The ineffectiveness of the old Woodbury’s advertisements reflected a clueless dependence on a series of broad stereotypes for advertising to women. “Women as a whole are more suggestible than men,” declared the contemporary textbook Advertising, Its Principles and Practice. “They are more easily influenced by their emotions.” Robert E. Ramsay, the author of Effective Direct Advertising, wrote that “women are more responsive to appeals made by illustration and by use of color than men are.” Whatever the validity of such claims, they didn’t exactly have women figured out. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 210

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the history of market research and how crude demographic assumptions preceded data-driven targeting. — connects to: Advertising exploited women’s insecurities about inadequacy to sell products — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 226; Advertisers weaponized social shame and judgment to sell products to women in the 1920s — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 217; Advertising research deliberately cultivated female discontent to expand women’s consumption — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 530 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Advertisers weaponized social shame and judgment to sell products to women in the 1920s #corroborates (0.85) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 217
• Advertising research deliberately cultivated female discontent to expand women’s consumption #qualifies (0.75) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 530
• Early radio advertising weaponized sincerity and basic instincts for sales #corroborates (0.72) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 329