| This dissertation explores the social and symbolic representation of food and gender in magazine advertisements from the early 1900s to 2005. Data come from a content analysis of food advertisements in three specific magazines: Ladies Home Journal, Saturday Evening Post, and LIFE. Advertisements come from three distinct time periods, selected for their historical significance and centrality to issues of domesticity in the American context: 1905 representing the second industrial revolution and the rise of mass marketing, 1955 representing post WWII consumer culture, and 2005 representing contemporary American culture---characterized by convenience-based drives for domestic goods, and the existence of dual-income families. Thirty-seven specific magazine issues were selected for coding, resulting in an overall sample of 581 food advertisements. Food ads were analyzed for both surface and symbolic content, providing data on changes and consistencies in advertising formats, character depictions utilized within ads, and overall conveyed meanings. While the findings indicate some changes in surface representations over time, food advertisements have consistently and explicitly targeted women as the "gatekeepers" of domestic food management. Interestingly, though women have been targeted in food ad campaigns (particularly in the role of mother), they are often instructed by specific "experts" who guide them in their roles. These experts are men, home economists (in 1955), and even children. While males commonly instruct or guide women in their roles as mothers, the male 'experts' used within food ads in these data are never fathers. Rather, the male experts are cultural authorities based on their roles outside of the home as doctors, millers, or mythical logo characters. Patterns of representation over time also reveal consistencies in who is not represented. Overall, magazine content and character depictions within food ads housed in the LHJ, SEP, and LIFE present life from a white, middle to upper class perspective. |
