Saturday, March 21, 2009

Advertising in 1934

Last Christmas, my friend Mike sent me a copy of the December 1934 Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Just inside the front page there was an ad that caught my eye and quite frankly, tickled my funny bone!



So, you might be asking yourself, "so what is so funny about a widow with five children?" Well.. nothing really. But it's the mere fact that THIS was considered effective advertising for the day.

Mrs. Merle Brown (our featured widow) who is described as 'sensible' noted that it wasn't easy living on her $100.00 a month (Her husband left no insurance... she seems a bit bitter) and she couldn't afford 'baking failures.' So, skimp as she must, she wasn't about to give up Royal Baking Powder.

As Mrs. Brown says, "Good butter, eggs and milk cost too much to be trusted to cheap, doubtful baking powder."

Hmmm.. maybe it's true... everything old is new again?

5 comments:

John R. said...

This ad is quite humorous. Don't we all wish we could live on $100 a month! Of course, my baking powder of choice is Davis Baking Powder (The kind Martha uses, wink, wink!)

Anonymous said...

What an interesting ad!

Matt's Kitchen said...

And just how much extra money was splurged on Royal Baking Powder?

I love old ads. They just make me realize how simple things were back then. Not that the world was any less problematic, but it just seems we've lost some innocence along the way...

Anonymous said...

If you think *that's* hilarious, you should read my BH&G cookbook from 1931. "Cook in a moderate-hot oven." What.... like 350 degrees???

I wonder what ever happened to those five children. I hope they ate well. :)

Miss May in Chattanooga said...

These blogs and remarks make me feel happy. It makes me feel we are all on the phone together. Back in the 1940s, sometimes the phone lines would get all crossed, and there would be four of us strangers talking to each other for an hour!!!! Bless you all.