What I wouldn't give for a copy of "Pounds and Personality" especially details on the "game" of dieting. What do we think, readers? Is there any chance it was the Eisenhower era's answer to Health at Any Size instead of a primer on fat shame and disordered eating? Maybe? Please?
Ah, check it out! http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wxorAAAAIBAJ&sjid=M6AFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4921%2C3045910
ReplyDeleteNot the whole booklet, but overall, I'm not entirely as horrified as I thought I would be after reading that.
Except for the unfortunate name (Chubettes) I kind of like the ad. More affirming than one would expect.
ReplyDeleteI'm more disturbed by the fact that it looks badly photoshopped BEFORE photoshop even existed, cut and pasted with actual scissors and glue. There is something in the proportions of that girl to the books that edges her near the uncanny valley, the uneasy ravine perhaps?
ReplyDeleteCompared to the advice you get in ads and most magazines today this ad with it's booklet (thank you Andie) had more common sense and was something I would have read as a chubby girl and thought "hell yeah I'm a unique and lovely snowflake" Sure it waxes lyrically about this particular brand of clothes, but all in all it's a very assuring piece of writing.
ReplyDeletehttp://vintage-ads.livejournal.com/3059018.html also? I'm pretty sure every item name/description on Modcloth is knocked off from that mostly-orange ad.
ReplyDeleteIs that girl supposed to be chubby??
ReplyDeleteThank goodness. I was worried it was going to be "order now and get a free packet of tape worms!"
ReplyDeleteI think the answer is yes, but maybe she doesn't look chubby because she's wearing her "slimming, trimming Chubbettes!"
ReplyDeleteYou know it's not Etsy because then they'd use "creamy and dreamy"
ReplyDeleteI'm so stealing "uneasy ravine" for use in my daily conversations.
ReplyDeleteI remember being a young chubbette myself and being traumatized by being taken to a shop called TGIF: Thank Goodness It Fits. I'm not even making that up. I don't even understand why, since by the time I was chubby I was also tall enough to wear regular women's clothes. Maybe I just wasn't being humiliated enough.
ReplyDeleteMe neither, but then I'm depressed because "not entirely horrified" is a low bar to set.
ReplyDeleteFor all the modern glorification of "retro" = "curve-friendly", the documentation doesn't support it. E.g.:
ReplyDeletehttp://zibbet-production.s3.amazonaws.com/images/610/3053813-original.jpg
Here's an older one: http://cemetarian.com/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=7436
ReplyDeleteI'm depressed because that text is saner and more positive than almost anything written about heavy kids now.
ReplyDelete