Folgers Coffee Sexism Essay

In the Sixties sexism was a widely accepted part of society but not in modern times. Commercials still stereotype women today but not nearly as much as in the Sixties. In the 1960’s Folgers Coffee commercial, the husband’s attitude towards the wife, Papa Eddie’s interaction with the woman, and the woman’s reaction to the men reveal the sexist attitudes of the time period. The husband’s attitude towards the wife gives an example of how women were perceived at the time. In the Folgers commercial the husband gets angry at the wife for making bad coffee as if the wife’s sole reason for existence revolves around her doing things that would please the husband. The company’s idea of portraying the husband as someone of more importance and more controlling

The wife’s reaction to the men in the commercial showcases how women were expected to act back in the 1960s. When the husband got upset with the wife for making terrible coffee, insinuating that her only purpose in life is to please him, and that if he is not happy she should feel guilty because it is all her fault. The wife running off immediately to the market to fix the problem so that she can mend the relationship with her husband. The wife’s life is portrayed in a way that suggest that women are supposed to live only to serve their husbands. The commercial also portrays the mentality that the only concerns women have are related to household chores, and that a woman’s whole existence revolves around housework and family. This paints a picture for society of how women are expected to be and portrays a sexist ideal of how women should act in a society that enforces the idea that women only exist for the convenience of others in a heavily male dominated society. The commercial enforces the idea that the man is always right based off of the wife’s interactions with her husband and Papa Eddie. The women in this commercial is clearly the victim in the situation and does not deserve to be treated this way, but society has conditioned women to believe that she is not the victim and that the unhappiness of her husband is all her fault which