Pilcher, Great Sausage Rebellion.
Pillsbury, No Foreign Food.
Sack, White Bread Protestants.
Schwartz, Never Satisfi ed.
Shapiro, Perfection Salad.
Stearns, Fat History.
Theophano, Eat My Words.
Valenze, Milk.
The early 20th century has been described as the golden age of advertising. It
certainly was the fi rst time mass media was used extensively to sell products;
in fact, entirely new products were marketed in ingenious ways. Breakfast
cereals are merely one example. Chewing gum is another. Think of a food
product that appeared in this era. Search for images of advertisements for
this product. What tactics did the ads employ? Who were they targeting,
in terms of demographics, gender, and social class? Where did these ads
appear, and what was their primary appeal? In other words, was it rational
or emotional? Were scare tactics used, or were the ads aspirational, selling a
particular lifestyle? Deconstruct the text and images, and look for subliminal
messages. For example, an ad for vitamin-fortifi ed pasta might claim that
children need to eat well to grow up healthy, and this brand of pasta is
nutritious. The subtext, though, is that friends and neighbors will look at your
scrawny children, and you will be ashamed for not feeding them well. This
is intended to scare you into buying the product. In the end, what are these
ads really selling—food or fantasy? Think how advertising today functions
much the same way, playing on our fears and desires.
Culinary Activity