Artist Depicts 1960's Ads In A Parallel Universe Where The Gender Roles Are Reversed
The 1960's were quite an influential time in history. It was the age of John F. Kennedy, US space travel, Martin Luther King Jr, and intense political and wartime situations around the world. The 1960's are also commonly seen as the era of the typical "nuclear family." It consists of a husband and wife, 2 kids, a moderate-sized house, and the notorious white picket fence.
Evidently, stereotypical male and female gender roles were very prevalent during these years and were promoted in media all the time. Nowadays, these roles are seen by most as being sexist, so it's quite frustrating and amusing to look back at the 1960's media promoting these gender roles.
That's why middle-eastern photographer and artist Eli Rezkallah has remade some of these advertisements with the gender roles reversed in his "In A Parallel Universe" project. Take a look below and also on his Twitter and the project's informational page.
From "she'll be happer with a Hoover," to "he'll be happier with a Hoover," this remake crushes the sterotype that women have to stay home and do all of the cleaning, and men shouldn't.
The original ad (on the bottom) by Alcoa Aluminum, was promoting its easy-to-open Ketchup bottles.
Supposedly, they were so easy to open that "even a woman can open it," because women are stereotypically seen as weaker and less capable than men in physical activities.
On the promotional page for his "In A Parallel Universe" project, Rezkallah says "Last Thanksgiving, I overheard my uncles talk about how women are better off cooking, taking care of the kitchen, and fulfilling 'their womanly duties.' Although I know that not all men like my uncles think that way I was surprised to learn that some still do, so I went on to imagine a parallel universe, where roles are inverted and men are given a taste of their own sexist poison.”
