Willy's Automatic Transmission Cars

Willy's Automatic Transmission Cars

Advertisement for Willy’s automatic transmission cars

This advertisement assumes gender stereotypes for both husbands and wives. It makes it clear that the husband will buy the car, but for some reason also markets towards women. This is because the car in the advertisement was an automatic transmission car, which was considered to be more female friendly and more aesthetically pleasing. While implying that women could only work a car with simple functions, it also suggests that man could not want automatic transmission cars only for themselves because they were considered “labor-saving devices” that gender roles dictated men should not want or need. So this advertisement markets itself towards pleasing the wife so the husband has a reason to buy the automobile while still conforming to gender norms of the 1950s.

Willys Automobiles

1953

Kimi Kennedy