Copywriters have played upon consumers’ fears and anxieties since the early days of advertising. This anti-wrinkle ad from the 1920s invites women over the age of 30 to purchase a cream by Dorothy Gray Salon so that they will “regain their youthful complexion” and win back the love of their otherwise uninterested companions.
The copy plays upon double standards:
Unfair though it may be, the tiny lines, the trace of wrinkles, the loss of skin tone and color, matter very little in the measure of a man’s attractiveness… but they can make a heart-breaking difference in a woman’s.
Sigh.