American Dream

Advertisers have long made use of the “American Dream” to sell goods. Historian Roland Marchand has argued that twentieth-century advertisers “communicated broader assumptions about social values….the illustrations in American advertising portrayed the ideals and aspirations of the system [capitalism] more accurately than its reality. They dramatized the American dream” (Marchand, Advertising the American Dream, p. xviii). In this 5 – 7 page paper (plus/minus ½ page), you will analyze an advertisement of your choice from the pages of Life magazine, available digitally on Google Books. Your ad must be from before 1970, and should be half-page or full-page.

FOR THIS ADVERTISEMENT I HAVE CHOSEN, BASICALLY, RELATES TO THE LIFE OF WOMEN IN THE 1940s AND HOW THEY RELY ON THEIR HUSBAND’S HAPPINESS FOR THEIR LIFE TO BE HAPPY. Women continued to depend on their husbands for being main source of income and relied on men for providing them with a happy life. Therefore, the American dream would usually translate into this happy life with a happy family. EXPAND ON HOW THIS ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE ENGLANDER MATTRESS TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THIS POSITION OF WOMEN IN ORDER TO SELL THEIR MATTRESSES.

You should provide the historical context of the advertisement and ANALYZE the messages it conveyed about the American Dream. To what extent were the messages an ideal or a reality? For whom?

Your paper should use Chicago-style. footnotes and include a bibliography. It should have a header with your name, my name, the class, and the date (single-spaced). It should have an original title. It should be double-spaced with 12-point Times New Roman font, with 1″ margins. Number the pages. The bibliography should be on its own page. Lastly, please include the screenshot of your ad on the last page.