It's Up to the Women”

Edward Bernays, Eleanor Roosevelt, and feminist resistance to shopping for patriotism

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12690656
AutoresJane Marcellus (autor correspondente)
Ano2011
Volume12
Fascículo3
Páginas389-405
Data de publicação2011-11-07
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoFeminist Media Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1468-0777 • E-ISSN: 1471-5902
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14680777.2011.615631
OpenAlexW1538064007
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas23

In 1932, Ladies' Home Journal (LHJ) ran an extensive campaign, orchestrated by public relations pioneer Edward Bernays, to persuade American women to end the Great Depression through consumer purchases. Although the campaign failed, it is historically significant, illustrating how PR and magazines worked together to prescribe women's roles—a point little explored by feminist historians. While some women read the campaign hegemonically, others resisted its message, even adapting campaign language to suggest alternative plans. Foremost among these, I argue, was Eleanor Roosevelt (ER), whose 1933 book title, It's Up to the Women, is identical to the campaign's slogan. Attributed to ER alone, the slogan has been reprised in twenty-first-century Democratic presidential campaigns and used elsewhere. Patriotic shopping has also reemerged in recent crises. Although less important to feminists, FDR's (Franklin D. Roosevelt) famous "fear" line from his First Inaugural address resembles language in LHJ's campaign. Thus, the campaign can be seen not only as a site where the contested nature of women's roles was played out but one that illustrates how media language can be repurposed to shape changing cultural and political messages. Keywords: Eleanor RooseveltEdward Bernayswomen's magazinespublic relationsconsumer cultureGreat Depression Notes 1. See www2.demstore.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/scstore/Kerry/women.html. 2. See www.speakerpelosi.com and www.brazileassociates.com/viewBlog, respectively. 3. Papers related to LHJ are in Edward L. Bernays Collection, Manuscript Division. Library of Congress, Box I: 215, 216, 217, 218, and 219. All LHJ campaign articles were examined, with items from Bernays' papers chosen for relevance. 4. Bernays called this strategy "leader approval" (Raucher Citation1968, p. 105). Such front groups were later called into legal question and are now considered unethical in PR (Cutlip 1998). 5. Coué was a psychologist who promoted "autosuggestion" in the 1920s. 6. Hoover signed the Home Loan Bank Bill on 22 July, 1932. He said it would perform "a function for homeowners somewhat similar to that performed in the commercial field by the Federal Reserve banks" (Herbert Hoover 1932b). 7. Alycia Vivona, archivist, e-mail correspondence with author, 8 July and 16 July, 2009; phone conversation with author 21 July, 2009

Political science · Sociology · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Labor Movements and Unions · Psychology