Vintage ads gone bad: American Airlines goes Oedipal
Posted at 4:35 PM Dec 14, 2009
By Andrea GrimesPsychoanalysis and swingin' air travel, together at last! Is anyone else supremely creeped-out by this old-school American Airlines ad that, I think, invites you to desire sex with this stewardess and think of her as your mother?
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Paging Dr. Freud!
Here's what the text says:She only wants what's best for you.Professional treatment! A tasty drink! And she'll tuck you in! Also, American Airlines is to be congratulated for improving upon "just maternal instinct" (which all women have, of course) with their "stewardess training." How did women ever get by before stewardess training? It's a wonder we're not all dead.
A cool drink. A good dinner. A soft pillow and a warm blanket.
This is not just maternal instinct. It's the result of the longest
Stewardess training in the industry.
Training in service, not just a beauty course.
Service, after all, is what makes professional travellers prefer American.
And makes new travellers want to keep on flying with us.
So we see that every passenger gets the same professional treatment.
That's the American Way.
Gwen over at Sociological Images explains further:
" ... being sexually attractive doesn't mean women weren't also supposed to also take on a caretaking role. It's one way we've constructed femininity over the years: women were supposed to be nurturing and supportive in a "maternal" way, while also sexually alluring enough to keep their men from wandering (because if he wandered, it was definitely their fault for not keeping him happy at home)."Excellent points, all. Also, is this an early appearance of the MILF concept? Ugh. I really don't want to think about it.
Comments
"... not just a beauty course." Well, thank heavens they didn't cut out the beauty courses! The woman in the picture does look mom-like, in that she has that "Do I look like your maid" expression on her face. Just what I want from my flight attendants! I'm ready to fly the judgmental and condescending skies!
Posted 12/15/2009 at 01:38:07 PMWhat makes this interesting (or perhaps not-so-coincidental) is that this ad recently ran alongside a Consumerist article about an AA stewardess who allegedly flipped out on a passenger for asking for a glass of orange juice.
http://consumerist.com/2009/12/asking-for-orange-juice-on-aa-may-violate-federal-law.html
Posted 12/16/2009 at 02:40:20 PM