1967 Mercury Cougar XR-7 The Mans Car / MayTag Washer Dryer Dependable Print Ad

     We have a fun juxtaposition this time. Over and over, I’m astonished by the attitudes and stereotypes in these older ads. What makes these two so fun, is that they’re literally each the flip side of the same page. On one side, you have Mercury, the “Man’s Car.” On the other side of the page, there’s a Maytag washer/dryer ad targeted at entire generations of housewives.

    Starting with Maytag, they’re featuring poor Mrs. Dubler, who’s managing a family of 10 children (plus her and husband). At 6 years old, she figures her Maytag washer and dryer are just getting broken in, with lots of life left in them. At 4 loads each day, every single day...and in six years, they’ve only broken down once. :^)

    She has reason for her positive outlook, because her mother’s Maytags are 39 years old and still working. (I guess, so is her mother.) They don’t really spell out what kind of workload her Mom has, though. No telling if it was an equally large family, or if her mom only had the one child. But hey, let’s just keep things rolling. It looks like about a half dozen of the current children are girls, so Maytag’s got an inbuilt and expanding customer base for the years ahead.

    The ironic part? The ad mentions newer Maytag models with features that Mrs. Dubler’s washers and dryers lack. Like giant new washing capacity. You’d think, for the advertising street credits, Maytag would make a point of donating some of the newer machinery to this robust family. Maybe Mrs. Dubler might be pleased with only having to wash twice every day?? Guess they figured her husband can afford all those kids, let HIM buy new ones.

    Now lets talk about that Mercury. You know, the “Man’s Car.” All kind of luxury features. Elegance galore, soft glove leather, walnut-grained vinyl panels. Dials, overhead console, hidden headlights, powerful V-8 engine. All standard. Cause you know, he works hard to buy his wife those Maytag washers and dryers. He deserves his “Man’s Car.”

    Last point – not sure when the term came into use, and this was probably before then, but this Man’s Car is the Cougar XR-7. So, while his wife is busy raising ten rambunctious youngsters, the “Man” is relaxing with his “Cougar.”

    Since I started selling vintage advertising on eBay, there’s been an awful lot of very blatant sexism and stereotypes. Some even more extreme than this. But the pure irony and accidental serendipity (I know, that’s redundant) of having these two ads back to back on the same exact page… that’s priceless.

    I usually include the main text from the featured listing, but it's pretty much all been covered already.  Don't think it's needed this time.