Advertisements in Romance Comics: Indoctrinating the 1950s Woman

by Ysanne Spence (2022)

Introduction

In this paper, I look at full-page advertisements published in three different Ace Comics romance lines in their early 1950s editions. To do so, I analyze each advertisement in three steps, asking:

(1) What is the product advertised?

(2) Who wrote the advertisement?

(3) What is the advertisement saying about society at that time?

For this study, I chose comics before 1953 as this was the romance comic industry’s height of popularity and when the most consumers would potentially be reached. I examine why these advertisements were placed in romance comics and analyze how wartime operations and expectations will have some effect on not only the content of these advertisements, but the expectations that they present for women. These advertisements in American romantic comics illustrate the 1950s societal expectations of women on how they should act in order to succeed.

History

The genre of romantic comics was at its peak popularity during the 1950s with more than 140 different titles being published.[1] This genre, born in 1947, emerged because of two things: (1) superheroes being deemed blasé following World War II and (2) a dissatisfaction with earlier pulp fiction that spanned sub-genres of humor, contemporary, and even western romance, including the wildly popular Archie comics created by Bob Montana.[2]^,[3] Millions of copies were sold, month after month, in what was known as the “Love Glut”.[4] Following consumers’ superhero-fatigue, these multiple stories per issue of love gone awry and perfect romances were able to appeal to the masses, but specifically women “age seventeen to twenty-five [who] were reading [more] comics that year [1950] than men of that age”.[5] In the beginning of 1950, 332 issues of romance comics alone were published which was a substantial uptick from the 42 issues published in the first half of 1949.[6] In 1953, the industry slowed to a near halt, selling only a fraction of what it had at the turn of the decade.[7] By the 1970s, the romance comic industry had died a death at the hands of Marvel, DC, and other comic moguls’ re-introduction of the superhero phenomenon.[8] The romance comics of the 1950s all featured an array of advertisements ranging from weight-gaining supplements, mail-order subscriptions, advice columns, and others.[9] The commonality? These advertisements were all directed towards women and in some form or another, told women how to act, belong, or see themselves. Often these ads were full-page, colored spreads featuring curvy women with perfectly placed hair and eye-catching statements promising the affections of future suitors. These advertisements reveal contemporary notions of ideal women, suggesting that women who used the products and methods would succeed in life.

Advertisement I: Glamorous Romances (June 1951)

Also known as Dotty Comics before its #41 issue, Glamorous Romances was one of the most successful romance comics of the early 1950s.[10] In this June 1951 issue of Glamorous Romances, the only advertisement is a full-page for a girdle/supporter belt called the “Adjust-o-Belt” at the end of the comic.[11] The audience of middle-aged women is clearly defined by promises of “look[ing] and feel[ing] like sixteen again” and “have[ing] a slimmer, youthful, feminine appearance instantly”.[12] The ad is littered with promises of “controlling your figure the way you want it” and instant reshaping with buzzwords of “reduce”, “younger”, “right places”, “magic”, and “slimmer” in the eye-catching bolded headings.[13] A picture of a perfectly coifed woman with classic narrow hips ads to the attractiveness of this appearance control method and gives a reference for women to compare themselves to those who have used and benefited from the device to “appear slimer, and feel better”.[14] Added incentives of a money-back guarantee, free 10-day trial, and a free “Secret of Loveliness” booklet that details how to “look years younger, pounds and inches slimmer” sought to further lessen the barriers to purchase.[15] Embedded in a comic featuring gorgeous bombshells, the contents of this ad paint a picture of societal body norms that force the appearances of women to be dictated by the importance of reduction.

Advertisement II: Ten Story Love (November 1952)

Previously a romance pulp-fiction thrill magazine, Ten Story Love changed their format to romance comic and ultimately reaped success for this change.[16] These comics featured stories of quintessential romances filled with betrayal, heartbreak, and perfect love, these comics. Their November 1952 issue, 7 years post-WW2 and during the Cold War, featured two advertisements with contrasting methods, but ultimately the same function of addressing women’s behavior.[17] The first of the two ads boast U.S. saving bonds and their patriotic power. Paid for by the US government, the ad, featuring a Mrs. Rose Nysse of Britsol, Pennsylvania, explains how the U.S. Savings Bond afforded her “a house and garden of [her] own”.[18] Pictured in different scenes, first holding a shovel and flowering plant, but wearing a simple plaid shirt and darkly colored skirt, Mrs. Rose Nysse is the epitome of the 1950s American woman. She is, first and foremost, a homemaker who takes pride in her home’s appearance before her own.[19] She is also characterized by her factory work, not something unusual for a wartime woman playing her part in society.[20] The third image present Mrs. Nysse and her husband, William, in front of their home that they afforded through the savings program. Its full-page spread is littered with patriotic sentiments that present the program “for our country’s defense” in order to uphold and afford the “blessed free way of life that is so very important to every American”.[21] The undertone of this advertisement is a simple one: the celebrated woman is a patriotic one, and appropriate womanly patriotism is selflessness.

Advertisement III: Love Experiences (February 1954)

 Love Experiences, a romance comic circulated post the 1948-53 height of the Cold War, was popular during the “Love Glut” age.[22]^{, [23]} Issues feature an “anything-goes” storyline from war-torn love and even atomic bombs.[24] As the industry adapted to current affairs, one thing that remained unchanged was the advertisements’ subjects and audiences. Their February 1954 issue features three advertisements, all of which have to do with altering a woman’s appearance. This particular full-page spread sets itself apart from ads that I discussed earlier as it promotes some measure of weight gain. Not once is a woman’s face or upper half shown in this ad, more so the four pictures of women’s legs present a measure for readers to judge their bodies against. Negative descriptors with their corresponding leg parts, “straight hips”, “scrawny thighs”, “bony knees”, “stringbean calves”, and “toothpick ankles”, give authenticity to notions of physical femininity in 1954.[25] This advertisement uses negative adjectives in order to create use for their product, coupled with the beauty standards of rounded calves, wide hips, and shapely curves illustrated in pages of the comic. The portrayal of these physical features on conventionally attractive women creates a perfect selling ground in these comics. This advertisement persuades readers to use exercise in order to appear in a way that “men will admire”.[26]  These techniques will not take away from the other responsibilities of a woman by “require[ing] only 15 minutes a day” and are proven to be effective “from the very first day”.[27] The advertisement utilizes the “Health Culture Magazine” as a mode of ethos in the 1950s which were characterized by a “blind belief” in published media, as though if it’s featured in a health magazine, it must be good for my health![28]^,[29] Exercise in women is encouraged in order to fix the “leg problems” that do not match the conventional beauty standards of the time.[30]

Why Romance Comics in the 1950s?

In the world of advertising, “gender has been an obsession”.[31] Advertisements have often repeated “dichotomized differences between masculinity and femininity by representing heterosexual gender ideals, attributes, and norms as natural, ahistorical, and self-evidently desirable”.[32] Written mainly by men due to the uptick in post-war return to the work force and as major advertisement firms of the 1950s adhered to government tax laws that gave “special bonuses” to families with male breadwinners, these ads preyed on insecurities and used buzzwords that were supported by the stories of beautifully drawn women falling in love presented on pages before and after.[33]^,[34] The readership of romance comics was overwhelmingly female and thus, advertisers and publishers used this in order to reach their markets, specifically the 17–25-year-olds who were avid readers of the genre.[35] Although written by men, they were designed for the “girls who grew up craving honeymoons and marital bliss”.[36] This readership created the perfect medium for advertisements directed at women’s’ behavior and appearance. These ads use devices that work at the woman’s psyche, for example second-person pronoun nominalization “establish[es] a relationship between the advertisers and the readers”.[37] Within the pages of a romance comic, these idealistic expectations take on a new meaning of “contain[ing] subtle messages about stereotypical roles of a woman’s place in society” by utilizing the stories as persuasion for the consumer to believe that these changes advertised will gain or keep the affection of a man.[38] Each of the ads detailed in the analysis above, express some desire of change in woman’s behavior, whether it be weight loss, a woman’s patriotic duty, or weight gain.

On the matter of patriotic behavior, the time-period of romance comics’ prominence raises the question of how war and post-war thought affected their contents. Reflected in the subjects of stories in Love Experiences, warfare affected how media packaged romances by putting a wartime spin on otherwise quintessential romantic stories.[39] In thinking specifically about how these wartime expectations affected the advertisements that were presented to women, it was blatantly asked of women to do the “patriotic” thing.  In Ten-Story Love’s November 1952 issue, this was buying bonds and providing pay for soldiers. In other instances, it was a plea “to return to the home” to make space in the workforce for returning male soldiers.[40] Women were allowed to work in the absence of the men and by illustrating women in advertisements returning to the tasks of beautification, ads were able to send the message clearly to women of where their place in society was. Even when not specifically stated, these advertisements suggesting bodily changes can also be attributed to the return of soldiers as no man, husband, or boyfriend wants to return from the atrocities of war to an unattractive woman as women had to live up to “ideas of perfection” by making a good marriage through having the “right appearance”.[41] More than selling a product, these advertisements were used to indoctrinate women that these are the matters they should care about which was looking her best. The through line of these advertisements is doing something to present themselves in a way “men will admire”.[42]

Conclusion

The 1950s, as deemed by feminists of the era, were “a trough for feminism, lying low between the peaks of political activity”.[43] The popularity of romance comics during this time represented many things for women, but were mainly presented as directives for how women should act in the 1950s to succeed. Hidden between stories of love and love lost, advertisements portrayed societal beauty norms and expectations of women that required altering their current appearances.[44] The advertisements displayed in romance comics of the 1950s firmly walk the line of expressing societal ideals for women that are decidedly attractive by their male authors. Coupled with the after-effects of wartime, these advertisements were placed in the perfect medium to disseminate society’s deemed place for a woman: a romance comic in which the target audience was mainly women. These ads portrayed claims that women should concern themselves with their homes and their appearance.

There is more within these vintage comic pages than just the stories of romantic encounters and agonizing betrayals. A new perspective on romance comics of the 1950s can be drawn from the advertisements that appeared between romantic tales. These comics house an appeal to the feminine psyche that has had effects on how women view themselves and gender. As only one edition from three different issues of romance comics were analyzed in this research, there remains ample material for further research in the forms of other romance comic issues and secondary sources like Baron and Nolan. These comics and commentaries can provide further inspection on how the contents of this genre affected the way in which society operated and what was expected of a 1950s woman.

[1] Michael Barson, Agonizing Love: The Golden Era of Romance Comics (New York: Harper Design, 2011).

[2] Barson, Agonizing Love.

[3] Megan Halsband, “Let’s Talk Comics: Romance,” The Library of Congress, February 5, 2019, https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2019/02/lets-talk-comics-romance/.

[4] Sequential Crush & Jacque Nodell, “A Brief History of Romance Comics,” Sequential Crush, 2022, https://www.sequentialcrush.com/history-of-romance-comics

[5] Peyton Brunet & Blair Davis, Comic Book Women: Characters, Creators, and Culture in the Golden Age, Texas: University of Texas Press, 2022. https://books.google.com/books?id=7UcxEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT330&lpg=PT330&dq=circulation+numbers+glamarous+romances+romance+comics+1950s&source=bl&ots=L-exd1SCb5&sig=ACfU3U3d-SE4igvqvK-rj8vvfava_Ftq_Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj6lLSjkKj3AhVCEEQIHT5lC-MQ6AF6BAhKEAM#v=onepage&q=circulation%20numbers%20glamarous%20romances%20romance%20comics%201950s&f=false

[6] Brunet & Davis, Comic Book Women.

[7] Barson, Agonizing Love.

[8] Michelle Nolan, Love on the Racks: A History of American Romance Comics (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2008).

[9] Ace Comics, Love at First Sight, no. 20, New York, New York: Ace Publications (March 1953), Leona Bowman Carpenter Collection of English and American Literature, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

[10] “Glamarous Romances, Love Stories, Romance Comics,” Classic Pulp, accessed April 4, 2022, https://classicpulp.com/products/glamorous-romances-love-stories-romance-comics.

[11] Ace Comics, Glamorous Romances, no. 52, New York, New York: Ace Publications (June 1951), Leona Bowman Carpenter Collection of English and American Literature, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

[12] Comics, Glamorous Romances.

[13] Comics, Glamorous Romances.

[14] Comics, Glamorous Romances.

[15] Comics, Glamorous Romances.

[16] “Ten-Story Love,” DTA Collectibles, accessed April 4, 2022,  https://dtacollectibles.com/comics/golden-age/ten-story-love-14.

[17] The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, “Cold War,” Encyclopedia Britannica, March 1, 2022, https://www.britannica.com/event/Cold-War.

[18] Ace Comics, Ten Story Love, 30, no. 5, New York, New York: Ace Magazines (November 1952), Leona Bowman Carpenter Collection of English and American Literature, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

[19] Franca Beccaria, et al., “From Housekeeper to Status-Oriented Consumer and Hyper-Sexual Imagery: Images of Alcohol Targeted to Italian Women from the 1960s to the 2000s,” Feminist Media Studies 18, no. 6 (2018):1012-1039, DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2017.1396235.

[20] Barbara Coleman, “Maidenform (Ed): Images of American Women in the 1950s,” Genders no. 21 (Jun 30, 1995): 3, https://login.proxy.lib.duke.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/maidenform-ed-images-american-women-1950s/docview/199245914/se-2?accountid=10598.

[21] Comics, Ten Story Love.

[22] The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, “Cold War,” Encyclopedia Britannica, March 1, 2022, https://www.britannica.com/event/Cold-War.

[23] Nolan, Love on the Racks.

[24] Ace Comics, Love Experiences, no. 23, New York, New York: A.A. Wyn, Inc. (February 1954), Leona Bowman Carpenter Collection of English and American Literature, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

[25] Comics, Love Experiences.

[26] Comics, Love Experiences.

[27] Comics, Love Experiences.

[28] Erving Goffman, Gender Advertisements (New York: Harper and Row, 1979).

[29] Comics, Love Experiences.

[30] Beccaria, et al., “From Housekeeper to Status-Oriented Consumer and Hyper-Sexual Imagery”.

[31] Beccaria, et al., “From Housekeeper to Status-Oriented Consumer and Hyper-Sexual Imagery”.

[32] Beccaria, et al., “From Housekeeper to Status-Oriented Consumer and Hyper-Sexual Imagery”.

[33] Courtney Catt, “Trapped in the Kitchen: How Advertising Defined Women’s Roles in 1950s America,” (Honors Thesis, Baylor University, 2014). https://baylor-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/2104/8951/Thesis%20Overall%20Format.pdf

[34] Catt, “Trapped in the Kitchen.”

[35] Catt, “Trapped in the Kitchen.”

[36] Michael Baron, “A Romantic Anthology of Comically “Agonizing Love”,” interview by Terry Gross, Fresh Air, NPR, June 15, 2011, audio, 17:21, https://www.npr.org/2011/06/15/135919828/a-romantic-anthology-of-comically-agonizing-love.

[37] Asma Iqbal, Malik Haqnawaz Danish & Maria Raja Tahir, “Exploitation of Women in Beauty Products of “Fair & Lovely”: A Critical Discourse Analysis Study,” International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature (IJSELL)  2, no. 9 (September 2014): 122-131, https://www.academia.edu/8418038/Exploitation_of_Women_in_Beauty_Products_of_Fair_and_Lovely_A_Critical_Discourse_Analysis_Study.

[38] Goffman, Gender Advertisements.

[39] Nolan, Love on the Racks.

[40] Coleman, “Maidenform”.

[41] Catt, “Trapped in the Kitchen.”

[42] Comics, Love Experiences.

[43] Alice Ferrebe, “Elizabeth Taylor’s Uses of Romance: Feminist Feeling in 1950s English Fiction,” Literature & History 19, no. 1 (May 2010): 50–64, https://doi.org/10.7227/LH.19.1.5.

[44] Asma Iqbal, Malik Haqnawaz Danish & Maria Raja Tahir, “Exploitation of Women in Beauty Products of “Fair & Lovely”.

Bibliography

Barson, Michael. Agonizing Love: The Golden Era of Romance Comics. New York: Harper Design, 2011.

––– . “A Romantic Anthology of Comically “Agonizing Love”.” Interview by Terry Gross. Fresh Air, NPR. June 15, 2011. Audio. 17:21. https://www.npr.org/2011/06/15/135919828/a-romantic-anthology-of-comically-agonizing-love.

Beccaria, Franca, Sara Rolando, Jukka Törrönen & Alice Scavarda. “From Housekeeper to Status-Oriented Consumer and Hyper-Sexual Imagery: Images of Alcohol Targeted to Italian Women from the 1960s to the 2000s.” Feminist Media Studies 18, no. 6 (2018):1012-1039. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14680777.2017.1396235.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopedia. “Cold War.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Last modified March 1, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/event/Cold-War.

Brunet, Peyton & Blair Davis. Comic Book Women: Characters, Creators, and Culture in the Golden Age.  Texas: University of Texas Press, 2022. https://books.google.com/books?id=7UcxEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT330&lpg=PT330&dq=circulation+numbers+glamarous+romances+romance+comics+1950s&source=bl&ots=L-exd1SCb5&sig=ACfU3U3d-SE4igvqvK-rj8vvfava_Ftq_Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj6lLSjkKj3AhVCEEQIHT5lC-MQ6AF6BAhKEAM#v=onepage&q=circulation%20numbers%20glamarous%20romances%20romance%20comics%201950s&f=false

Catt, Courtney. “Trapped in the Kitchen: How Advertising Defined Women’s Roles in 1950s America.” Honors Thesis, Baylor University, 2014. https://baylor-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/2104/8951/Thesis%20Overall%20Format.pdf

Classic Pulp. “Glamarous Romances, Love Stories, Romance Comics.” Accessed April 4, 2022. https://classicpulp.com/products/glamorous-romances-love-stories-romance-comics.

Coleman, Barbara. “Maidenform (ed): Images of American Women in the 1950s.” Genders no. 21 (Jun 30, 1995): 3. https://login.proxy.lib.duke.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/maidenform-ed-images-american-women-1950s/docview/199245914/se-2?accountid=10598.

Comics, Ace. Glamorous Romances. no. 52. New York, New York: Ace Publications, June 1951. Leona Bowman Carpenter Collection of English and American Literature. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Comics, Ace. Love at First Sight. no. 20. New York, New York: Ace Publications, March 1953. Leona Bowman Carpenter Collection of English and American Literature. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Comics, Ace. Love Experiences. no. 23. New York, New York: A.A. Wyn, Inc., February 1954. Leona Bowman Carpenter Collection of English and American Literature. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Comics, Ace. Ten Story Love. 30, no. 5. New York, New York: Ace Magazines, November 1952. Leona Bowman Carpenter Collection of English and American Literature. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Crush, Sequential & Jacque Nodell. “A Brief History of Romance Comics.” Sequential Crush, 2022. https://www.sequentialcrush.com/history-of-romance-comics

DTA Collectibles. “Ten-Story Love.” Accessed April 4, 2022.  https://dtacollectibles.com/comics/golden-age/ten-story-love-14.

Ferrebe, Alice. “Elizabeth Taylor’s Uses of Romance: Feminist Feeling in 1950s English Fiction.” Literature & History 19, no. 1 (May 2010): 50–64. https://doi.org/10.7227/LH.19.1.5.

Goffman, Erving. Gender Advertisements. New York: Harper and Row, 1979.

Halsband, Megan. “Let’s Talk Comics: Romance.” The Library of Congress, February 5, 2019.https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2019/02/lets-talk-comics-romance/.

Iqbal, Asma, Malik Haqnawaz Danish & Maria Raja Tahir. “Exploitation of Women in Beauty Products of “Fair & Lovely”: A Critical Discourse Analysis Study.” International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature (IJSELL) 2, no. 9 (September 2014): 122-131. https://www.academia.edu/8418038/Exploitation_of_Women_in_Beauty_Products_of_Fair_and_Lovely_A_Critical_Discourse_Analysis_Study.

Nolan, Michelle. Love on the Racks: A History of American Romance Comics. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2008.