Appears in
Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America

By Andrew F. Smith

Published 2004

  • About
In the late nineteenth century, as large-scale manufacturing took hold, it became apparent that the use of images in advertising would enhance the success of a product. Many producers developed logos, often a personification of qualities judged to be most attractive to the consumer audience. In some cases this was an appeal to middle-class homemakers through upper-class images, suggesting that the wealthy could afford the best, and that the middle class could identify itself with the elite by using the same products. In some cases the advertisement reflected the social ideal that middle-class women were efficient and nurturing homemakers, and in others it sentimentalized wholesome and innocent children who would presumably benefit from the product.