The Happy Homemaker: How Advertising Invented The Housewife (Part One)




The Age of Persuasion from CBC Radio show

Summary: This week, The Age of Persuasion looks at how Madison Avenue invented... the housewife. Over 100 years ago, the advertising industry realized they had thousands of household products to sell. All they needed was a customer. So they invented the Happy Homemaker, and for the next 25 years, encouraged women to be stay-at-home moms. That strategy created the biggest business in the world: Housekeeping.