Goofy and Ragingly Sexist Studebaker ad

Kinja'd!!! "AMC/Renauledge" (n2skylark)
12/30/2014 at 22:01 • Filed to: Classic Ad Watch

Kinja'd!!!1 Kinja'd!!! 1

This one made me laugh in disbelief. I played it over again just to make sure I heard it all right. My, how times have changed.

Studebaker as a car company was on its last legs by 1964. Despite having reskinned their aging, but still successful Lark lineup, adding the roll-top Wagonaire and sporty Avanti to the line just the year before, and having a still-elegant Gran Turismo Hawk at the top of the range, Studebaker sales were swirling the drain.

This ad couldn't have helped. Between the little kid calling it a "Stupidbaker," and the ladies discussing the vanity mirror, high heels, and women preferring the backseat, it's a poorly-acted, sexist trainwreck of an ad that so thoroughly squanders the minute of airtime it took to feature the car, one wonders if it didn't actually turn buyers off to the brand singlehandedly, once and for all.

Also, for those who are interested, the late, great David E. Davis, Jr. makes an appearance (starting at 5:06) in this Avanti promo from the same year.


DISCUSSION (1)


Kinja'd!!! Birddog > AMC/Renauledge
12/30/2014 at 23:02

Kinja'd!!!0

It's hard to believe how different the country was back then.

It's only considered sexist now, for the 50s and early 60s (in some ways through the 80s) it was just business as usual.