The Effects of Political and Social Change on Women's Perfume and Cologne Advertising in the Early 1960s

This study investigates the causal relationship between social and political events and advertising. Focusing on a period of 1962 to 1965, this research studies the effects of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as well as the Second Wave Feminist Movement on women's perfume and cologne advertising conventions. Qualitative research was used to analyze a sample of 800 women's perfume and cologne advertisements across the four year period. It was found that there was a decline in Upper-Class women portrayed in these ads from 1962 to 1965. This may be attributed to the assassination of JFK in November 1963 and the fall of Camelot. There was also an increase in the portrayal of sexualized women throughout the four years, which may be related to an increase in the availability of reliable birth control during the early 1960s. Overall, this study found that advertising conventions appeared to shift as a result of the social and political events of the time