Fable of the Fabrics

1942
Sound
5m

"Gee, old age!" Malicious Father Time doesn't stand a chance against a cartoon cupid armed with a big box of washing powder.

Age comes to us all, even goatherds. A particularly vicious Father Time with a hit-list in his Book of Doom seeks to wipe out characters brought to life from fabric patterns. This neat concept for a cartoon washing powder commercial can be credited to Alexander Mackendrick, who worked at the J Walter Thompson advertising agency before making films at Ealing and then Hollywood.

Halas & Batchelor would grow to be Britain's biggest animation studio in the 1950s and 60s, but their roots were in making cinema commercials at Bush House with JWT. The longer production time for this complex Technicolour animation may have contributed to the fact that by the time it was complete, it was a little redundant. Stick around for the tacked-on ending in which the cupid returns to announce that, like many popular brands, the product would not be available in wartime.

What Women Want?

Caring mums, hard-working housewives or independent, fun-loving 'new women' - the female consumer has long been a target of screen advertising.

In the cause of selling anything from baked beans to washing powders to all manner of labour-saving devices, advertisers have promised to make women's lives easier and to help them build happy homes and successful relationships.

There's no getting past the fact that women have all-too often been patronised and objectified by a male-dominated advertising industry. But screen advertising also tells (and sells) a more positive story of social progress for women, with increasing social and economic independence. This collection tracks the ups and downs of female empowerment in the 20th century, with its false steps as revealing as its forward ones.