Rinso: Little Miss Muddlehead

1943
Sound
2m

Use Rinso and help defeat Hitler! The soap brand deploys some savvy wartime advertising.

Laundry soap brand Rinso was quick to jump on the 1940s fuel rationing bandwagon and remind housewives that, unlike other soaps, Rinso required very little hot water (it was customary to boil clothes at the time). This ingenious two-pronged marketing approach - bolster the war effort while increasing sales - was in keeping with the soap manufacturer's pioneering approach to advertising.

Along with print campaigns, Rinso and other soap brands started sponsoring daytime radio shows ('soap operas') in America as early as the 1920s and Britain in the 1930s, before moving into screen advertising.

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.