Sexism in Early Tech Advertising: How Women in Miniskirts Were Used to Sell Computers (1960s-1980s)
By
RHP
Summary
A historical retrospective examining how advertisers from the 1960s through the 1980s used scantily-clad women in miniskirts and revealing outfits to promote early computer systems. The article explores the intersection of sexism and tech marketing during the era of large, expensive mainframe computers, showing how the "sex sells" mentality was applied to the burgeoning computer industry. It features vintage photographs from old magazines and newspapers documenting this advertising trend.
Source
Key quotes
· 3 pulledThe notion that sex sells tech was exploited to grotesque ends during the era of the early gigantic computer systems.
These vintage pictures scanned from old magazines and newspapers of those bygone decades, depict attractive women wearing as little clothing as the decency of the day allowed promoting and advertising computers.
Technological innovations such as the diminishing cost of hardware and increasing computer miniaturization created new markets for computers during the 1970s.
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