Consuming Women (in the Ephemeral section of Open Video Project. Also, film #374 on Prelinger Archive). [Category: Industrial]

This looks like an excerpt from a longer 60s film aimed at marketing professionals which attempts to profile the “average woman.” A pretty but generic-looking model poses in various female roles, such as single women, wife, mother, secretary or little old lady, while the narrator tells us that “she” is all of those things, but mostly, “she’s a real person.” However, the female depictions shown are incredibly stereotyped and fake, leaving you with the impression that though the marketers of the time were trying to understand the needs and desires of women, they were horribly failing. The film ends with a bizarre sequence of the woman spending a lot of money for a gold-wrapped package, then looking horribly sad, which is an ironic image for a film supposedly showing women as consumers. I wish the whole film was available––it looks priceless.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: *****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.