These Controversial Vintage Ads Show How Women Were Viewed Before the Millennium

There is no denying that we have come a long way as a society when it comes to understanding what was expected from women less than 100 years ago. For a long time, women were expected to keep a home, look after the children, and somehow be the perfect wife for their husbands. But once women were given more freedom, their lives drastically changed.

The thing this advertisement seems to misunderstand is that women had already been standing on their feet 12 hours a day, holding heavy children and doing active work around the house. If they didn’t need the extra pick-me-up, then what makes the makers of Vivarin think that they are going to need it now?