The Rhetorical Analysis Of Van Heusen's Necktie Advertising

Van Heusen is an American Clothing company well known for their sexiest advertisements. Their necktie advertisement was published in Collier’s Magazine in 1951, right after World War Two where men tended to show off their masculine traits. During this time period, women were objectified and were perceived much lower than men. The target audience was both men and women who had money to spend. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the rhetorical appeals utilized in the Van Heusen necktie advertising campaign to promote sexism, misogyny and the discrimination that widely existed in the 1950s. The stylistic devices used to show how women were perceived as less superior to men are through language, visual language and colors.

For example, your wives will make you breakfast in bed as depicted in the image which is a direct insult to the whole female population. The price of the tie is also bolded which indicates that for only two dollars one can be happy. Additionally, it also demonstrates that all the power is in the tie, implying that all one has to do is wear it. In the first sentence “For men only!...” the exclamation point emphasizes that only real men can buy the ties. A suspension point is used to indicate a pause in the speech to create insecurity for the men. This connects to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs because men will not feel masculine if they do not own the tie. The paragraph is full with masculine traits such as “man-talking” or “power-packed” suggesting that the tie will not only give one control over their wife’s, but they will also turn you into the perfect ideal man. The word “sewmanship” is used to make a claim that men sewed the ties or that the ties were sewed so well that they’re up to some sort of masculine standard and are not available for females. The last sentence stating “here’s the Christmas tie that is really different.” has the word “really” in italics to imply that the ties do really work and achieve Van Heusens purpose. Visual language also plays a big role in presenting women as the less dominant