This chapter examines the gendered dimensions of advertising from the mid-nineteenth onward. It begins with the figure of the female consumer, long positioned at the centre of purchasing power. The discussion then turns to post-war femininities, advertising’s relationship with feminism, and the rise of the neoliberal consumer. Representations of the male consumer are also explored, particularly at the intersection of consumerism and sexual desire, as seen in men’s magazines. Additional themes include the evolution of gender stereotypes in advertising, the role of female advertising professionals, and market segmentation. The chapter concludes that gender is essential to understanding both advertising and the construction of markets — and vice versa. Notably, the narrow figure of the white, middle-class female consumer has been repeatedly ‘rediscovered’ and rebranded as new since the late nineteenth century.

In line with recent research that regards the Second World War as a “defining moment” rather than a temporary disruption to the development of consumer societies, this paper explores how consumers were imagined in nonbelligerent Sweden. The main empirical source material consists of business-to-business advertisements from newspaper and magazine publishers aimed at potential advertisers. There, publishers portrayed their readers as suitable consumers, and, given that the division of the press constituted the main infrastructure for reaching different consumer groups, this is interpreted as a key to understanding market segmentation processes. The findings show how geographical, demographic, and psychological factors were considered in optimizing advertising influence and reaching classed and gendered target audiences. Although the segmentation process consolidated during the war, focusing on stable, large consumer groups, the imagined consumer also underwent fundamental changes, combating anxiety and despair through dreams of both future and present patriotic consumption.

This chapter studies the internal debate within the advertising profession during the formative years of the neoliberal shift, 1980–2000. This period also coincided with a transformation of the advertising business, as smaller agencies multiplied in the aftermath of de-cartelization. This transformation also meant a feminization of business leadership, although the majority of the leaders—especially in larger firms—were still men. In the chapter, both the shaping of femininity within the profession and how these notions spilled over into ideas of making sense of the commercial landscape are scrutinized. Additionally, how female entrepreneurship was connected to notions of self-making is analysed. The results show that women’s qualities were described as essentially different from male counterparts, but still assets in a consumer-oriented, commercial business. Unlike classical self-made men, they were portrayed as more collective in nature but still more hard-working than their male colleagues in a gender-unequal labour market. A supposedly female, softer, non-authoritarian leadership and women’s dual roles as advertising professionals and consumers were framed as well-needed characteristics when facing the market-oriented future.

During the Second World War Swedish citizens were encouraged to send gifts to military personnel spending Christmas on duty. Orchestrated by a coalition of commercial and military interests as well as unions, women’s and employer’s organizations, the annual Frontline Christmas Gift campaigns blended traditional rituals of gift-giving with patriotic objectives. Analyzing archival documents and press clippings the study shows how this campaign both preserved and adapted consumer practices as well as gendered norms throughout the war. Primarily framing women as the givers and male soldiers as the receivers, the campaign reinforced gender structures and discourses while also subtly adapting them and embedding the whole exercise in Swedish consumer culture. The study contends that the Frontline Christmas Gift campaign not only maintained but also transformed public and private spheres during wartime. By extending the family-centric tradition of Christmas giving to a national level, it strengthened societal bonds and reinforced the Swedish wartime narrative of national unity and preparedness.

Since the 1990s, a new model for market control organized through tripartite standards regimes (TSR), has expanded globally and affected most market exchanges through standard-setting, accreditation, and certification. This article investigates business-consumer relations under this regime, with a specific focus on the functions of accreditation and certification. In our case study of Sweden, a new picture of consumer protection under late capitalism evolves. Seeing it as a form of neoliberalization, the article uncovers a transition between two regimes of control; from one built on a potential conflict between consumer and business interests, to one based on the assumption that business interests are beneficial for all parties. Although business interest was formulated as pleasing the consumer-or the customer-by both certification firms and the Swedish Accreditation Authority, in practice consumer interest as something worth protecting was made abstract in the era of the TSR.