Artist reverses gender roles in ads and we’re both mad and amused

Jan 19, 2018

If you have ever watched Mad Men, you'll be aware of the rampant sexism which defined society in the 1950s and 60s.

Luckily, we have come on leaps and bounds since then (though we still have a way to go) and advertisements which were dime a dozen back in the day would never fly now.

Every now and again, we see blogs pop us featuring galleries of outrage-inducing old adverts, and one artist decided to use the oppressive ads to make a statement.

Picture: Eli Rezkallah/Plastik Studios 2018

Eli Rezkallah, a 31-year-old visual artist and photographer, took a series of vintage ads and flipped the gender roles within them for Plastik Magazine.

The result is a selection of jarring ads called In a Parallel Universe, which had us laughing and scowling all at once.

'Last Thanksgiving, I was visiting my family in New Jersey and I overheard my uncles talk about how women are better off cooking, taking care of the kitchen, and fulfilling “their womanly duties”,’ Eli told The Metro in an interview.