this would have been perfect to bring in to my women's studies class last spring. they would have torn it APART! of course, they tore me apart when i said slutty girls have it coming... but that's an entirely different story.

Yes, there have always been abusive spouses. But from what I've seen, a loutish husband is more likely to slap his wife around or punch her. Spanking was a punishment reserved for children (and that is what's being referred to here). If a man spanked his wife... more likely that was a "kinky" bit of sex play, not discussed in mixed company at the time. (If you were aware of this little bit of "deviant" behavior, it made the ad spicier; otherwise, the sexual connotation went right past you.) There was more of this raciness in women's magazines than a lot of people nowadays realize.

We tend to have a rather distorted view of the 1950s, shaped by old TV shows and "stodgy" older relatives. Admittedly, today's TV shows and movies tend to be more explicit than those of the '50s, which were restricted by heavy censorship rules. However, a look at (usually print) media aimed specifically at adults reveals that there was already a lucrative market for sexually-oriented products and fiction directed at both men and women. The TV soap opera began in the 1950s as a means of entertaining hausfraus with stories of illicit affairs. Ladies' magazines included similar stories, but with greater detail. Their purpose was to entertain, and perhaps to provide some sort of gratification so these stuck-at-home-all-day ladies would be in fact LESS likely to cheat on their spouses (but still be "in the mood" when he got home). A perusal of magazines in the checkout lane at the local supermarket shows us that not much has changed except the language and amount of visible skin.

As for whether it's funny or not, that's pretty subjective. Societal attitudes have changed enough that fewer people nowadays would find this as funny as it once was. More people today either misconstrue it, or need it explained, or "get" it but just don't personally find it funny (that would be me). My parents were both in their late teens when this ad was run. It's possible that, had they been a little older, they would have found it funny --- back then. Remember, just because someone was alive in the 1950s doesn't mean they're stuck there (and not everyone in the 1950s had the same attitude either); both supported the Women's Lib movement, and found corporal punishment vastly inferior to constructive communication. By the 1970s, they probably would have found it dated and rather embarrassing.

She should be spanking him!

But... thats humans for you. We do it with racial sensitive things as well. Black people can have exclusive clubs,orgs,tv channels, and make fun of white people (honkey, cracker,etc) ...but if a white person even looks at someone the wrong way... OMG RACIST.

Why is it that we can never figure out the concept of "middle ground"?

Is this a genuine ad? This woman looks like she's enjoying it a little too much.

(he's just testing her for freshness, I think)