1940's homoerotica

[Guest EXPAT]

These ads for Cannon towels from the 1940s are extremely homoerotic when viewed through a modern lens.

[Guest NCBored]

Funny - and surprising! Thanks for sharing.

[AdamSmith]

1. Pure Thomas Eakins.

2. Walt Whitman!

3. "...some favor oysters; others ... prefer snails." (Bath scene from Spartacus.)

4. Norman Rockwell switch-hits!

5. ... At a loss for words. ('Thouth Pathific?' Nah, cheap...)

[Guest FourAces]

Truly refreshing to look at. They are obviously designed with the male gay in mind. Thanks for posting them

[Guest zipperzone]

Truly refreshing to look at. They are obviously designed with the male gay in mind. Thanks for posting them

Do you really think so?

Why would a company the size of Cannon target such a small market back in the 1940s when homosexuality was rarely discussed in the media?

[Gotti]

The proportion of audience aroused by these images long ago is exactly the same as today. Some things never changes. As a matter of fact I would bet that the percentage of guys who jerked off after seeing these images in the 40's was even bigger than today, in our more explicit world. Nice to find out that we were on the radar of marketers of major companies even back then. Beautiful and revelatory post!

[MsGuy]

Nice to find out that we were on the radar of marketers of major companies even back then.

Alternatively, friends of Dorothy infiltrated the Art Department of the ad agency and connived to slide this copy under the radar of a hopelessly naif brand manager. I am reliably informed that, in the olden days, many straight folks had such a narrow stereotype of homosexuality that they would have been blind to the homoeroticism of these ads. Just red blooded American soldier boys horsing around.

Seriously, the ads are clearly aimed at the stay at home ladies of the home front who, one presumes, would not have been adverse to a bit of wholesome male American flesh being presented in their Ladies Home Journal.

[lookin]

I think you've nailed it MsGuy. Lest we forget, Tom of Finland was head of the Art Department at McCann-Erickson's Helsinki office for more than a decade. I'll bet he could have moved a few towels for the good folks at Cannon.

[axiom2001]

I think you've nailed it MsGuy. Lest we forget, Tom of Finland was head of the Art Department at McCann-Erickson's Helsinki office for more than a decade. I'll bet he could have moved a few towels for the good folks at Cannon.

...liked the preceding vintage photos but definitely loved this Tom of Finland. I'd love to have gotten with all of these men here, for I hope to be gang fucked or gang banged one of these days. That is indeed one of my fantasies that I hope to be fulfilled.....

[MsGuy]

"Care to share my Cannon?"