"Verduras frescas com um mágico efeito como se estivessem na horta": as propagandas de geladeiras e os desejos de refrigeração nos lares burgueses cariocas (1928-1940)

Abstract

This work aims to discuss the process of introducing refrigerators into the domestic environment of Rio de Janeiro from 1928 to 1940. With the establishment of modernization ideals in the country, the first places to experience a series of transformative events in their daily lives were Brazil's major cities, especially Rio de Janeiro, the federal capital. These transformations, characterized by a dual perspective of a promising future and a controversial present, illuminated by progress and science, resulted in numerous changes, from the urban environment taking on new forms with public reforms, to daily habits, and the emergence or enhancement of new means of communication. Inventions and domestic equipment were renewed, and one of these devices, considered one of the most important and widely used preservation techniques today, is the refrigerator. In this context, tracing a brief history of this evolution, we seek to analyze advertisements for this device created by companies manufacturing domestic equipment, employing the theoretical and methodological framework found in Meneses (2000) for the analysis of advertising images. We conclude that these ads reflected the process of modernization and rationalization of the home space, based on values relevant to the period of domestic modernity, such as comfort, simplicity, health, aesthetics, and status. Additionally, we identified ideals aimed at reducing the time and effort needed for household activities as persuasive strategies in the advertisements. Throughout the research, we observed a peculiar characteristic related to the advertisements, concerning the use of certain social and technical values attributed to male and female genders as a way of categorizing them.