Existing comment:
The Business of Suffrage:
The "Votes for Women" slogan emblazoned on china, and the "suffrage tea" served at luncheons and meetings, rallied supporters of women's suffrage. The National Woman's Party and the National American Woman Suffrage Association "sold suffrage" by branding the movement with colors, images, and experiences that proclaimed dedication to female enfranchisement. Products were designed to express beliefs, promote the movement, entertain viewers, fundraise, and most importantly, visually confront opponents. Often, newspapers like "The Suffragist" or "The Women's Journal" promoted the cause and marketed suffrage merchandise through advertising. Campaign souvenirs such as soap, jewelry, paperweights, buttons, clothing, playing cards, fans, flowers, and even valentines engaged new audiences and tied in to the modern consumer culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. |