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| - For years, social media users have shared an image allegedly showing a coffee company's vintage print advertisement depicting a man raising his hand to spank a woman bent over in his lap. Text within the supposed Chase & Sanborn coffee ad read: "If your husband ever finds out you're not 'store-testing' for fresher coffee."
In October 2020, an X user posted (archived) a picture of the ad on X along with the caption: "This sexist ad for Chase & Sanborn coffee ('If your husband ever finds out…') actually existed — 1952." Four years later, a Reddit user posted (archived) the ad on the r/OldSchoolRidiculous subreddit — a forum dedicated to "laughing at the past."
A Snopes reader also asked about the ad in a 2017 email.
A transcript of this ad appears later in this article.
This rumor was, in fact, true. According to Google Books — a website that chronicles searchable text in literary works through the centuries — Life magazine published Chase & Sanborn's advertisement in its Aug. 4, 1952, and Aug. 11, 1952, issues. As of this writing, it was not possible to locate other records of Life or other publishers displaying the ad.
This article documents historical commentary about the advertisement in years-old newspapers, transcribes its full text and includes information about the history of Chase & Sanborn.
'An Era When Chauvinisim Was Rife'
In 1999, journalist Felicity Newsom wrote an article for the Liverpool Echo, a British newspaper, titled "Adverts that kept women in their place."
Newsom wrote: "It was an era when chauvinism was rife and the blueprint of the ideal woman included docility, domesticity and a hefty dose of submissiveness. Just Ask These Lovely Brides if They Intend to be Old Scrubwomen at Forty/Angel Wifie, If it Doesn't Have Flavour I'll Go Straight Home to Mother/You Mean a WOMAN Can Open It?"
Newsom continued by referencing the coffee ad's depiction of spanking:
Tag-lines like this were the norm in the '40s and '50s, tying in with the prevailing ethos of the little woman as home-maker, mother and dutiful wife without a mind of her own or an opinion worth flaunting.
The women of the ads were always seen in a domestic setting, with their hair neatly drawn back and their aprons freshly starched.
While the men always came across as arrogant, self-satisfied controllers — in one outrageous ad one husband is even depicted literally putting his wife across his knee and raising his hand in the spanking position!
Features editor Lynette Hintze for Montana newspaper The Daily Inter Lake wrote in 2010 of such vintage ads: "It was astounding to see what passed as fashionable and acceptable back then, especially regarding women." Hintze specifically said of the Chase & Sanborn coffee ad featuring spanking: "Can you believe there was a time when it was acceptable behavior to beat your wife over stale coffee?"
Journalist Kathy Marks for British newspaper The Daily Telegraph also commented on the ad in 1994: "Buy the wrong coffee brand, and a spanking awaits."
'Woe Be Unto You!'
The full text of the Chase & Sanborn Coffee ad read:
If your husband ever finds out you're not "store-testing" for fresher coffee …
… if he discovers you're still taking chances on getting flat, stale coffee … woe be unto you! For today there's a sure and certain way to test for freshness before you buy.
Here's how easy it is to be sure of fresher coffee.
Look for the "Dome Top" Can of Chase & Sanborn. That firm, rounded top shows it's packed under pressure, fresh from the oven.
Press your thumbs against the dome top before you buy. If it's firm, it's fresh. If the top clicks, pressure's gone — take another. It's the one way to get the freshest coffee ever packed.
No other can lets you test!
You can't test an ordinary flat top can. Some are "leakers" that have let air in to steal freshness. But all flat top cans look alike. You can't tell which are good and which are stale.
Here's the payoff!
Sure as you pour a cup, they'll want more! For Chase & Sanborn is a glorious blend of more expensive coffees … brought to you fresher. No wonder Chase & Sanborn pays a flavor dividend you won't find in any other coffee!
A Brief History of Chase & Sanborn
In a 1982 article syndicated in The Sacramento Bee, journalist Milton Moskowitz wrote of the company: "Chase & Sanborn stands for Caleb Chase and James Sanborn, two Boston coffee and tea merchants who joined forces in 1863, in the middle of the Civil War. In 1879, Chase & Sanborn became the first American company to pack roasted coffee in sealed cans. Sealed cans enabled Chase & Sanborn to ship coffee anywhere. It became the national leader."
Moskowitz continued:
In 1929, Wall Street bankers executed a three-horse parlay by bringing together Chase & Sanborn, Royal Baking Powder and Fleischmann into a new company prosaically called "Standard Brands." During the years of the Great Depression, Standard Brands was a prodigious advertiser. Magazines were filled with ads for Fleischmann's yeast. Just about everyone in the nation tuned the radio to the "Chase & Sanborn Hour," starring Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy.
The advertising helped to maintain Chase & Sanborn's position as the favorite brand of American coffee drinkers.
In later years, competition from the instant-coffee brand Maxwell House, a gradual reduction in advertising and the dying out of faithful Chase & Sanborn buyers contributed to the company's decline, Moskowitz said. The brand changed hands in subsequent years, at separate times under the ownership of such companies as Nabisco, Nestlé and Sara Lee.
As of 2025, the Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group owns the Chase & Sanborn coffee brand.
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