A NEW book which explores the way the city’s iconic Kays Catalogue displayed men, women and children over various decades has hit the shelves.
Gender Constructions in Kays Catalogues: 1920 to the New Millennium, was written by Dr Barbara Mitra, senior lecturer in Media and Cultural studies at The University of Worcester, and co-edited by Dr Rachel Johnson, associate researcher in the university’s international forum for research in children’s literature.
They explored how the brand portrayed people at the height of the catalogue’s fame and how it influenced opinions on gender.
The University of Worcester holds the Kays archive with over 1,500 images, which Dr Mitra said was one of the reasons why she chose to write a book on the subject.
She said: “My research area has often focused on gender advertising aimed at children, I thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to see if anything had changed from 1920s to today.
“Especially to investigate whether the stereotypes that one would assume were around in 1920s were very different to our contemporary advertising today.
“The book expanded to include the images aimed at adults as well – as there are also many gendered stereotypes that are still around.”
The book examines the image that Kays portrays through advertising for fashion, toys, household items and various images, from the 1920’s to the end of the catalogue’s life in 2000.
This is the first book Dr Mitra has written, she is now working on other journals and said she may write another book in the future.
