Buy This Cheese

I had a fun time doing some research at the MSU library today - they have every issue of Ladies Home Journal from 1918 until 2013.  No lie.  They take up two book shelves, but they're a wealth of knowledge. They show how women coped with the fallout of World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, the crazy "Free Love" movement of the sixties, etc.  It's like an entire commentary on women's history, right there in the basement of the library.  It's fabulous.  Since I'm focusing on the 1940's and 50's, though, I read a few magazines from that era.

I have a lot to say about a lot of different articles ("What To Do if a Negro Asks Your Daughter to Prom") or ("How to Get a Husband by Losing Weight"), but for now I just want to show you an ad that struck me as strange.  It has nothing to do with feminism or women's rights in general.  It's basically just weird.  A lovely "What?" moment that I found stuck right in the middle of August 1954:

Dear Miss Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese,

How is this ad supposed to inspire me to buy your cheese?  I'm confused.  Is it supposed to go well with pie?  Does anyone eat cheese with pie?  Because that's messed up.  Am I supposed to see the pie, take the subliminal message to become hungry, and then replace those feelings of hunger with a need for cheese?  Also, why isn't the cheese melting?  Isn't the pie warm?  No one likes cold pie.  Is that what you're trying to tell me about the cheese?  That it's so hardy that it won't melt even when placed upon hot pie?  I don't think I like that.  That's not a desirable quality that I consider when choosing cheese.  What if I'm trying to make nachos and your cheese won't melt?  Then when my husband gets home dinner won't be ready and he'll freak out because of it (at least, that's what an article from July's issue told me he'll do).  It's just...I don't understand the point of this ad, Miss Wisconsin.

Although...all my considerations of this ad have made me kind of hungry.  I kind of want some cheese.

Sneaky - I see what you did there.

From,

Christine (60 years in the future)