You know, if you take a different look at these ads, they could be viewed as very thoughtful. At the time, women couldn't/shouldn't/rarely worked outside the home, so the husband who cared about making his wife's chores easier was actually being quite sweet. He didn't have to buy the latest invention - she could have made do with whatever came along pre-technology - washing by hand, using tin pots, beating rugs by hand, etc - but he bought the latest because he wanted her to have an easy time of it... Orrr because it was easy and all the ads told him she'd like it