« Frigidaire »

A subsidiary of General Motors, Frigidaire established itself in the interwar period as one of the leading brands of “domestic cold.” In France, its name quickly became a generic term for the refrigerator. At the height of the postwar boom (Trente Glorieuses), household equipment underwent explosive growth: refrigerators, washing machines and vacuum cleaners became the new emblems of modern comfort, reshaping domestic habits and advertising alike. Brands competed in inventiveness, taking over the Grand Palais for the Salon des arts ménagers, at the peak of its popularity in the late 1950s. Vast stands displayed a profusion of products that Boris Vian mocked — and helped popularize — in his famous song Complainte du progrès, subtitled “les Arts ménagers”: recorded in 1955, the song popularized the name Gudule and, more importantly, described a new mode of seduction based on offering household products instead of words of love.

Philips seized the opportunity and sent Boris Vian himself to promote its products at the Salon des arts ménagers, held from 23 February to 18 March 1956 — a month-long parade of housewives (and their husbands), with the author turned sandwich-man, walking the show floor among pressure cookers, stoves and washing machines, Gudule playing in the background. The only two brands named in the song, Frigidaire and Dunlopillo, had their own stands there. It is not known whether Vian went so far as to hum his song in front of them.

Attendance that year reached its all-time peak, at 1.5 million visitors. From 1961, having outgrown the Grand Palais, the show moved to the new “futuristic” CNIT building at La Défense, a symbol of a new way of living and moving: the automobile and household appliances became the twin emblems of the emerging consumer society. General de Gaulle himself recognized this in 1965, observing that “the housewife wants a vacuum cleaner, a Frigidaire, she wants a washing machine, and if possible, a car too. That is the trend…”

This design by Jacquelin belongs to the visual tradition celebrating the performance of the sacrosanct appliance, said to “protect the family”: advertising codes shifted toward a narrative of safety, health and abundance, embracing the era’s core belief that household equipment promised well-being for the home.