While this slide is for a Palmerston North business, Leader & Watt have since opened branches in both Levin and Foxton. But what makes this slide more interesting is what it says about how the Kiwi idea of 'home' was seen.
In postwar New Zealand home ownership was booming. In fact, owning a home was seen as a rite of passage and if you didn't own one by the time you were forty you were seen as rather suspect. Owning a home also meant maintaining it- the Black & Decker portable drill was invented in 1916 and has since gone through many different versions. This slide suggests that it would make a perfect gift for someone who has their own home (a young family starting out in their first home would need power tools- and fast!).
But this drill was sold to men- with the vision of the 'man of the house' being responsible for fixing and extending the home then accepted as normal. Until a couple of years ago a powertool retailer had a radio jingle saying that their stores were '...a man's world' showing that these outdated ideas have lingered.....
