This advertisement foreshadows Ovaltine’s subsequent publicity campaign playing on an anagram of the product name, “Vital One”. In this particular commercial, the anagram has two meanings, referring both to the child as the focus of the film and to the Ovaltine rusks with their energy-giving properties.
Innocent and cute at first glance, the ad raises such poignant social issues as fatherless children, single mothers, and the duties of fatherhood, proving to be a deeply modern reflection of its time. While the 1920s are often associated with the New Woman, traditional family ties and clear-cut gender roles of course remained standard throughout the decade. However, The Way to a Child’s Heart hints at important new developments concerning the bonds of marriage and child-rearing methods, as it portrays a love relationship as a partnership and friendship, while reflecting a less hierarchical and more emotional approach to the child. The husband-to-be has to win over the girl’s heart, choosing a rather unusual ploy: he pretends to have been baking the rusks for her, adopting not the traditional fatherly duties, but opting for a more “motherly”, sensitive act.
The brand he chooses for this, Ovaltine, is not coincidental. “Ovaltine”, a misspelling of the Swiss product “Ovomaltine” in a trademark application for the United Kingdom, was a popular brand in Great Britain, consumed by the majority of the middle and upper classes. This ad thus mirrors and directly addresses Ovaltine’s target market. It’s no accident the commercial is set in a wealthy environment: Mr. Brian wears a 3-piece suit and a fedora and walks past a tennis court, while the young mother waits for him in a highly decorated house located in a leafy suburb.

Shanice Martin, Noemi Daugaard