This pamphlet was created for the sake of advertisement. Much like sponsored content today, it was a genuinely useful publication that was nevertheless created primarily to promote a product. Specifically, this pamphlet included recipes requiring the Canada Starch Company’s own “Crown Brand Corn Syrup,” “Lily White Corn Syrup,” and “Mazola Salad Oil.” It also had kitchen tips involving the same products, such as advice to “add 2 to 3 tablespoons of Mazola for each 2 cups of [pancake] mix” (“Pretty as a Picture Parties”, 4), or to “blend a quarter cup of Crown Brand with an 8-ounce package of cheese for an 8-sandwich spread” (“Pretty as a Picture Parties”, 8). It was designed to offer readers a variety of creative party ideas, but to tie each idea to product-dependent recipes. In practice, it was meant to be read by teenaged (“teener”) girls, who would fantasize about throwing perfect parties and “go into a huddle with Mother and get her approval.”

              The pamphlet was targeted almost exclusively to young women, and relied on the assumption that women were the cooks and homemakers. It particularly addresses teenaged girls, who would more likely have needed cooking advice, sought creative recipes, and been inclined to follow those recipes to the letter (because of a lack of experience or confidence in their own abilities), which meant using the recommended brand-name products.

              The evidence of the pamphlet’s intended audience is in its tone and turns of phrase in addressing its readers. Phrases such as “be a good girl” (“Pretty as a Picture Parties”, 2) and “don’t spurn Mother’s helping hand” (“Pretty as a Picture Parties”, 7) would have been ill-received by a young housewife, but appropriate for a teenager. Suggestions for parties also make the readership clear; the pamphlet gives “planning an open night for parents at Hillside High” as an example of a “Party for a Crowd” (“Pretty as a Picture Parties”, 8) and the suggested “Candy Party” is at its most fun “when you’re six, again when you’re sixteen and finally when you reach sixty” (“Pretty as a Picture Parties”, 9). The illustrations throughout are of young housewives with young friends and families, but the party-planning advice that fills the first three pages, such as “mind your manners” and “menu do’s and don’ts” (“Pretty as a Picture Parties”, 2) are things that “the practiced hostess [already] knows” (“Pretty as a Picture Parties”, 3).