Advertising: Then & Now

Recently I came across an interesting site called Found In Mom's Basement where you can view hundreds of vintage magazine advertisements.  I couldn't help myself, I must have spent hours there scrolling down page after page of wonderful ads.

I've never noticed before but you can tell a lot about a society by studying it's ads.  Advertising is really just a mirror reflection of us.  Sure, ads promote the latest fashions and gadgets but look more closely and you'll see they also advocate politics, customs and morality.  Turns out, much as we've progressed in terms of technological advances, human nature hasn't changed one bit.

Men still want clean shaves and fast cars and women continue in their quests for the perfect lipstick and the latest everything.  Advertising has changed in very few respects, the most notable being increasing consumer safety awareness and protection.  The tobacco companies were most affected by this new presence that finally put an end to their often disturbing and misleading ads like these from the 1930s. 

 

Tobacco wasn't only a product, using it was as much a daily activity as brushing your teeth and it became a major player in the women's movement.  The 1920s flappers who smoked believed they were equal to men and cigarettes made them feel independent, rebellious and glamorous.  Seeing this potential market, in 1928 George Washington Hill, president of the American Tobacco Co, said, "It will be like opening a gold mine right in our front yard."* 

 

 

The fact that almost a century later and teen girls light up for the same reasons is proof positive of a job well done by the ad men despite the promotional restrictions placed on tobacco products.  It wouldn't be until 1966 that health warnings were mandated but as you can see from this ad, tobacco companies managed to overcome the setback using attention diverting tactics.

 

Do you remember those Virginia Slims ads like the one above that heralded to women, "You've come along way baby!"?  In the world of advertising, not so much.  Take a look at this blatant sexist men's pants ad from the 1960s and then flash forward to the 1991 Florida tourism ad below it.  I'm particularly amused by this one because the woman is under 25 and the man is a senior but personally I think the yacht makes him look younger, don't you? 

 

Think too of those colorful, usually illustrated cheesecake ads depicting barely dressed young beauties selling a product like shoe polish that has nothing to do with women other than the fact it was women who were buying the products for their husbands.  Now how's that for reverse psychology?  Seriously, it's ads like these that make you wonder why women didn't bust out their frying pans sooner.   

 

And women, desperate to look like those cheesecakes, tried lethal concoctions like this 1950s radioactive French skin cream (from a Curie no less).

 

I'd like to say we're so much smarter than that today but if you turn on the television right now you're sure to find an exercise or diet infomercial promoting the latest miracle product.  The wording hasn't changed much either.  We're still told the products work with "regular use and proper diet".  Here's a shocker, if you were eating a proper diet you wouldn't need their products in the first place.  Now, if the stresses of looking good and being a nutritionist weren't enough, the ad men made it a woman's sworn duty to serve and protect her entire family's well being.  In other words, if your kid wasn't popular at school it was because mommy didn't give him enough pop according to this "laboratory tested" ad from the Soda Pop Board of America.  Interestingly, that's a Coca-Cola bottle.

Children's products are still accompanied wiith that "pediatrician recommended" catch line and mothers are still targeted with guilt.  They may not be pushing a nippled Coke bottle these days but if your kid didn't make the basketball team this year it's certainly because you refused to fork out $150 for those Air Jordans that can make him jump higher than the man himself. 

You may find this tanning lamp ad seriously misinformed but when you consider modern infomercials for products like spray hair in a can and the Flow-Bee or perhaps the latest masochistic approach to hair removal, it's really not that out there for the times.

Special mention must be made of those outrageous women's personal hygiene ads.  Companies like Lysol and Zonite preyed on women's insecurities and you just have to love the looks of disgust on the husbands' faces in all of these types of ads.  The Midol ad in particular really gave me a chuckle.

 

If the ad biz had a logo, it would be "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".  The same ploys that worked yesterday work just as well today and we're P.T. Barnum's proverbial suckers for buying into it decade after decade.  Catch words like new and improved continue to capture or regain our attention.  Advertising has become as much as a part of our culture as grandma's apple pie, another ingenious marketing scheme by the way, much like Christmas and Halloween without those pesky religious overtones.

We can blame the companies for making products like cigarettes but all the credit goes to the ad agencies for every success.  Their campaigns have been dictating what we wear, drink, eat, drive and pretty much anything else you can think of.  As Mad Men's Don Draper said, "Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And do you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It's freedom from fear. It's a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you're doing is OK. You are OK."

Ads from Found in Mom's Basement - Worth a visit!

Lysol ads courtesy of  Metro Retro Vintage Jewelry & Clothing

*Excerpt from an interesting article on women and smoking.

Falls Avenue Vintage Fashion