While engaging in my usual Comic Archeology digs (Quick Question: Who was Dryasdust?), i frequently see odd and interesting advertisements from the last 150 years or so. Sometimes, on rare occasions, i'm even clever enough to toss a copy into pile for later reference.
I'm betting most of you already know where this is going, huh?
Yep, let's look at some ads.
Some are very much a product of their time. For example, did it ever occur to you that there was a time when they had to advertise to convince people to buy canned food?
And you get a bonus quiz for entertainment, but i'm not hiding the answers, even if it is Friday.
And then there are products that seem to have faded away - like Yeast Foam? Do they skim an active batch or what?
Sure looks yummy, but that's the artist at work. That's a fascinating looking Yeast Foam block in the package. I'm curious now.
Looking at those old adverts also turns up odd little questions, like...
Is that where the expression "Mum's The Word" comes from, or did they take advantage of a previously existing phrase? There's precedent for both variations, but i am, at this point, wholly ignorant in this regard.
There must be a website.
Meanwhile...
Other products have simply become impossible in today's world-
Yeah. Like they'll ever make a car that can be completely maintained at home again. Much less be able to repair all the previous cars on the road that require major computer diagnostic tools to even evaluate. This is an artifact of a time now gone, for sure.
Other ads are clearly a product of another time for more ... social reasons...
"How Does Your Child Measure Up?"
Nope. This one would never get approved for use these days. Odds are, the person who suggested it would be working somewhere else soon after.
HEY!
Remember when they cured baldness back in the 1950s?
Oh, yeah. St. Helens. We must have lost this knowledge when the volcano erupted.
Ah, well.
But, y'know - There's one thing we can always count on in advertising... Comics!
From pyramids to space craft to advertising - comics is everywhere.
Of course, there's one other thing always to be found in adverts - Sex!
Like the elegant Gartier Watch:
Amazingly, this ad is from the 50s, not the 70s.
I'm betting most of you already know where this is going, huh?
Yep, let's look at some ads.
Some are very much a product of their time. For example, did it ever occur to you that there was a time when they had to advertise to convince people to buy canned food?
And you get a bonus quiz for entertainment, but i'm not hiding the answers, even if it is Friday.
And then there are products that seem to have faded away - like Yeast Foam? Do they skim an active batch or what?
Sure looks yummy, but that's the artist at work. That's a fascinating looking Yeast Foam block in the package. I'm curious now.
Looking at those old adverts also turns up odd little questions, like...
Is that where the expression "Mum's The Word" comes from, or did they take advantage of a previously existing phrase? There's precedent for both variations, but i am, at this point, wholly ignorant in this regard.
There must be a website.
Meanwhile...
Other products have simply become impossible in today's world-
Yeah. Like they'll ever make a car that can be completely maintained at home again. Much less be able to repair all the previous cars on the road that require major computer diagnostic tools to even evaluate. This is an artifact of a time now gone, for sure.
Other ads are clearly a product of another time for more ... social reasons...
"How Does Your Child Measure Up?"
Nope. This one would never get approved for use these days. Odds are, the person who suggested it would be working somewhere else soon after.
HEY!
Remember when they cured baldness back in the 1950s?
Oh, yeah. St. Helens. We must have lost this knowledge when the volcano erupted.
Ah, well.
But, y'know - There's one thing we can always count on in advertising... Comics!
From pyramids to space craft to advertising - comics is everywhere.
Of course, there's one other thing always to be found in adverts - Sex!
Like the elegant Gartier Watch:
Amazingly, this ad is from the 50s, not the 70s.
adverts from Action, Cavalcade, Confidential, Farmer's Wife, Saturday Evening Post, and The Dude (1932-1959)
I recall a similar ad for a cure for baldness in US comicbooks. However, when you read the small print, it said the 'cure' didn't apply to male pattern baldness. Must've been a lot of disappointed customers who didn't read the small print.
ReplyDeleteSo, really - what were they selling?
ReplyDeleteA cure for radiation hair loss?
Or maybe it was only good for people who shaved their heads?