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Just Four Spiffy Little Ads From 1948
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Tag Archives: vintage advertisements
There’s always room for Maxfield Parrish
Does a Bear Schlitz in the Woods? — Dawn of the Furries
1949 magazine ad for Schlitz Beer that I found in a box of scraps.
Ad Thoughts:
That clown is totally doing the Creepy Stalk & Stare on the bunny, which changes the narrative’s dynamic a tad.
I’m impressed they allowed a one-eyed pirate with depth perception problems to pour the beer and navigate a crowded party.
America needs a matador these days, to kill the bull.
After panel three, does the bear and bunny hump with the costumes on or off? I’m thinking on.
Fun Facts:
In 1902, the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company was the biggest brewer in America.
Along with the tagline used in this ad, Schlitz later had “”When you’re out of Schlitz, you’re out of beer.” Oh no! I’m out of Schlitz! Continue reading
“Hey, baby, what’s your sign?”
Popular answers: “Do not enter.” “Dead end.” “Stop.”
Sadly rare answer: “Slow children playing.”
1969 magazine ad for Smirnoff vodka. Umm… What’s with the tree? IS IT A SATAN TREE!?
Because who doesn’t enjoy pointy bras from 1961!?
Earlier this year, an antique shop owner in town was retiring and winding down her store. I picked up a pretty good batch of vintage magazines at a nice price on the last weekend, and went back after work on Monday, the final day, just to see if I had missed anything.
Well, turns out I was recognized and she had an impressive stock of vintage magazines in back that never made it out on the floor. She made me a great offer and I took it. And on top of that, she had a collection of various things she had cut out of other old magazines — random photos and illustrations from ads, stories and features — that she had started on for an unspecified “girly project” but decided after a while that it was too much work. She had this particular collection stored in the cover/lid from a case of office copier paper and it was filled to overflowing. She offered it to me for five more bucks and I said yep.
I still haven’t made it to the bottom of her cutouts, but so far have found a plethora of full, intact vintage ads, and also many partial ads where she was only interested in the primary photo or illustration and saw no need to cut out or keep the rest (headline, body copy, logo, etc.). The image below is one such example.
I am Spartacus.
Settle the fuck down, Irv.
The origin of 3M’s Post-it Notes is the stuff of legend, and if you went to business school, you probably had to read the case study even though anything like it probably won’t ever happen again.
Now imagine being the ad agency creative team tasked with not only getting the public wanting the product, but also having to explain what it was and how it worked because nothing quite like it had ever existed before. Or don’t imagine it, because here’s one of the early ads.
1981 magazine ad for 3M’s Post-it Notes (Post-Its) with an excellent example of strategic and select use of color.
It’s 2017, but I would totally wear these glorious shoes from 1974.
Not even gonna rip on this ad, because those are awesome shoes. Somebody please make these shoes again!
A most groovy Pedwin ad from a 1974 magazine.
Polite or Desperate?
Carlton cigarettes magazine ad from 1984
Or rather, polite desperation or desperate politeness?
Blowing Smoke
For those of you who still believe that corporations always have the best interests of Americans in mind, here’s a nice little something from 1984.
(cough) (cough) Bullshit! (cough) (cough)
You know how a prisoner is offered a final cigarette before being executed by firing squad?…
1974 magazine ad for Old Gold
Eek.