30 Fascinating ‘Vintage Advertisements’ That Might Not Go Down Well Today
Vintage ads are a fascinating glimpse into the past. They show us what people were buying and how they were living. Old commercials for food and beverages reflect products that could’ve been found in household pantries at the time. Ads featuring home appliances or entertainment technologies revealed advancements and innovations, while the promotion of clothes, hairstyles, and accessories offered a look into fashion trends.
A Facebook page called “Old Ads, Vintage Advertising, Slogans” allows us to take a peek at popular products and services of the past. Buckle up, as we’re bringing you back to the time when commercials weren’t skillfully crafted videos but merely paper posters with bold headlines and bright illustrations.
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What could possibly go wrong with combining, water, electricity and gas together!?
The history of advertising could be traced back to the first American newspaper ad in 1704, featured in the Boston News Letter. Until the 1800s, print promotions were limited only to text. Thereafter, the production of newspapers rapidly increased and became affordable and accessible to the working class. To keep people engaged, advertisers started to get innovative by adding visuals to their ads.
News LetterWith printing advancements and new technologies, the 20th century brought forward visually crowded ads that included pages detailed with elaborate information. From newspapers and magazines to billboards and transport machines, the 1900s started a whole movement of advertising.
Successful ads from the 20th century had to stand out from the others and possess a unique look in order to sell a product or service. To achieve this, it was common to include bright and striking colors with dramatic illustrations or comic book-style drawings.
Printed commercials also portrayed idealized scenes of people and families and incorporated relatable middle-class references. Cheesy taglines and slogans were also a very important part of advertisements, which made them powerful and long -lasting. Various eye-catching fonts were also a great way to make the promotional poster stand out. From brush strokes to the narration of tales, these ads were creative and ever so captivating.
At the time, there were few regulations for advertising, so promoters relied on their own judgments. That’s why some of these commodities that were advertised and considered normal back then would now raise eyebrows or even receive hardcore disapproval. Commercials that preceded the civil rights movement employed sexism and racism and were known to spread ill-advised information.
Let’s take an old 7Up slogan, "Why we have the youngest customers in the business..." that recommends mixing this product with baby's milk. A lot of people believed that soda had medicinal properties, so this brand started advertising their own product as essential to a baby's health.
This doesn't hilariously fail the test of time. It's just OF its time.
A revelation when portable televisions were affordable and decent. For ladies like this, technology had already arrived.
When health concerns about cigarettes began in the 1930s, tobacco companies turned to doctors in order to diminish the worries about smoking. Thus, cigarette advertisements with physicians were born to add credibility. They typically featured statements like “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette” or “Doctors recommend Camels to their patients.”
Besides causing health concerns, vintage ads like “The Harder A Wife Works, The Cuter She Looks” and the inclusion of racial stereotypes and discrimination deeply promoted problematic social issues that wouldn’t fly in advertising today. Many similar commercials are banned in today’s world, and rightfully so.
Even though modern advertisements have come a long way, some old elements still work today, like having a spokesperson who is linked to the brand and attracts more customers.
Specifically, Ronald McDonald, Red and Yellow M&M's, and even Pillsbury Doughboy who become synonymous with their brands, proving this marketing tactic successful. Nowadays, influencers are the ones who promote businesses, and consumers love to hear what they have to say. Almost 50% of them search for videos before buying a product, and if a popular influencer is talking about it, this can increase profits.
Large and catchy slogans or headlines remain a great way to immediately draw people's attention. In 2009, boot company Timberland brought this back with the powerful headline “Walk the Talk”. The campaign demanded world leaders start putting their words into action to help stop climate change.
It's weird how much time it takes to understand they're actually advertising the Dodge truck and not Pepsi...
This looks like an ad from the 1920s, when a boyish flat bustline was in style. If you look at the fashions for women during that time, you’ll see that they’re designed for slim hips and no bust, a very boyish figure. An hourglass shape totally ruins the line and makes you look a lot bigger than you actually are, and often you will look pregnant, because the cloth will hang from the outermost point. Though I know it was backlash to millennia of restrictive clothing, especially corsets and several pounds of petticoats and wool, the pendulum quite unfairly swung past the normal figure and instead went to the extreme that the vast majority of women are simply unable to achieve without developing an eating disorder. They say the road to ruin is always paved with good intentions. That’s because the good intentions are never completely well thought out.
Interestingly, vintage magazine ad campaigns were meant to run only once, making them exceedingly rare and appealing to collectors. They now have rich historical and nostalgic value and have become tangible pieces of the past.
Today, vintage magazine ads are considered to be from before the 1800s to the 2010s, since that makes them over 20 years old. So, if you’re interested in starting, there’s still a great possibility that you’ll find something in such a wide time frame of newspaper and magazine production.
Ovaltine. Yep, I remember ads like this. When it was just poor quality chocolate.
Wow, talk about failing the test of time! How disrespectful and downright insulting can you get? If I’m not mistaken, that’s a war bonnet. They’re supposed to be used for specific sacred purposes only. They’re not for show, they’re not to be collected, and they’re definitely not to be used as costumes. (I welcome any Native Americans reading this to correct me if I’m wrong, and please tell me where I have erred. I want to get it right, because I definitely do not want to be disrespectful.)
hamburger relish seems to have disappeared. Haven't seen it in years.
The ads were marvellous in the sense that they showed slices of a different set of times, but the title of the article didn't really mesh with the contents. Most of these ads didn't "fail the test of time," so it was easier to look for something "wrong" with the these ads than appreciate them or get a chuckle out of them.
Not an idiot, just someone who needs to find a clickbaity title to keep this site running.
Load More Replies...The ads were marvellous in the sense that they showed slices of a different set of times, but the title of the article didn't really mesh with the contents. Most of these ads didn't "fail the test of time," so it was easier to look for something "wrong" with the these ads than appreciate them or get a chuckle out of them.
Not an idiot, just someone who needs to find a clickbaity title to keep this site running.
Load More Replies...