With over 150k members as of now, the ‘Vintage Ads, Commercials & Artwork’ Facebook group was started in 2019, but it is dedicated to content going way back in time. In a previous interview with Bored Panda, its founder, Edgar, shared that he started it because he felt restricted in other groups as they didn’t accept both printed and video ads.

“That pretty much made me take the decision to start my own one and run it the way I think it should [be run], by having quality content regarding interesting vintage ads, commercials, and artwork," he told Bored Panda then.

“I have always enjoyed vintage, ancient, or antique things; I always find it interesting every time I see something that is very old,” the founder of the group told Bored Panda during a more recent interview.

“It's like going to a museum and looking at ancient relics and just imagining how it was before; so I get some of that while managing my group. Having other people participate and post things we had never seen before makes it even better.”

Edgar believes that ‘Vintage Ads, Commercials & Artwork’ brings joy not only to him but to other members of the group as well. “I believe people can benefit in various ways. The nostalgia factor, the discovery of the past, the enjoyment of art, education on advertising history and techniques, and lastly, just being entertained,” he said, adding that vintage advertising is different to what we see nowadays.

“It's about reliving and preserving the past,” the founder of the Facebook group pointed out, referring to vintage advertising. In his opinion, advertisers nowadays could learn a thing or two from them, but he believes they wouldn’t get away with advertising their products the same way brands and organizations did back in the day.

“One example would be how in the past they didn't think too much about being politically correct or if they might offend someone, which is a big problem that advertisers have to deal with today,” he said.

Edgar continued on why advertising nowadays could not be the same as it used to be, by pointing out that people now have more access to information, which back then they did not. “In the past, advertisers could get away with making some bold claims about their products or services even though they were complete lies.”

“They can't also use the way the products were presented; like how they used to put them high on a pedestal like they were the best thing ever to come out,” he added. “Today I'm afraid people would see this as cheesy or fake.”

The founder of the Facebook group believes that vintage ads age well because of nostalgia. “People love to remember that car their dad used to drive, that toy they got for Christmas as kids, or that perfume their mom used to love. That's why people enjoy my group; they love to remember the good old days. Others just appreciate looking into the past.”

According to recent data, Edgar seems to be right; nostalgia does push people to seek all things vintage. PRNewswire revealed that, based on a survey of over two thousand American shoppers, three in five of them regularly buy vintage items; and out of those who do, nearly one-fifth do it for the pure sentimental value.

PRNewswire shared that VHS tapes, Etch-a-Sketch toys, and Polaroid cameras are the vintage products people are on the lookout for the most, followed closely by lava lamps and mood rings.

According to the survey, these items remind quite a few people of a simpler, more peaceful time. Roughly one-fifth of American shoppers reportedly miss such a time, saying that back then, they weren’t exposed to advertisements 24/7 across different mediums.

Other interesting finds of the survey suggest that, when it comes to childhood nostalgia, iconic TV commercials are the thing consumers miss the most from the ‘90s marketing campaigns and shopping experiences. Buying products through infomercials or catalogs and well-known TV jingles are second and third on the list.

If you would like to browse more of such vintage ads, feel free to check out our previous piece on ‘Vintage Ads, Commercials & Artwork’. And for more content on all that’s vintage, continue to this list of beautiful pictures from back in the day, view these images from the 1970s archives, or marvel at the best vintage shots of Hollywood stars, which you can find here.