Magazine ad, 1956

Advertisement for Night Of The Creeps

1949 ad

'It's about as fast as you can go without having to eat airline food.'

Porsche 911 advertisement (c. 1990).

1973 Camel Cigarettes Magazine Advertisement

1980

Thursday, August 3.

vintage ads.

Capitalism: bad. Vintage ads: good.

Or so dictates the paradoxical logic that we have decided for ourselves, and when the question is this awkward, the answer is obvious: to stick our collective heads in the sand and simply enjoy the pretty things. And goodness, they are pretty. The problems with advertising, and its seductive evils, are laid bare by this selection of ads handpicked from the dashboard. The common thread between all of these ads is that they have been produced by corporations whose end goal and very purpose is to convince you (against your better judgment, or circumstances) to spend your money (money which you need) on their products (products which you don't—and possibly can't really afford.) 

Similarly demonstrated, however, is the irresistible nostalgic glamour. Perhaps when contemporary advertising tries so hard to be a meme, or be funny, or be quirky and off-beat (or perhaps more simply put, tries too hard) there is a genuine allure in classic adverts that, even now, feel so effortlessly stylish. This effortlessness is also paradoxical because, like the products they often advertise, they are the result of hard work, time, dedication, from those at the peak of their craft. Like these products, they were made for leisurely, long-term use and enjoyment, and not to be so quickly consumed and discarded. What we're really saying, I suppose, is when #advertising is this slick, and pleasing to the eye, we must simply ask that you be quiet, promptly, and accept our money.   

And remember, folks, one eye on the pretty ads, the other guarding your piggy banks x

Advertisement for Alpine Cigarettes in the July 16, 1962 issue of O Cruzeiro Magazine.

1965 United Airlines Disneyland ad

A Coca-Cola ad from 1920.

Photo: eBay

JUDGE, April 24, 1926

Genuine soil from Dracula's Castle, 1981 ad

Advertisement for Water Maid rice and Mahatma rice (1959).

1959

*not an ad*