According to Mad Men, an American television period drama series, “mad men” was a slang term coined in the 1950s by advertisers working on Madison Avenue to refer to themselves. Back in the 50’s-60’s print advertising was an extremely powerful marketing tool – making it a very competitive market. Print ads reflect society and its evolution, they reflect how we see each other, our desires, our pains. Despite the fact that many of these posters could seem very different from our current trends or even inappropriate, we may find that we haven’t change that much these last 50 years, or have we ? On the other hand, sexism, racism and other forms of intolerance are now unacceptable in advertising. Advertising, however, should be an emotional persuader overall and some of these ads still have that amazing power.
Did you think “this product has to be mine” in any of these? Which one was your favourite?
Loved this selection? Check out more amazing ads here.
If you like graphic design you may also like Amazing Beer Bottle Designs
Virginia Duran 
The Vespa is still cute and the Twiggy eyelashes. I will give the smoking ones a miss. I love the kitchen in the advertisement for Frigidaire.
LikeLike
I really like the kitchen advertisement too, so retro. I find the smoking ads shocking, I can’t believe this was legal and makes me wonder on how many things we are currently being deceived by media. The first thing that comes to my mind is war.
LikeLike
Yes, indeed! What deception is there now? Surely there would be some in the beauty industry. And ,whatever the product, the advertisers are still trying to sell us health and wealth and success and dreams.
LikeLike
In the same way people from the 50’s were told “hey, smoking is ok” I think now we are being deceived by “hey, they have nuclear weapons let’s start a war”.
On the other hand, I agree with you, everyone wants to be happy and depending on societies we are sold this thing or the other. I find it very curious, after living in 4 different countries so far I’ve realized how different societies were by its TV commercials.
LikeLike
Me quedo con los del Volkswagen Station Wagon 😀
LikeLike
Mi favorito es ese también y después los de Kelloggs, son geniales 😀
Aunque haya puesto sólo dos de Volkswagen he encontrado unos cuantos con bastante humor inteligente.
LikeLike
Wow, what a time machine! I had no idea Motorola once made record players. The Volkswagen ad comparing its station wagon with the others looks pretty effective to me.
LikeLike
I agree, the last Volkswagen ad is also my favourite. While doing research I found many witty and effective ads by Volkswagen. I know you always have a strong opinion, is there any you dislike very much?
LikeLike
This might reflect my “modern” views, but the Schlitz “Don’t worry darling, you didn’t burn the beer!” ad is ghastly. It’s sexist on MANY levels. The others, especially the cigarette ads, just make me laugh (“Doctors smoke Camels” or “Smoking makes you lose weight and makes you a fit athlete”).
LikeLike
VW wins. The Levis ad loses. What’s that barely clothed woman doing between that man’s legs? Although… not much has changed in the (female) sex sells department of advertising.
LikeLike
Haha good point, what is the woman in the Levi ad doing? I included it for that reason. Were people supposed to laugh at it? I really don’t get it, but I find it really funny. And yes, I have to agree about the female role in advertising. Do you think it will be over some day?
LikeLike
The Honda motorcycle “shape” ad could easily have been done today with a simple update to the clothing and few would object. The TV ads by Fiat morphing their 500 with a sexy Italian woman follow the same mentality: driving our vehicle is like riding a beautiful woman.
LikeLike
The Schlitz ad was indeed sexist, in a lot of ways. And maybe we haven’t changed so much. Cars keep their particular way of selling, “beautiful women” always included. Interesting.
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing. As someone who used to work in advertising , I find this very interesting. Just wondering what our cool ads now will ads will look like in another 50 years 🙂
LikeLike
Edem, thanks for stopping by. I share your point, what would future ads look like? I kind of imagine a 3d era in advertising. Oh and I wonder too in what aspects is society going to change as a whole. Sexism may be completely over soon, what next?
LikeLike
3d will be awesome.sexism hmmm. Big question is what next? Fingers crossed.
LikeLike
Hahaha yes! Fingers crossed. Don’t want to imagine!
LikeLike
Virginia, what a wonderful collection of ads. I just love that smoking Luck Strikes will get rid of that pesky double chin! And I’d never seen the VW ads – love ’em. And finally, I must admit that I owned a pair of Twiggy eyelashes. They were awesome! 🙂 ~Terri
LikeLike
Terri, can’t believe you got to have a pair of Twiggy’s eyelashes haha! It’s funny how we’ve changed as a society. How smoking would mean being fit and slim… it’s just crazy! My favourite ones are the Volswagen ads 🙂
LikeLike
I totally love the VW ads. I remember my Mom telling me that when she was pregnant with me her doctor PRESCRIBED cigarette smoking to calm morning sickness! Talk about sick! ~T
LikeLike
Interesting blog. i like the concept of map as travelogue. to paraphrase jean luc godard, everything should go in a blog.
LikeLike
Haha I had never heard of that so thanks for sharing! Looking forward to more of your posts!
LikeLike