Ads of the Past.

To be honest, I have no doubt at all that these ads were effective during the 50s and 60s. Yeah, it’s true that when I first glanced at them, I couldn’t help but imagine what these people were thinking in creating such ridiculous ads, but really, after getting through the initial 5 minutes of shock and disbelief, I looked in deeper and remembered that this is over fifty years ago we’re talking about. Obviously, if we saw these ads floating around today, the reactions of the viewers would be very much different from how they were fifty years ago, but that only shows us how much society’s changed over the passage of time.

Let’s take a look at the first ad for example: a woman stands in front of an incredibly large pile of food with the words “EAT! EAT! EAT! AND ALWAYS STAY THIN!” blazoned across the top of the poster. Clearly, that’s one thing that hasn’t changed in these fifty years – people are still as concerned about their weight and body size as ever. I’m sure all of the people during that time period who were bothered by their own body size (virtually everyone) would’ve had their eyes glued to the poster at this point. What catches my attention the most, however, is the irony in the message to the right of the image: “FAT, the enemy that is shortening your life, BANISHED!” Okay, yeah, obesity is becoming an increasingly large issue throughout the world, but when it comes down to ‘shortening your life’, what could be more lethal than having a worm squirming inside of your intestines, taking all of your nutrients and POSSIBLY EVEN MIGRATING TO YOUR BRAIN WHERE THEY COULD TAKE OVER YOUR ENTIRE BODY!!!!!!!!!! Okay, so maybe not, but that doesn’t lessen the danger and risk of swallowing tape worms!
The next ad promotes a brand of cigarettes called Tipalet. Just by looking at the image of a man exhaling smoke into the woman’s face, it’s obvious that this advertisement tries to entice the viewers through romantic or sexual appeal. This aspect of the ad doesn’t deviate much from what’s seen today, where sexuality is becoming increasingly exploited in advertising, but what really falls out of the norm of modern ads, however, is the message “Blow in her face and she’ll follow you anywhere.” What’s surprising isn’t in the message itself; it’s how blatantly the advertisers delivered this point to the viewers. The thing is, even today, women are constantly being displayed in music videos and movies as sexual objects. The difference is that, however much we objectify women, the idea we try to project on the surface is that women and men are of an equal status. These ads from the 50s and 60s that blatantly display gender injustice, however, show that branding women as inferior creatures who ‘followed’ men around was an accepted and established fact in society. It only goes to show how much humans and the definition of justice have evolved over time. I have no doubt at all that if this slogan were to be circulated in today’s society, hundreds of feminists and gender justice committees would instantly come rushing to the advertisers demanding for the immediate removal of the ad.

As for the next ad, I really have no idea as to how it would have influenced anyone into buying their product, which judging by the ad, is lard. All of the ads were pretty ridiculous, but this is probably the only one out of the four that makes me wonder if the advertisers were joking. Especially after reading everyone's responses to the ‘Taxing Pop’ video, I would’ve thought that the idea of consuming lard would’ve been more of a punishment than anything. The heading is even more ridiculous – “They’re happy because they eat lard!” What, so there’s no explanation as to why the consumption of lard would make people happy? No further proof or evidence to back up this false claim? What kind of ad is this!? – or even more, What kind of people would be so easily persuaded into purchasing lard because of this extremely unreasonable and far-fetched ad!?

The last advertisement promotes ‘Camels’, another brand of cigarettes. The company attempts to reach its customers by claiming that doctors smoke this brand of cigarettes more than any other brand. First and foremost, the ad doesn’t offer any additional information regarding the statistics (More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette!) which makes me doubtful as to how accurate this information could be. Not only would that cause consumers to doubt the credibility of that company, but it would also be, not to mention, ILLEGAL. Alright, so supposing that the information provided was correct – does that really make a difference? Just because Camels are ‘The Doctor’s Choice’, it doesn’t give me the impression that they’re any less lethal than other brands of cigarettes. Cigarettes are cigarettes; no matter what brand, they’re still as harmful and likely to cause damage to the human body.

Judging by these ads, there’s no doubt about it that society’s progressed over the past fifty years. With time, we evolve: as humans continue to become more knowledgeable day by day, it’s inevitable for our society’s views on morals and beliefs to undergo constant changes. In spite of the fact that we live in the same place and speak the same language as the people who were once persuaded by these advertisements, the difference in time and education really acts as a boundary between our culture and theirs’.