My friend Lori sent me a link to a blog post about some real vintage ads. You’re going to love these.
This is the Scotch Hair Set Tape:
I can remember one of my grandmothers using this stuff to tape down the hair around her temples and ears. I’m not sure what the point is and, frankly, my larger concern at this point is why the ad has a head on a post. Is anyone else getting a serial killer vibe? Is that tape actually hiding something more sinister, such as the place where the serial killer “played” with his lovely doll?
This ad is for, I think, meat:
Now that’s just weird. I’ve never seen anyone look so happy to do her family’s weekly shopping. Show of hands here: How many of you dress like that when you go to your grocery store? I personally think it’s a bit risky to handle raw meat while wearing white gloves, but maybe that’s just me.
Here’s an ad for ginger ale:
Damn, that is one scary kid. You know, the kind that starts off kicking cats and stealing other kids’ lunch money, then grows up and has a freezer full of human heads. Possibly on posts like the one above.
And check out this deodorant ad:
Ahhh, so this is what happened to the creepy ginger ale kid. He grew up first and THEN started collecting women’s heads. Oh, and nice mono-brow. Oh well, at least he’s not a stinky serial killer.
What do you think of this cigarette ad?
THIS is how they sold cigarettes?!?! I thought people were told that cigarette smokers were sexy and cool. I don’t care if she is wearing lipstick, she’s not terribly appealing. Like maybe she fought off Creepy Mono-brow Guy above. So she got lucky and her head didn’t end up on a post in his freezer. With pink hair tape accessorizing her temples.
Oh wait, maybe that’s the point! Smoking these cigarettes will keep you safe from serial killers. Well then, that changes things — this is actually a good ad. Almost like a public service announcement. We all should light up. To keep us safe.
Ewww. I watch Mad Men thinking how off the the logic was in the ad world for a very very very long time.
By: Skywalker on Tuesday, May 26, 2009
at 10:01 am
Maybe Tareyton girl could don an oversized sweatshirt and bend over in red stilletos and smoke and sing through her legs at the same time while bad 80s music and Duran Duran clones writhe in the background. No. Wait, that’s a car commercial.
And don’t you think her teeth are suspiciously white for a smoker?
By: alison on Tuesday, May 26, 2009
at 10:54 am
I love these sort of ads. Our downstairs bathroom is decorated entirely in postcards of these sort of ads in little frames. My favourite is the Ovaltine one which has a painting of a buxom lady in her nightgown stretching on her bed with a sunny dawn behind her and the immortal strapline “To wake up gay in the morning, just take this at bedtime!” That and the ketchup bottle one that says “You mean a WOMAN can open it?!!!”
By: Loth on Tuesday, May 26, 2009
at 10:56 am
My Mom STILL uses the pink tape on her hair.
I can see where the white gloves in the meat section might be handy for keeping E.coli off your hands.
By: Little Miss Sunshine State on Tuesday, May 26, 2009
at 1:02 pm
Unreal! I, of course, ALWAYS grocery shop in a white mob cap and white gloves.
By: jenn on Tuesday, May 26, 2009
at 1:06 pm
ginger ale kid is very creepy. I bet he’s plotting to kick some cats right now.
By: paperdiva on Tuesday, May 26, 2009
at 1:52 pm
I love old ads like these. Maybe Ginger Kid gave Tareyton Lady the black eye…perhaps the cap shot off the Ginger Ale and hit her.
By: alex on Tuesday, May 26, 2009
at 2:24 pm
What is Creepy McCreeperson DOING that he is sweating all over?
By: Kristabella on Tuesday, May 26, 2009
at 2:44 pm
Crazy stuff. Old ads are often hilarious to look at. I honestly don’t know what people were thinking…though I still question people now too, so I suppose it’s all fair. I wonder what people will say 50 years from now about the ads we have running around today.
By: Jaina on Tuesday, May 26, 2009
at 3:22 pm
I completely agree that the first ad is totally creepy!!! And the sweaty guy? What’s with his expression? Is that his “sexy look”?!!!!
By: Kirstin on Tuesday, May 26, 2009
at 3:33 pm
I always find it interesting to see what people looked like in the old ads - not so “perfect” as they seem to be now.
By: Brightside Susan on Tuesday, May 26, 2009
at 4:40 pm
What is the tap for exactly? Do you remove it after? I’m confused!
And what do you mean you don’t wear your milk maid hat, pearls and gloves to pick your cuts of meat. WERIDO! Everyone does that!!! lol.
By: shay on Tuesday, May 26, 2009
at 4:58 pm
She looks like a living barbie doll head…maybe that was the idea. Remember the life size Barbie head? You could fix her hair and paint makeup on her.
By: Smalltown Mom on Tuesday, May 26, 2009
at 5:36 pm
i remember that tape! my grandma used it. these are all so hilarious.
By: Madge on Tuesday, May 26, 2009
at 6:11 pm
The meat ad is for “cello” wrapping at A&P market, keeping her hands white glove clean while allowing her to examine the meat before purchasing. We take it for granted now, but it must have been something to not have meat you can see rather than hidden behind a counter, then wrapped in paper before buying.
Now I just want my meat packaged without carbon monoxide, so I end up buying from the butcher and having it wrapped in paper. Sigh.
By: Joie on Tuesday, May 26, 2009
at 8:11 pm
I used to LOVE the ads in McCalls.
These are awesome. I think that kid grew up to be a newscaster.
By: hotfessional on Tuesday, May 26, 2009
at 10:04 pm
Great post! It’s Gingervating! Sounds like a disease or worse.
Would people leave the hair tape on when they go out? That looks terrible! Kinda like wearing all those bandages after plastic surgery.
By: Kat on Wednesday, May 27, 2009
at 1:01 am
I have a neighbor who still creates those little curls at her temples, only she uses bobby pins, not scotch tape, to hold them. Maybe I will show her that ad.
The cigarette ad just slays me. I LOVE the fine print: “Tareyton is better. Charcoal is why. Tareyton’s activated charcoal delivers a better taste. A taste no plain white filter can match.”
Yup. Why would you want to inhale carcinogens through a clean white filter when you could inhale them through another carcinogen and enhance the cancer-causing activity! Love it.
By: Patience on Wednesday, May 27, 2009
at 9:06 am
I remember that tape-crazay! Those ads are hilarious!
By: melissawest on Wednesday, May 27, 2009
at 11:08 am
I wanna know why the chick with the football makeup on her eye has white teeth…smoking sure gives her those wrinkles but not those sparkly whites!
Those are some of the creepiest ads.
The meat ad, yikes….
But not as creepy as the head on a stand!
By: The Bossy Yankee on Wednesday, May 27, 2009
at 11:16 am
These are hilarious! I am trying to picture myself getting all dressed up and buying meat….
By: Lena on Wednesday, May 27, 2009
at 5:20 pm
I must have the Head On A Candlestick one for my very own.
The meat lady looks kind of demented, don’t you think? Like she had some gin and a downer just before heading out to fondle sirloin?
By: Coco on Wednesday, May 27, 2009
at 6:12 pm
All the smoker mommies from my growing up era had those wrinkly wrinkly eyes, and that weathered/leathered facial skin . . .but the white teeth? Not so much, I’d say buttery yellow is more like it!
EWWWW smokers . . . blah, gag. . .thank God California is finally getting it’s shit together to ban smoking in just about every outdoor place you can imagine. Oh, did I mention I hate smoking?
By: Julie on Wednesday, May 27, 2009
at 6:53 pm
With that head on a pedestal and the super white smoker teeth— I never realized photoshop had been around for so long!
By: Kathy on Wednesday, May 27, 2009
at 11:05 pm