From the Annals of Advertising History

The "Top 48 Ads That Would Never Be Allowed Today." (NSFW!)

Comments

[Brian Sorgatz]

I don't want to believe in the high correlation between feminism and humorlessness?honest!?but Ms. keeps publishing that uptight, sanctimonious "No Comment" page.

[Reason Readin Female]

There's an even higher correlation between feminism and sexism.

I stopped calling myself a feminist years ago when I realized that many women use that title as a means to degrade men. Ya know,...because they deserve it.

One of the truest of truisms is that we become what we hate.

[?]

Thinking of any current ads that wouldn't fly back then is surprisingly difficult, considering how freer-than-ever I always hear we are.
"Thick."

[Brian Sorgatz]

Graveney: ...and I have committed adultery...

Edmund: Well, who hasn't?

Graveney: ...more than a thousand times...

Edmund: Well, it *is* 1487!

?Blackadder: "The Archbishop"

[mattcid]

Funny stuff, but you may want to throw up a "NSFW".

[Ska]

Or link to it at Feministing.

[Jesse Walker]

Funny stuff, but you may want to throw up a "NSFW".

Good point. Done.

[Steve]

I wonder what the ads for legalized weed would look like...?

[Jeff P.]

More importantly, what would ads for legalized weed from the 1970's have looked like.

[Federal Dog]

Ads used to be much spankier.

[Jim]

Two comments:

1) Beer is healthy for nursing mothers.

2) I had that Mattel M-16 machine gun. It kicked ass!

[R C Dean]

(2) Me too. Large chunks of my childhood were spent with toy guns and mock battles.

Good times, good times.

[The Bearded Hobbit]

"Johnny Seven:One Man Army"

Coolest toy gun EVAH.

... Hobbit

[John]

I had the M16 as well. And a really kick ass bolt action rifle. I had a great toy gun collection as a kid. And beer is healthy for nursing mothers.

[CharlesWT]

I had one too, but the Marines wouldn't let me keep it.

[Greer]

The girl in the VD ad looks a lot like Teresa Wright, the girl next door in The Best Years of Our Lives.

[T]

I've got cookbooks from the 50s and 60s. They're funny in the same way. If you're reading the cookbook, you must be a married woman. It's implicit on nearly every page, and explicit on more than a few.

[John]

So much S&M back then. Did any man not spank his wife?

[me]

Many years ago I was doing some work on my mom's house and we ran across a bunch of magazines from the 20's, 30's and 40's. I was amazed at how risque some of the advertising was - stuff they would never publish today. I don't remember specifics, but I remember being struck by it. It is amazing what a bunch of blue noses this country has become when consider there were other eras when sexuality didn't strike panic in the hearts of citizens.

[RyanXXX]

You can't beat the Axis if you have VD 🙂

[G Mc]

If this tells you anything, its how much of an effect private activity can have on society as a whole. Are there no countervailing societal interests at stake?

[Robert]

I did this -- https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/images.owni.fr/pub_vintage_005.jpg -- and gave myself a hard-to-stop nosebleed, I was told. I don't remember it. I don't remember when I stuck a key in an electric outlet, either; "Hot!" I was told it melted.

What made advertisers more daring then? Was it just that people who object to stuff are more daring now? Is there now such a thing as bad publicity?

[Racist Faggot]

Why don't you wash with Fairy Soap like that white nigger?

[alaamiah]

nd Disclosure Act, or Credit CARD Act, writes Senior Editor Katherine Mangu-Ward. The n