Things I Didn’t Buy 23

Here are a few more ads from the 1950s. I like this Lipton Tea ad—with just one sip, everything is just brighter.

This Coca-Cola ad is interesting.

This Birds Eye freezer food ad makes me sad—that’s some unappetizing looking food…

This Campbell's soup ad isn’t particularly enticing; the most interesting part is that back in the day, there were only 21 soup options. Today, there are a seemingly unending number of soup choices.

A Hit Parade cigarette ad. That’s some wholesome and sophisticated fun those smokers are having.

Things I Didn’t Buy 21

Here are some car ads from the 1950s that were in Life magazine. This Buick ad just reminds me of the movie The Birds (even though it was made before the movie was made, but still, put a an expression of horror on those people’s faces and it could be a scene from the movie…).

A Lincoln ad.

A Mercury ad that’s “Straight out of tomorrow…a dream car you can own!”

Another Mercury ad.

And a Studebaker ad.

Things I Didn’t Buy 17

Although it didn’t have a cover, I found what looked like a Life magazine from WWII. I had to take some photos of some of the ads in it. First is this Shell ad that states: “It’s sweeter because of petroleum.” Really?

I just thought the illustration on this Ductillite ad was interesting.

This Prem ad shows ways to dress up your canned ham.

Very patriotic-looking International Trucks ad.

I tend the find cigarette ads rather fascinating because the perception of cigarettes are so different today than they once were. Here’s a Lucky Strike cigarette ad.

Vintage Binder Ads

The person who saved all these articles (in the vintage binder I got), inadvertently saved ads, as they were on the backs or sides of the articles she was saving. Ads are intriguing to me because they reflect the society of the time. Since these articles came from women’s magazines, the ads were of course, targeting women. There were many beauty, personal hygiene, household and food item ads, but there were also tons of cigarette ads.

This is the only cigarette ad that I cared to show since most of them were 1970s people being “cool.” I really like the simple graphic nature of this black and white ad.

Blistex ads—I like the packaging with the cute font (which is way cuter than it currently is).

Two honey ads.

I thought the dog in the doggie treat as was pretty adorable. The nail ad has a good headline to catch the eye.

Gum ad that I thought was interesting.

Quote: I Don’t Read Advertisements

Truthfully, I don’t feel the pull of advertisements often. I don’t feel the need of buying mascara that will make my eyelashes 4x longer, or seeing the latest mediocre remake of a film in the movie theater, or trying the newest monstrosity of a burger at a fast food joint. There’s a lot of crap out there; there’s always something that’s newer, faster, shiner and “better,” and advertisers are doing their best to make me want to want…everything.

I feel bombarded by ads every day—billboards, transit ads, web ads (that stalk me), and TV and radio commercials that are all trying to sell me something. I look at most of these ads and feel nothing. [Pause.] Okay, that’s not really true. I may feel annoyed and roll my eyes. I may feel depressed and sigh in disappointment. And I may feel bewildered that anyone would think that that is a good idea.

But despite my general nature to dismiss most advertisements, the quote does bring to mind that it’s hard to want something if you don’t know it exists. [Pause.] I guess that’s why companies pay to advertise.