Example One: Is it me, or do the bare buns in this ad seem just a little bit child-porny? It’s a nice example of how our sensibilities change; these days there is a loud and ubiquitous discourse around children’s vulnerability to sexual exploitation. A discourse that, I think, would make this ad inappropriate today.
Example Two: After decades of anti-smoking public health initiatives which included, along with health warnings, the association of smoking with bad breath, yellow teeth, and stinking clothes and hair, I somehow don’t think food would be marketed with a cigarette in its mouth (1950).
Example Three: This candy ad begins “Some tigers eat people. I eat tigers. His tail was 3 chocolates longer.” Then, it continues, “P.S. I made a gun from the tube.” Today, in most parts of the U.S., childhood innocence is no longer marketed with firearms.
Example Four: Finally, illustrating changes in aesthetics and production, this is one minute of your life well-spent:
Source: Vintage ads (here, here, and here) and Found in Mom’s Basement.
Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College and the co-author of Gender: Ideas, Interactions, Institutions. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
