Advertising
Hinkle Tablets
In 1915, this nostrum contained a nice little dose of strychnine. One assumes that by the time of the 1956 advert, they had eliminated that ingredient.
Original letter here.
Original ad here (page 13).
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 16, 2017 -
Comments (3)
Category: Death, Advertising, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, 1910s, 1950s
How To Lick Pimples
Source: Santa's Christmas Comics, Dec 1952
via reddit
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 10, 2017 -
Comments (2)
Category: Advertising, 1950s, Skin and Skin Conditions
Follies of the Madmen #300
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Jan 10, 2017 -
Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, History, Tobacco and Smoking, 1950s, Men, Women
Irv Pollock, Auto Dealer
According to this verbal portrait of the era,, the Toledo, Ohio, car-dealership scene of the 40s, 50s and 60s was a vibrant, competitive time. Certainly a dealer would want to come up with wild ads to stand out. Irv Pollock must have felt that way anyhow!
Note: you might have to scroll left or right at the links to see the original ad.
Original ad here.
Original ad here.
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jan 07, 2017 -
Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Regionalism, 1940s, 1950s, Cars
Bowling is for Bored Teens!
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jan 06, 2017 -
Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Sports, Teenagers, 1960s
Hurff Canned Goods
Once upon a time, a company with the somewhat off-putting name of Hurff was big enough to advertise in a top-of-the-line national magazine like LIFE.
Here's the backstory, so far as I can find out.
I have found ads from them as late as 1948. Does that mean that store was selling three-year-old cans of food, given the plant-closing date of 1945? Or maybe the plant did not close, but Hurff himself was forced out? We will probably never know...
Hurff is a fine forgotten piece of what cartoonist Robert Crumb calls "weird old America."
Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 16, 2016 -
Comments (10)
Category: Food, Regionalism, Advertising, 1930s, 1940s
Follies of the Madmen #299
Not sure what the slugger prowess of stews has to do with running an airline. Nowadays, they could use a baseball bat for drunk-passenger control.
Original ad here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 15, 2016 -
Comments (4)
Category: Business, Advertising, Sports, Air Travel and Airlines, 1960s
Just Imagine
The uproarious laughter by the human executive at the antics of Tommy Telephone, a plainly impossible vision, proclaims that the fellow is gratefully descending into the dark swamp of insanity due to the high stresses of his job.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 10, 2016 -
Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Corporate Mascots, Icons and Spokesbeings, Products, Communications, Delusions, Fantasies and Other Tricks of the Imagination, Technology, Telephones, Cartoons, Stop-motion Animation, 1940s, Brain Damage
Follies of the Madmen #298
Explanation here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 07, 2016 -
Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Crowds, Groups, Mobs and Other Mass Movements, 1960s, Alcohol, Moral Panics and Public Hysteria
Seven Warning Signals of Cancer
Nice photo. Though the connection between Sophia Loren and warning signals of cancer completely escapes me.The ad ran in magazines and newspapers in 1967 and '68, such as here: Broadcasting - Dec 2, 1968.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 03, 2016 -
Comments (2)
Category: Advertising, 1960s
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |