Category:
Advertising

A-Bomb Detergent

Wash away radioactive particles with Flobar!

Life - Nov 20, 1950



This ad later made its way into a 1982 piece by artist Winston Smith.

Trust Your Mechanic

Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 29, 2021 - Comments (1)
Category: Advertising, Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters, Baths, Showers and Other Cleansing Methods, 1950s

Follies of the Madmen #505

All scholars of oddball advertising are familiar with the Maidenform Bra campaign that used the tagline "I dreamed I...in my Maidenform Bra." But I don't believe I've ever seen the campaign translated from print to 3-D.



"This is an original vintage photograph from the 1950s. It shows a surreal Maidenform Bra window display at Parsons Souders store in downtown Clarksburg, West Virginia."

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Apr 12, 2021 - Comments (1)
Category: Business, Advertising, Underwear, 1950s

Avoid Undie Odor

Throughout the 1930s and 40s, the marketing team for Lux soap repeatedly warned consumers that if they didn't wash their clothes everyday, they risked having "undie odor". Some details from Suellen Hoy in her book Chasing Dirt: The American Pursuit of Cleanliness:

Lever Brothers, the makers of Rinso, Lifebuoy, and Lux soap, revised its advertising copy over the years to reflect the changing cultural meanings of soap itself... In 1916, Lux was "a wonderful new product" for "laundering fine fabrics:; by the mid-twenties it could also preserve "soft, youthful, lovely feminine hands" and, by the early thirties, prevent "undie odor" as well—"She never omits her Daily Bath, yet she wears underthings a SECOND DAY."

Francis Countway, the president of Lever Brothers and the individual most responsible for the "discovery" of body odors and the "stop smelling" ad pitch, was inspired by Listerine's successful advertising campaign against the previously unknown halitosis. Countway and his associates admitted, while Lever Brothers' business boomed, that they cared little "about the opinions of softies who think that the Body and Undie Odor copy is disgusting." They were simply doing their job, "bringing cleanliness into a dirty world."

Lux soap was also responsible for the "undies are gossips" campaign.

Wilmington Evening Journal - Feb 9, 1932



Kansas City Star - Apr 24, 1940

Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 08, 2021 - Comments (4)
Category: Hygiene, Advertising, Underwear, 1930s, Smells and Odors

The Kiddie-Koop




Children in cages!

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Apr 05, 2021 - Comments (2)
Category: Babies, Domestic, Inventions, Chindogu, Advertising, 1950s

Bock Beer Ads

The fact that Bock Beer allowed in the German language for a pun with "goat" (bock) meant that the drink had a handy visual icon as symbol. But since goats had an alliance with Pan and Satan, many of these ads seem in my eyes to have lewd and devilish connotations. Also fitting for drunkenness, I guess.

See more ads here.







Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 02, 2021 - Comments (1)
Category: Gods, Religion, Advertising, Europe, Nineteenth Century, Alcohol

Do you eat enough candy?

Candy is a food! That's the first thing to know about it. Candy supplies definite needs of the body, just like milk, fruit, vegetables, cereals. Candy, in fact, furnishes several vital elements of the diet, without which you couldn't keep well!

... Caroline Hunt, noted specialist in Home Economics, has therefore recommended that candy be made a part of the "sweets" ration, which consists of about five pounds a week for the family of five. Candy may constitute whatever part of this is desired.

So they were recommending that everyone eat a pound of candy a week!

Saturday Evening Post - Oct 27, 1928. Source: atticpaper.com

Posted By: Alex - Wed Mar 31, 2021 - Comments (6)
Category: Advertising, Candy, 1920s

Follies of the Madmen #504

I have never seen laxatives touted as a daily dose, rather than just as needed.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 31, 2021 - Comments (1)
Category: Advertising, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Excrement, 1950s

Follies of the Madmen #503





Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 24, 2021 - Comments (1)
Category: Business, Advertising, Motor Vehicles, Sexuality

Follies of the Madmen #502

Baby Napoleon plus goat = ?

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 17, 2021 - Comments (3)
Category: Ambiguity, Uncertainty and Deliberate Obscurity, Animals, Business, Advertising, Domestic, 1950s

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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.

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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.

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