Business
Follies of the Mad Men #12
Amazingly, despite this appalling choice of spokes-mammal, Stegmaier Beer remains in business to this day, as you can see if you follow the link.
Any reader ever tasted a "Steg"?
Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 14, 2008 -
Comments (5)
Category: Animals, Business, Advertising, Products, Inebriation and Intoxicants, Regionalism, Comics
Follies of the Mad Men #11
[From Good Housekeeping for December 1958.]
Just one comment on this ad: why is this woman trying to scorch her own eyeball? Is this a hairdryer aimed at masochists?
Posted By: Paul - Wed Aug 13, 2008 -
Comments (10)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Domestic, Fashion, Hair Styling, Torture, 1950s, Women
Follies of the Mad Men #10
Here's part of the reason why we're a nation of fatties today. "Lose weight the hard way? No thanks! I'll just compress my flab and strap it in with manmade materials!"
And why is it that the only women ever shown in girdle ads are already so trim and underweight that they aren't the real customers?
Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 11, 2008 -
Comments (10)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Fashion, Food, Torture, Fetishes, 1950s, Women
Follies of the Mad Men #9
Once upon a time, hillbillies were a powerful iconic staple of American life. But alas, no longer. Perhaps The Beverly Hillbillies was their dying gasp. Since then, PC guidelines no longer allow for such stereotypes, as the Abercrombie & Fitch folks found out a few years back, when they tried to market this T-shirt. And so our national mythology is a little drabber and duller.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 09, 2008 -
Comments (5)
Category: Business, Advertising, Political Correctness, Regionalism, Television, 1940s
Follies of the Mad Men #8
How many of these famous icons can you identify? My answer-key after the jump!
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 07, 2008 -
Comments (10)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Magazines, 1960s
Magic Cheese Chips
They admit it's "decidedly unusual," but I think it would sure beat stuffing envelopes. "Simply drop into hot grease and they're ready to eat -- big, tasty, crispy, delicious!" Question: What makes them magic?From the July, 1934 issue of Modern Mechanix. (via J-Walk)
Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 05, 2008 -
Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Food, 1930s
Pelmanism
The Pelman Institutes of England and America apparently once claimed over half a million followers. But now they're long gone. Yet that has not stopped at least two folks from trying to resurrect the copyright-abandoned mind-strengthening course and claim and market it as their own. You can see their pages here and here.
Oddly enough, the last vestige of Pelmanism most people know, without realizing its true origin, is the card game we call Concentration or Memory or Pairs.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Aug 04, 2008 -
Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Eccentrics, Fads, Frauds, Cons and Scams, Games, History, Historical Figure, New Age, Self-help Schemes
Get Your Geek On
Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 01, 2008 -
Comments (3)
Category: Business, Products, Conventions, Geeks, Nerds and Pointdexters, Hospitals, Literature, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Pop Culture, Comics
Divorce Deli
Minister Chuck points me toward the Divorce Deli. It remains a question as to whether pickles are extra.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jul 31, 2008 -
Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Domestic, Divorce, Food
Follies of the Mad Men #7
Sniffles = Death.
Not the most subtle or believable of Madison Avenue appeals. Sure, in that pre-antibiotic age, pneumonia was deadly. But I can't imagine that the proportion of cold-sufferers who contracted pneumonia--at least among the affluent audience for Fortune--was any higher then than it is today. In other words, miniscule.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jul 31, 2008 -
Comments (8)
Category: Business, Advertising, Insurance, Death, Family, Hygiene, Medicine, Couples
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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 |