Follies of the Mad Men #67

[From The Saturday Evening Post magazine for November 10 1962.]

Does putting Listerine in a fancy decanter make it taste better? Isn't this like packaging Preparation-H in a golden snuff box?

Posted By: Paul - Mon May 18, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Hygiene

Some Food Related Weirdness

Chocolate, you can eat it, drink it, even inhale it, and now you can run a car on it as boffins from the University of Warwick in the UK have designed a "Formula 3" racing car that runs on chocolate oil. As an added bonus, the car's body was made from potatoes (BBC News).

Meanwhile, in Bethlehem PA, Hipolito Junior Vasquez is the main suspect in a string of burglaries where the perpetrator elected to also vandalise his victims' apartments by smearing the walls with paint and chocolate pudding. Police first suspected Vasquez was their man when he was apprehended red brown handed, covered in chocolate sauce (LeHigh Valley Live).

And if that wasn't enough, a current UK advertising campaign for "Mikado" biscuits has raised some eyebrows and quite a few hackles after it depicted a secretary inadvertently taking 'upskirt' photocopies of herself while trying to reach a box of the apparently irresistible snacks, just as her boss walks in on her. The British agency responsible for advertising standards said it had received 141 complaints, but admitted that it was powerless to act as the item adhered to all the guidelines concerning high-fat foods, and was not shown at a time when it might be viewed by minors (The Sun - includes video).

According to Bon Appetit magazine, there are a number of "superfoods" that have been shamefully overlooked by most dieticians, and the top disregarded superfood is... bacon. Their argument is that 45% of bacon's fat is of the monounsaturated type that is supposed to actually lower cholesterol, and moreover half of that is the same type, oleic acid, found in ultra-healthy olive oil. Hence, it is claimed, bacon might really be half as healthy as olives and 100 times as delicious (Bon Appetit).

And bacon is not just good for your heart, your head could benefit as well. According to Dr. Elin Roberts of the "Centre for Life" in Newcastle, England, bacon is just the thing to cure a hangover. Bacon, with the obligatory side of eggs, provides just the cholesterol, amino acids and amines needed to cure the headache, stiffness and nausea brought about by a night of overindulgence, Roberts suggests. Let's hope he hasn't been a bit rasher (News Blaze).

With bacon now well established as the wonderfood of tomorrow, it is perhaps very prescient of three American entrepreneurs to launch the next must have product, "Wake n'Bacon". Simply place a frozen strip of bacon in the Wake n' Bacon the night before, and 10 minutes before the desired waking time, two halogen lights come on to slow cook the bacon to perfection, hence waking you with the delicious smell of bacon. Pure, pure genius (LikeCool.com).

In a late-breaking bacon bonus (cheers Matt), the healthy and healing wonder-meat might also be a future source of planet saving bio-diesel. Husband and wife team Dan and Tracy Kaderabek have formed Bio-Blend Fuels, a company that takes the fat that drips off pre-cooked bacon as it is microwaved and converts it into a carbon-neutral, smoke free fuel. As an added bonus, the exhaust smells like cooking bacon, thereby making the world a happier place (HTR News).

Posted By: Dumbfounded - Tue May 12, 2009 - Comments (8)
Category: Design and Designers, Food, Health, Stupid Criminals, Advertising

Life Imitates Art

Here are two commercials to watch. I believe that you will see a startling similarity emerge that will shake you to the core (or maybe just halfway to the core).



So far, so good. It's your basic ad for cosmetics, showing a heavily airbrushed woman who looks somewhat like an android (gynoid?), poncing around in an empty, black, out-of-focus room, interspersed with product shots against a stark white background. (I'm always a little saddened when the real product doesn't create lines of light in contour around my wife's face.) I don't know to much about the product's specific properties.

What I know for sure is that it bares a startling similarity to a fictional product I have seen before.


More in extended >>

Posted By: kingmonkey - Tue May 05, 2009 - Comments (4)
Category: Armageddon and Apocalypses, Body Modifications, Cannibalism, Cosmetics, Movies, Advertising

Follies of the Mad Men #66

[From Look magazine for July 22 1958. Two scans, top and bottom.]

Sure, you've all heard of one of the most infamous Madison Avenue displays of ignorance ever, the "flesh-colored Band-aid." But how many of us have actually seen the offending ad?

Here is one instance from many in that racist campaign.

Posted By: Paul - Mon May 04, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Health, Stereotypes and Cliches, Stupidity, 1950s

Two Weird Books

In the UK, sex services leave their advert cards in phone booths, These items are known as tart cards. A representative sampling has been collected in book form, as you can see in the link below.

But aren't phone booths going extinct everywhere? Who will save the endangered tart card?!?






And of course, the Golden Age of print magazines is long gone or vanishing as well. But you can encounter the weirdest examples of the great Era of Zines in a new volume entitled Bad Mags 2. It's supposed to release in June, although Amazon is uncertain, so you'll have to check out its predecessor first. And visit the Bad Mags site here.

Posted By: Paul - Sat May 02, 2009 - Comments (5)
Category: Magazines, Sexuality, Advertising, Books

Follies of the Mad Men #65

[From Look magazine for 3-4-58.]

Worst. Cocktail Recipe. Ever!

Posted By: Paul - Mon Apr 27, 2009 - Comments (6)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Food, Inebriation and Intoxicants

Welcome to Ginsu Way!

Yes, my native state has chosen to name a public road after an infomercial.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 23, 2009 - Comments (5)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Government, Signage

Robo-mower!

[From Look magazine for August 19, 1958. An ad from "America's Independent Electric Light and Power Companies."]

"Go, Robo-mower, and bring me the shapely form of my next-door neighbor's sunbathing wife!"

Posted By: Paul - Tue Apr 21, 2009 - Comments (9)
Category: Business, Advertising, Utilities, Landscaping, 1950s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Follies of the Mad Men #64

A prosperous banker-type, an American Indian, a sailor (or is he a Turkish immigrant?), and what looks to be Uncle Sam, are all sitting around in front of a billboard, having a gay old chat, when out of a handy box pops the sexy cigarette fairy, who dispenses butts to all, even scattering them around in bountiful waste. Then a sign is unfurled, claiming WE ALL SMOKE.

Massive WTF attack, all thanks to Thomas Alva Edison!

Posted By: Paul - Mon Apr 20, 2009 - Comments (4)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Movies, Tobacco and Smoking, Nineteenth Century

Follies of the Mad Men #63

[From Playboy magazine for February 1970.]

Was this behavior ever really sexy or cool, or a good way to pick up women?

Posted By: Paul - Wed Apr 08, 2009 - Comments (11)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Sexuality, Tobacco and Smoking, Men, Women