Funny Vintage Ads (82)

 

 Advertising has always been an interesting way to look at history. But when you see these vintage advertisements, the past seems a lot stranger than you thought.

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Holman's Fever & Ague & Liver Pad can rid you or malaria and "all other diseases growing out of a disordered liver." (1875) 

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Pong was the first commercially successful video game, and it helped to establish the video game industry in the early 1970s.

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In 1946, in response to concerns about smoking and lung cancer, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company introduced a print and radio advertising campaign for its Camel cigarette brand with the slogan "More Doctors Smoke Camels." R.J. Reynolds also used celebrities to promote their brand, but while the ads mentioned celebrities by name, the doctors were never named because they could risk losing their licenses.

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The 1972 TV series "Kung Fu" starring David Carradine was a huge hit and it inspired many a con artist to post ads in comic books.

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  Does twice as many filters "for the smoothest taste" mean that I can smoke twice as many cigarettes?

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 The first "Talking Machines" intended for home use were sold in the early 1900s. 

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Prior to the widespread adoption of affordable gas and electric stoves, many housewives kept a wood fire going in the stove from early in the morning till after dark.

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The Product 19 Story: We put more chemical vitamins on our flakes!
Kellogg's introduced Product 19 in 1967 in response to General Mills' Total, which was "fortified" supposedly with the entire daily nutritional requirement of vitamins and minerals. 

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For centuries, sailors knew that cod liver oil was high in vitamins and great for health, but the taste kept many from enjoying those benefits.

In 1873, Alfred B. Scott came to New York City and along with partner Samuel W. Bowne, developed a more palatable mix of cod-liver oil called Scott's Emulsion. Through extensive advertising, the product became a great success and for almost a century, it was considered essential in preventing rickets in children. Scott's Emulsion is still being sold today. 

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The Six Million Dollar Man TV show (1973-78) about a cyborg was a huge success and it spawned lots of action figures play sets and accessories. Maskatron was an evil robot villain that could imitate any person it wanted to, by just changing its face.

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"A profitable business for a man with small capital."

Movie cameras and projectors were invented in the 1890s. Before that, audiences were sometimes entertained with "Magic Lanterns" that projected images from glass plates like modern slide projectors. The more theatrical of the magic lantern operators would add narration, music and sound effects to their presentation.

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The Pro-phy-lac-tic Brush Co of Florence Mass began manufacturing in 1866. The Whistle Brush came out in 1949. 

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Yes, you will want to remove that wallpaper very soon, like later the same day. 

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 General Electric was incorporated in 1892, by Thomas Edison to market his incandescent lamp and other later products. General Electric soon became one of the largest and most diversified corporations in the world, and stayed that way for over 100 years. Then a series of investment mistakes in the 2010s forced them to sell off most of their portfolio, and focus on energy solutions, jet engines, and healthcare technologies.

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Is that Drena, or one of her dolls?

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"Hey buddy, where's your button."
By 1918, Uncle Sam was grabbing people by the collar and telling them to cough up. The guy looks like he knows he's about to get a beating. During WW1, Americans were directed by the government to prove their loyalty by various means and to monitor the loyalty of others.

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"In only two seconds Bayer Aspirin is ready to go to work." And faster than a charging Rhino. OK, but will it actually stop a charging Rhino? 

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George Keller, the designer of the Keller Car was on the cusp of success when he was found dead of a heart attack at the age of 56. Despite desperate efforts to keep the company going, Keller Motors immediately folded. Only 18 Kellers were manufactured in Alabama from 1947-49, and 2 Bobbi-Kars were built in San Diego. 

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When polyurethane wheels were developed for skateboards in the 1970s they were an instant success and turned skateboarding into a sport and a culture.

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"You press the trigger. It lights! It sounds! It flashes!"
The Buck Rogers Sonic Ray had a "Uranium Power Chamber" and a "Cyclotron Chamber."

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This 1916 directory of Washington DC area bowling alleys grabs your attention.

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The first thimble was made in England in 1695, and called a ” thumb-bell” because it was worn on the thumb, and shaped like a bell.

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"No long, technical, mumbo-jumbo explanations are given."
The comic book "learn to hypnotize" ads always featured an image of a guy hypnotizing a hot girl.

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Founded in Topeka, Kansas, as the Continental Creamery Company, Meadow Gold Dairy has been producing fresh dairy products since 1901.

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  In 1898, Bayer & Co. introduced heroin as a pain reliever and cough suppressant. Although it worked very well against coughs caused by serious and then-common diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia, physicians and pharmacists soon noticed an unhappy side effect—patients required ever larger doses.

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J. C. Ayer and Company, Practical and Analytical Chemists, Lowell, Mass., began making Ayer's Hair Vigor in the 1860s, claiming it, "Restores grey hair to its natural vitality and color," but "does not color the hair."

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Kellogg's "Exploding Battleship With Submarine And Torpedoes" was available in 1958, for 35¢ and one box top.

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Two versions of the same White Horse Scotch ad for two very different markets.

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American Optical Company in Southbridge MA was founded 1869, by the merger of several other lens manufacturers whose origins in the town date back to the 1830s.

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That $2 Norwood Chemical wanted for two bars of obesity soap in 1903, is equivalent to about $70 today. "Never fails to reduce flesh when directions are followed" sounds like a great excuse for why it didn't work. In 1926, La Mar Reducing Soap was declared a fraud by the U.S. Postmaster General. 

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