Archive for vintage ads

When Playboy Was Hip

Posted in Advertisements, Found Item, Hotties, In the News, Man Appreciation Post, Photos, Rag Mags, Role Models, Vintage with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 27, 2011 by effingjro

Yes, there was a time when Playboy was fodder for a wider audience than truckers who can’t access porn on the internet.

I picked up this magazine in June, because I can’t let a vintage rag go unpurchased, and was pleasantly surprised by how urbane Playboy used to be. Read the text at the bottom of this cover: Roald Dahl and Shel Silverstein were both contributors, something that would never happen today. This edition features a big panel discussion on religion in America, a nice satirical piece that stereotypes the readers of Esquire, Playboy, Reader’s Digest and other magazines, and a pretty comprehensive installment on nudity in film.

A little excerpt from Shel’s piece.

Since Playboy‘s visibility is mostly relegated to reality TV and tabloid stories these days (Did you HEAR what Crystal Harris said on the Howard Stern show? Hef only lasted two minutes??) it’s nice to look back at a time when the magazine was actually a bastion of sexual liberation. For all the claims that Hugh Hefner is a misogynist, he was a big proponent of loosening sexual mores – and birth control, too. Also, there was a time when Hef wasn’t so wrinkly.

And if you’re looking for something a bit raunchier, click here for a NFSW peek at June 1967′s Playmate of the Month. I bet SHE wouldn’t spurn Hef’s marriage proposal.

Leave A Comment »

Radio City

Posted in Advertisements, Found Item, Muzak, Soul-Crushing Materialism, Vintage with tags , , , , , , on April 26, 2010 by effingjro

Turn on, tune in.

My new favorite thing is a 1970′s receiver I picked up at the end of this garage sale. First, it’s a radio. Second, I can finally play records by flicking a switch instead of messing with wires for ten minutes. Third, when I go to sleep at night I leave it on at a low volume, and the back-lit display looks all Atomic Age incandescent. Like this.

Halogen nightlight.

Obviously I love this thing because it gratifies my dirty nostalgia habit. But I’m also finally listening to the radio, an option I sort of bypassed in my slipshod progression through tapes, CDs, misguided minidiscs, and MP3s. Most of all I like that I don’t have to keep curating my own playlists but can just switch back and forth between three stations to find something good. I guess that means I’m ceding some of my musical autonomy to the airwaves, but that’s usually to my benefit.

Granted, I could listen to the radio online, but the wood veneer on the receiver perfectly matches the grain of my shitty dorm furniture, and there’s the nightlight thing.

Cool radio ads:

Portable Radios (for Beach Blanket Bingo)

Portable Radios (for Beach Blanket Bingo)

The Bop-It of Radios

1 Comment »

Stuff You Can Grow and Smoke (Legally)

Posted in Advertisements with tags , , , , on August 20, 2009 by effingjro

So I got this picture text from my friend Nick the other day:

Aw yeah.

Aw yeah.

“Biggest leaf is 14 inches long 6 inches wide, 1st harvest is next week. Smokeable tobacco by the end of September or October break.”

I’m going to be the crunchiest fucking hipster around when I start smoking home-grown tobacco. Like this dude:

Damn you look inbred.

Damn you look inbred.

Minus Downsface. Plus skinny jeans (skinny overalls? they must be out there).

1 Comment »

Old Ads: The Wartime Edition

Posted in Advertisements with tags , , , , , on August 20, 2009 by effingjro

That silhouette? It's Uncle Sam.

That silhouette? It's Uncle Sam.

There are a LOT MORE pieces of super gung-ho wartime Americana that I need to dig up. It’s crazy how blatant everything was during WWII, and sort of bizarre how the whole country actually had a consensus on the war effort. Yeah. That’ll never happen again.

Let America sell your product for you!

Let America sell your product for you!

Most of these are just stamps of approval for food products, I’ll get you the good stuff later this week when I’m home and have all my pack-rat treasures within arm’s reach.

Are you selling me patriotism or caution? Oh, it's insurance

Are you selling me patriotism or caution? Oh, it's insurance

All my captions make me sound like a bitchy, media-savvy hipster. Fair ’nuff.

Leave A Comment »

Making the Mad Men Bros Jealous

Posted in Advertisements with tags , , , , , , , on August 7, 2009 by effingjro

So after I dug up that old ‘Vassarette’ ad yesterday, I realized I have a pretty fat catalog of old ads saved on my computer. Technically, you could find them on my Facebook page in the album ‘Old Fucking Ads’, but that’s Facebook, and we don’t support vulgarity here. Anyway, about three years ago I got a flat-tire in front of a yard sale, and tried to buy 3 Saturday Evening Posts from the 40′s/50′s. The old guy there insisted I take an entire stack, and, you know me, I don’t like to argue.

Then I peddled my flat-tired bike home. That’s OK though, I felt lighter than air thanks to my recently acquired old-school printed matter. Check it:

Smoke 'em while you got 'em

Smoke 'em while you got 'em

Don Draper WISHES he’d thought of a sexy nurse to sell Chesterfields.

Stick with it!

Stick with it!

This tennis player looks like a Nazi.

My personal fave brand

My personal fave brand

Did you guys guess the theme yet?

Cigarettes! Because I’m not just nostalgic for old-timey ads, but also for the days when people blithely smoked cigs all day long, inside and out, without the slightest tinge of cancer-related guilt. Shucks.

Leave A Comment »

Project Vassar

Posted in Soul-Crushing Materialism, Stylez with tags , , , , , , , , on August 6, 2009 by effingjro

How about a Vassar clothing line?

Fashionista posted today about one of Harvard’s new measures to staunch their bleeding endowment (OK, graphic, but losing 18 mil is pretty serious). What are they doing? Launching a clothing line! It’s called Harvard Yard, and it will obviously capitalize on the preppy/collegiate craze vaunted by trust-funders and hip hoppers alike. Here’s a peek of what they’ll offer:


Considering the name-brand cred Vassar carries, especially for girls, and the daring style I see on campus daily, you have to wonder what a Vassar line would look like. MadsVassar recently linked to a GQ photoshoot with some Vassar apparel, so clearly some people (at Conde, no less) think our name is worth throwing on an editorial page. Realistically, the school doesn’t have the funds to launch this on the scale Harvard is doing, but at the very least, it would be great to see design-oriented students working on a smaller-scale project, fusing Vassar old-school and new-school, and selling some items online. High-waisted skirts, patent leather, scarves and pins, padded shoulders, cinched waists, you get the pikcha.

Apparently, the Vassar name works well for selling body-shaping undergear:

Git it, grrrl

Git it, grrrl

Plus, we could do so much better than that boxy Harvard jacket.

1 Comment »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.