Advertising has come a long way over the decades. Looking at these vintage advertisements reveals shocking cultural attitudes and marketing approaches that would trigger immediate backlash today. From questionable health claims to blatant sexism and racism, these ads offer a disturbing glimpse into our not-so-distant past.
7up
The vintage 7up advertisement shows a baby drinking directly from a 7up bottle. The ad promoted giving soda to infants, suggesting it was healthy and appropriate for babies. Today, pediatricians strongly advise against giving sugary beverages to infants, and such marketing would likely prompt action from health authorities and advertising regulators for promoting unhealthy practices to vulnerable populations.
Alcoa Aluminum – You mean a woman can open it
This infamous Alcoa ad features a surprised woman opening a ketchup bottle, with the headline “You mean a woman can open it?” The condescending copy suggests that women were too weak to open conventional bottles without help, positioning their new aluminum cap as revolutionary because “even a woman” could use it without needing a husband’s assistance. The blatant sexism would be universally condemned in today’s advertising landscape.
Begin Early, Shave Yourself
This disturbing advertisement shows a smiling baby with shaving cream applied to its face, holding what appears to be a razor. The “Begin Early” message encouraged introducing children to shaving at an inappropriately young age. Today, suggesting parents give razors to infants would violate basic child safety principles and likely attract regulatory scrutiny for endangering children.
Blatz Beer
The Blatz Beer advertisement shows a mother and baby with the headline “How Mother and Baby ‘Picked Up'”—promoting beer consumption for nursing mothers. The ad claims beer provides “nourishing qualities” that benefit both mother and child. With modern medical consensus that alcohol consumption during pregnancy and breastfeeding can harm babies, such advertising would be considered dangerous misinformation today.
Chlorinol
This shockingly racist Chlorinol cleaning product advertisement features the slogan “We are going to use Chlorinol and be like a white person.” The ad uses deeply offensive racial caricatures and substituted slurs to sell cleaning products, suggesting their effectiveness would make Black people appear white. Such dehumanizing imagery epitomizes the casual racism endemic in early advertising that would face immediate condemnation today.
Coca-Cola – Brain Tonic
The Coca-Cola ad portrays a fashionably dressed woman enjoying the beverage, promoting it as a “brain tonic” with medicinal qualities. Early Coca-Cola formulations contained cocaine derivatives, and the company marketed the drink as a remedy for headaches and exhaustion. Today, making unsubstantiated health claims for beverages would trigger immediate regulatory intervention, particularly for products containing stimulants.
Cocaine Toothache Drops
This shocking advertisement promotes “Cocaine Toothache Drops” as an “Instantaneous Cure!” for 15 cents. The product, manufactured by Lloyd Manufacturing, contained actual cocaine as an active ingredient and was marketed for general use including for children. Today, such a product would violate countless pharmaceutical regulations, controlled substance laws, and consumer protection standards.
DuPont Cellophane
The DuPont Cellophane ad shows a baby with its head covered in clear cellophane wrap, with the tagline “The best things in life come in Cellophane.” This disturbing image promotes a serious suffocation hazard that today would horrify parents and safety advocates. Modern packaging explicitly warns against letting children play with plastic wrapping due to suffocation risks, making this advertisement particularly alarming by contemporary standards.
Grove’s Tasteless Chill Tonic – Fat as Pigs
This advertisement for Grove’s Tasteless Chill Tonic features a chubby-cheeked child with text promising the product “Makes Children and Adults As Fat As Pigs.” The tonic was marketed as a solution for underweight individuals, promoting weight gain as universally desirable while using dehumanizing animal comparisons. Modern advertising standards discourage body-shaming language and making unverified health claims about weight management.
Hamlin’s Wizard Oil
The Hamlin’s Wizard Oil advertisement depicts elderly individuals apparently experiencing miraculous relief from pain. These “patent medicines” claimed to cure everything from rheumatism to cancer without any scientific evidence. Often containing high concentrations of alcohol, opiates, or other potentially harmful ingredients, such products made extravagant health claims that would immediately trigger regulatory action under today’s truth-in-advertising laws.
Is It Always Illegal to Kill a Woman
This shocking magazine ad uses the inflammatory headline “Is it always illegal to kill a woman?” as an attention-grabbing device. While the actual content likely discusses life insurance or some unrelated topic, the provocative question about violence against women used purely for shock value demonstrates the casual misogyny acceptable in past advertising. Such messaging would be immediately rejected in today’s advertising landscape.
Kenwood Chef
The Kenwood Chef mixer advertisement shows a man and woman smiling with the appliance and the headline: “The Chef does everything but cook – that’s what wives are for!” The copy explicitly reinforces rigid gender roles, suggesting kitchen work is exclusively women’s responsibility while men benefit from the results. This overtly sexist approach would alienate modern consumers who expect more progressive gender representation.
Love’s Baby Soft
The disturbing Love’s Baby Soft perfume advertisement features a young woman styled with childlike curls holding a teddy bear, paired with the tagline “because innocence is sexier than you think.” The campaign deliberately blurred the line between childhood innocence and adult sexuality, creating uncomfortable implications that would raise serious concerns about the sexualization of children in today’s more protective advertising environment.
Luckies – Smoking Santa
This shocking Lucky Strike cigarette advertisement shows Santa Claus smoking, leveraging a beloved children’s figure to promote tobacco products. The image of Santa, universally associated with childhood joy, endorsing cigarettes demonstrates how dramatically advertising standards have changed. Today’s regulations specifically prohibit marketing tobacco using imagery or approaches that might appeal to children.
Marlboro
This Marlboro advertisement shows babies with cigarette packs, suggesting Marlboros are ideal Christmas gifts and promoting the brand to young mothers. Using imagery of infants to sell cigarettes, without any health warnings, would violate numerous modern advertising regulations designed to prevent tobacco marketing targeting parents or using child-appealing imagery.
More Doctors Smoke Camels
The Camel cigarette advertisement claims “More Doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette,” showing physicians in white coats apparently endorsing smoking. This pseudo-scientific approach attempted to counter growing health concerns by implying medical approval. Today, with tobacco products required to carry explicit health warnings, suggesting healthcare professionals recommend smoking would violate numerous advertising regulations.
Pears’ Soap
This Pears’ Soap advertisement features racist imagery showing a white person washing a Black child, with the implication that the soap could lighten skin color—something presented as desirable. This dehumanizing concept reflected colonial attitudes that equated whiteness with cleanliness and civilization. Such imagery would face immediate and justified condemnation in today’s more conscious advertising environment.
Pontiac
The Pontiac car advertisement features a woman in a revealing dress reclining suggestively across a car seat with the tagline “Spread your legs… enjoy maximum comfort.” The intentionally provocative double entendre reduces women to sexual objects used merely to sell automobiles. This overtly sexualized approach that objectifies women would face significant backlash in contemporary advertising.
So the Harder a Wife Works, the Cuter She Looks
This regressive advertisement proclaims “The Harder a Wife Works, the Cuter She Looks!” showing a housewife performing domestic labor. The ad suggests not only that housework is exclusively women’s responsibility but that a woman’s appearance while performing it should remain a priority. This messaging reinforced the double burden many women faced—expected to maintain both the home and their appearance to please others.
Start Cola Earlier
This disturbing advertisement shows a mother giving cola to an infant with the recommendation to “Start Cola Earlier!” The copy suggests introducing babies to soda will give them “a head start in life,” directly contradicting all modern pediatric advice about infant nutrition. Encouraging parents to give sugary, caffeinated beverages to babies would prompt immediate concerns from health authorities today.
Tipalet Cigarettes
The infamous Tipalet cigarette advertisement shows a man blowing smoke into a woman’s face with the tagline “Blow in her face and she’ll follow you anywhere.” Beyond promoting tobacco, the ad suggests harassment as a form of flirtation and presents women as easily manipulated by such behavior. The casual sexism and promotion of non-consensual interaction would violate nearly every standard of respectful advertising today.
WIVES – Pick What You Want Before You Cry
This furniture advertisement instructs “WIVES” to “Look this ad over carefully. Circle the items you want for Christmas. Show it to your husband. If he does not go to the store immediately, cry a little. Not a lot. Just a little. He’ll go, he’ll go.” The ad reinforces harmful stereotypes about women being manipulative and emotionally unstable, while normalizing dysfunctional relationship dynamics as humorous and expected.
