FOXNews.com - Crazy, Bizarre, Freaky and Offensive Vintage Ads: What Were They (We) Thinking? | Small business news; tips; networking

Posted by yoni67 under Advertising
From http://www.foxnews.com 5277 days ago
Made Hot by: mssux on June 11, 2010 4:17 pm

A slideshow for your viewing pleasure: some of the funniest, freakiest, most bizarre and most offensive advertisements in business history!

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Comments

Written by yoni67
5276 days ago

Shawn and David L.: Excellent point and thanks for responding. Very valid question and one I will try and look into: How effective, if at all, these were. All I know is that in these days and times, quite a few of these would cross the line of good taste/appropriateness and probably would raise the ire of customers and rights groups.

Thanks for the comments and I'll post a follow-up if i can uncover anything.

Yoni

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Written by ShawnHessinger
5277 days ago

Yonatan,

I guess the question that really springs to mind is whether any of these things worked. Some are for successful brands today but we don't get any data on their effectiveness, if any data exists. The full title of the article is "Vintage Ads: What Were They (We) Thinking?" which implies at the very least that they did not meet with severe customer backlash at the time.

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Written by ShawnHessinger
5277 days ago

Exactly, David. Which is interesting since you would think effectiveness would be the whole point. In this case, I would say the ads might be as much a commentary about the audience (if they were effective) as about the company or agency that created them.

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Written by amabaie
5277 days ago

Shawn, you make a superb point. In fact, the same point, more or less, that has been made about advertising awards, which have typically been judged on a somewhat subjective "creativity" basis and not on their actual effectiveness.

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Written by yoni67
5277 days ago

Yes, Braden and Al, certainly the epitome of horrible advertising! The title says it all and begs the question: what the hell were they thinking? The one, "Is it always legal to kill a woman?" is absolutely inexcusable. Wonder how it would go over today?

Yoni

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