1964 in ads

Ads are so annoying, aren't they?  Yet, when done well, they can be works of art in their own right--entertaining, even!  And when I page through a vintage women's magazine, I actually usually find the ads more intriguing than the non-ad content.  Maybe it's the influence of Mad Men, but when I was looking through this May 1964 issue of McCall's (the "First Magazine for Women"), it was the ads that caught my eye.  There's a lot of color, a love of all things French (and Hawaiian!), and a focus on convenience--particularly when it comes to food and cooking.  (Click here for my previous post featuring fabric ads from this same issue)

I love everything about this, from her headpiece/hat to the shades of pink (I'd love that lipstick she's wearing) to the awesomely groovy typeface they used!

I'll try the Rose Geranium splash.

"Just wear a smile and a Jantzen" gals, and "you'll never ride alone"--!!!  The ad copy calls the blouse on the lefthand woman a "prissy print."

Tampax makes your ladytime so Untroubled that you can rock your all-white outfits, even in the great outdoors.

Hunt's uses not just any tomatoes for its catsup--it uses the big ones.

So this is insane.  Nothing showcases canned fruit better than a gelatinous shroud of lime Jell-O--even better when you can whip it up right in the can!  I'm really disturbed by the lettuce and what appears to be a dollop of Miracle Whip on the plate.

The National Steel Corporation wants you to believe that canned meat is the best thing ever.  I just want to know wtf that ham-like thing encased in pastry is, and how any part of it came out of a can.

Capture the romantic feeling of the French Riviera with a table full of elegant Lenox china, displayed on a table under a lovely damask tent.  Inside your house.

European women stay younger looking by using Palmolive soap.  But do the women of Vienna really dress like sheepherders for nights on the town?

I'm loving all the colors and color combining ideas in this Cannon ad.  My mom used to keep lidded apothecary jars of sea shells in our bathrooms, too (like the one on top of that stack of towels).

This Aileen ad looks so modern to me.  Maybe it's all the white space, or the strips of photos on the left side.  I love the blouse the model is wearing.  I'm slightly confused by the "smog" aspect of this ad, but I do like how it sort of accepts the smog and talks about it, rather than trying to present some smog-free paradise (in which we romp in all-white outfits during our ladytime.  Yes, I'm talking to you, Tampax.)

More Francophilia.  This Drexel bedroom set is inspired by Louis XIV and "the age of courtly elegance and romance."  It "whispers of court intrigue."  Or perhaps key parties and divorce.

"Shocking" looks just a little bit drunk.

Has Stouffer's changed its packaging at all?  I think it still looks pretty much just like this, which I kind of love.  (I do enjoy the very occasional Stouffer's French Bread pizza.  It's a nostalgia thing.)  I think I'm a little bit in love with the cheese award-toting Viking potato guy.

Love the artwork on this ad!  Apollo 11 won't happen for five more years, but the Soviet Union and the US had unmanned moon landings in 1959 and 1962.  Though this ad has more of an astrology/tarot card feeling than a space age NASA one.

Ladies use pink toilet paper.  Tell your friends.

No, don't thank me.  I do believe that's a vinyl floor.  Because I crawled around on one through my toddlerhood.

Back to the Hawaiian food in cans.  Canned ham, "magnificently" decorated with pineapples and cherries.

How flipping cute are these Ship 'n Shore girls' blouses--especially that whale print!

xo

K