Our gallery of atomic quackery taught us that in the past some people had no scruples when promoting fake and toxic medicines for health, but we also observed a certain 'moral flexibility' when presenting legitimate consumer products, with advertisements that fall directly into the territory of racism, misogyny, and in more extreme cases, pedophilia. In other words: if an agency were to launch today an ad like the ones you'll see below, the most likely outcome is that they'd close their doors and go up in flames the next day... not necessarily in that order.
The first thing that comes to mind is: "What were they thinking?" Granted, some things that are considered very offensive today had a greater 'tolerance' in the past, and inevitably old advertising reflects all those temporal differences. There was still a belief in 'social orders' like "woman in the house, man at work," limiting a woman's utility to exclusively domestic tasks, or reinforcing the vision of the 'weaker sex.' On the other hand, some brands did not hesitate to use children to promote products intended for adults, and in the oldest cases express pure racism, with African Americans equated with 'dirty people.' If you're looking for examples, your journey begins here.
The Ads
