Advertising from the mid-20th century often featured bizarre and ethically questionable claims that would be unthinkable in the current marketing landscape. Vintage posters from the 1950s and 1960s reveal a period when products were promoted with messages that were far from politically correct, sometimes touting health benefits for harmful substances or employing deeply problematic imagery.
American cigarette brands were prominent offenders. Lucky Strike, for example, marketed its cigarettes to women by suggesting that smoking could help them achieve a "slender figure." The brand also employed a festive advertisement featuring Santa Claus holding a cigarette, with the caption "Luckies are easy on my throat." Another campaign for Lucky Strike promoted that "20,679 physicians say 'Luckies are less irritating.'" Similarly, Chesterfield cigarettes were positioned as a perfect "Father's Day gift," with advertisements depicting young boys purchasing cartons for their fathers, emphasizing a family-oriented image. Camels famously ran a slogan in the late 1940s stating, "More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette," often featuring actors posing as medical professionals to assert the supposed harmlessness or even health benefits of smoking. Embassy cigarettes were advertised as releasing "milder smoke," further downplaying potential risks.
Beyond tobacco, other products also featured controversial campaigns. Chase & Sanborn coffee once used an image depicting domestic violence in an advertisement. In 1955, 7Up ran a campaign with the slogan "Why we have the youngest customers," suggesting that the soda was "pure" enough for babies and encouraging mothers to add it to infant formula. The brand featured an 11-month-old baby holding a bottle of 7Up, with the tagline "he isn't even our youngest customer."
Personal care brands also engaged in problematic marketing. Palmolive's "Now I'm Schoolgirl Complexion" campaign for its soap featured a scantily clad woman suggesting the product would give users youthful skin. The brand's advertisements were criticized for sexualizing young girls and promoting an inappropriate message of achieving a "schoolgirl complexion." In the 1970s, Love's Baby Soft launched a campaign with the slogan "innocence is sexier than you think," which featured a young girl wearing makeup, drawing significant criticism for its suggestive nature.
Even products now considered dangerous or illegal were once marketed without caution. Nearly 150 years ago, a New York pharmacy advertised "cocaine tooth drops" for children at 13 cents per bottle. At the time, cocaine was used as a local anesthetic in dentistry before its dangers were widely understood.
These vintage advertisements offer a stark contrast to contemporary marketing standards, which are heavily influenced by social media, cancel culture, and increased public awareness of health and ethical concerns. The depicted campaigns would be widely rejected and likely never approved in today's regulatory and social climate.