In past ad galleries I’ve typically stuck with a particular theme or product, such as holiday-themed ads or new car lineups. I’m going to try something new and product an ad gallery from a single year, covering a wide range or products and services. Basically, a sort of visual shorthand to see what someone would’ve seen in print or TV ads in a particular year. Think of this as a virtual department store of sorts.

For the first edition I thought I’d travel back exactly 50 years to 1967. Let’s browse!

Automobiles

Consumer Electronics

Entertainment

Fashion

Food and Beverage

Health and Beauty

Household Goods

Travel

 

I don’t know about you, but there comes a point when convenience goes too far, and things just get weird. Case in point: This 1950 advertisement for Swift’s Premium Canned Hamburgers, which purports to “take the labor out of the Labor Day Week End.”

But hey, as gross as the prospect of eating preformed meat out of a can may be, at least you can send in that coupon and get a sweet sandwich toaster for just 50 cents!

Happy Father’s Day from The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit and from the fine people who bring you Edgeworth Pipe Tobacco!

1. It’s Dad who tends the furnace, it’s Dad who mows the law,
2. And it’s Dad who pushes off to work before the crack o’ dawn…
3. It’s Dad who carries bundles. And it’s Dad who has to pay,
4. Let’s give Dad the FINEST! for his pipe on FATHER’S DAY!

 

This lovely brochure comes from Pacific Telephone, and advertises their line of extension colorphones. There’s no date on this one, but I think 1960s is a reasonable guess.

The front of the brochure features a delightful mid-century color palette that definitely predates the earth tones of the ’70s. Perhaps someone more versed in commercial artwork of the period can figure out a more precise date range?

Pacific’s full name at the time of this brochure was The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, by which they were known until 1983. That’s the year they moved from their parent company, AT&T, to one of the many new Baby Bells formed in the wake of the former company’s breakup, Pacific Telesis.

Today, the company once known as Pacific Telephone operates as the Pacific Bell Telephone Company, or PacBell. I doubt they offer products as wonderfully colorful or durable as the ones in this brochure.

For this third installment of vintage billboard photos, I have a gallery of roadside advertisements for local news broadcasts. Just about all of these date from the 1970s and ’80s, and include ads for news broadcasts as well as local weather and sports teams.

All images courtesy Duke University’s Digital Collections site. Click for a larger version.

It’s been a looong time since my last new car ad gallery — just over three years in fact since my 1970 Dodge post. For the return of this series, let’s fast forward one decade to the dawn of the ’80s and the lineup for GM’s Pontiac make.

The theme for these ads was a pretty clever twist on the MPG initialism. In this case it stood for:

• More Pontiac to the Gallon
• More Pontiac Excitement to the Gallon
• More Pontiac Excitement for the Great Ones

The only model I wasn’t able to find a good print ad for is the Sunbird, so if anyone can help me out please let me know.

(To see other car lineup advertisement galleries, click here. Got a request for other years and makes? Let me know in the Comments section.)

1980 Pontiac Compacts

1980 Pontiac Mid-Sizes

1980 Pontiac Full-Sizes

1980 Pontiac Station Wagon

1980 Pontiac Muscles

In Airline Memories, I share aviation items and curiosities from the long history of commercial flight. You’ll see everything from ephemera to souvenirs and other branded items from various U.S. airlines. If you have a request or anything else to share, leave a comment or contact me directly.

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Not only is today St. Patrick’s Day, but we are just weeks away from the 80th anniversary of the founding of one of the world’s most iconic national airlines — Aer Lingus. So to celebrate both occasions, here is a collection of some cool, vintage Aer Lingus items I’ve come across.

As always, click on any item for a larger version.

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Look up “All American” in the dictionary and you’ll probably find this image, as seen on a beautiful Howard Johnson’s ad from a 1955 issue of Life magazine. Click on the image for the full-size version on Flickr.

This ad has it all pretty much. The cars, the iconic orange HoJo roof, the happy patrons all dressed to the nines. Don’t you want to go there right now???

Let’s get a closeup of that gorgeous artwork, shall we? (also on Flickr)

For National Donut Day (or National Doughnut Day if you please), here’s a pair of lovely vintage donut ads.

Up first is a lovely Mayflower Downyflake specimen from 1939, tying their donuts to that year’s World’s Fair in New York.

And the second treat — because who can eat just one? — is this Mister Donut print ad from 1966.

I wonder if that coupon is still any good?