We live in the Age of Offendability, when the floors of public places seem to be carpeted with eggs. Yet we can all agree (or at least most of us can) that some things are always wrong: racism, sexism, drug abuse, endangerment of children. So it’s shocking to see how often these things have been used to hock products over the years!
Let’s offer:
Scorn where it’s truly deserved,
Grace where values are new or evolving, and
Laughter where standards have changed with knowledge.
(Click on any image to enlarge it, or to begin slide show)
Mitch Teemley 
Gawd, almighty! “They’re happy because they eat lard.”
“Why doesn’t your mama wash you with fairy soap?”
*sighs*
LikeLiked by 3 people
Don’t wash anybody with fairy soap, it turns you gay
LikeLiked by 1 person
Craziness, the things people drum up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Can you imagine these running today? Haha… I would be dying!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nope! Advertising companies and marketing spearheads would be getting fired left and right and rightfully so too.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Unbelievable! Can you imagine any one of those ads airing on TV today! Looks like the pharma companies have always been the nations true drug pushers!
LikeLiked by 4 people
GOOD GRIEF!!! Where did you find these?
Is it pathetic that I remember a couple of them?
I also remember “4 out of 5 doctors recommend _______ cigarettes…”
LikeLiked by 3 people
on man – the stupid stuff we use to do.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It seems so crazy that these were ever allowed! A couple made me laugh out loud, some recoil in horror!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I dunno, I’m on board with the beating your wife one. Oh, and the cigarettes
LikeLiked by 1 person
Shocking but hilarious. Btw, I needed chubby-girl clothes…it was embarrassing! 😕
Great post, thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yikes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, that’s really shocking to see. I cannot remember any advertisements like these ever over here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow! Quite an astonishing collection! “Senile Agitation,” no less. …I might resemble that one… but, really – Thorazine!!! Yikes.
LikeLiked by 2 people
That caused me to do a doubletake as well.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Wow! You found some real doozies! I’se go’n get me some that amphetamine! :p
LikeLiked by 1 person
hmmm my tooth is starting to ache lol.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is so amazing to see these. I actually remember some ads from my childhood and cringe when I think about them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love these! The peacock pants are amazing!🤣
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excuse me, even better, the peacock pants suit! 🤗
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, the eye rolling was strong on this end when I saw that ad.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I can’t believe that some of these were really ads. Wow some pretty funny some very sad. Especially liked the butter and Lard ones. Who knew how healthy they could be!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Gotta keep those arteries lubricated so the blood can just slide right through!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hard to pick the strangest – the thumb guard reminded me that parents used to put bitter allows on children’s finger nails to stop them biting them. I think Mum only tried that on me once – maybe it worked!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is as you say, ‘scorn grace and laughter…’
and the timing is perfect considering “how far we’ve come”.
I comfort myself by believing that someday our current
news headlines will be included in that collage…I can just
hear Walter Cronkite’s trustworthy voice saying “and that’s
the way it is”. A grand collection you have assembled!!
LikeLike
I don’t know what to say. I am glad we have evolved over the years.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 Still smiling.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, values are constantly evolving, based on what we learn as a society. Which means we need to be very careful about thinking that our current values are always right, too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
True indeed. C.S. Lewis had a term for that line of thinking: Chronological snobbery.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Back before truth in advertising and industrial safety standards became a thing. Not to mention the amount of drugs in some of that stuff is just amazing. The wife beating book is nothing more than a sick joke. I mean, if I were ever to lift a finger against my wife…well, some of y’all might read about me in the paper. I’ll be the body they’re pulling out of the river. As for the racist ads, I think the reason why racial humor was so accepted in the 70s and 80s was because people simply needed to heal from things like Jim Crow and the Civil Rights movement. Mitch, you did a great job in finding the cringe. Thank you for the reminder of how far we’ve come, and how far we’ve begun to regress. Here’s to better times in the future, sans much of the insanity of today.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL. My wife advised me of something similar early in our marriage. Not that I ever would anyway, but she warned me that if I ever struck her she would not just leave me; she would leave me in several pieces scattered all over the country.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good woman!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ack! So many shocking ads! Racism, abuse, etc. How about that one telling us how to prop our kids on a board so they can fly right through the windshield if we stop suddenly. At least my clothes won’t be wrinkled. And the gun that’s safe for kids to play with???
LikeLiked by 1 person
😳
LikeLiked by 1 person