Vintage Ads That Feel More Uncomfortable Than Engaging
Those who work in advertising know how to reach their audience, speak their language, and convince them to buy almost anything. Some people consider it an art, others a science, but the truth is that sometimes it's just trial and error until you create an ad for the ages. Before reaching peak advertising though, publicists have to make mistakes to learn from, and that can bring some really awful ads our way.
A creepy mascot or a weird art style can turn a good idea into nightmare fuel before anyone notices, and that's the worst part: you won't know it until the ad is out in the world.
Sometimes the product itself is kinda weird and there's no way to convince anyone to buy it except by going out of your way to create an ad that audiences will remember forever. Nobody said they had to be good ads, anyway, just memorable.
Pro-phy-lac-tic brush
So many levels of wrong here.
Italian Sunday Dinner
The people in this picture don't look too inviting, but did you see that pasta cake?
Loce Cosmetics
Let's not go there.
Heinz
Heinz used to have a mascot called Mr. Aristocrat Tomato, and you can see why they stopped using it.
Iver Johnson
Picturing a kid in a gun ad is not having the effect you thought it would.
Yardley
Do I want to taste like Grandma's favorite recipes?
Wayenberg Massagic
This was creepy even for the 70s.
Game Boy pocket
There's got to be a better way of advertising new colors for your portable gaming console.
Crest
That baby doesn't want to be there.
Tipalet
Seduction techniques were something else back then.
Koyalon
"Cushioning material softer than a baby's flesh"? What a strange choice of words.
National Foundation For Infantile Paralysis
At least the message is extremely clear.
New Jersey Bell
What about no.
Toastmaster
Is that a good reaction or a bad reaction? Is the Toastmaster a good product or the worst?
National Seafood Festival
What kind of seafood were they serving?
JH Emerson Company
That doesn't look like a life saved.
Sears pajamas
Stephen King could write an entire story with these kids as creepy entities haunting someone.
Overman Tires
Pretty sure there's a rule in the world of advertising that says you shouldn't use the devil to promote anything.
Wards
What's up with the kid on the left?
Happy Humpty
Happy Humpty's ad didn't even try. On top of a creepy mascot, the burger isn't even that enticing.
Halloween Costumes
Halloween is all about scares, but these realistic masks are too much.
Hygrade's Frankfurters
A street ad with a giant sausage was too much for the 70s.
General Motors
Aside from predicting the use of the GPS in cars, the tone in this ad is a bit… unsettling.
BVC
This British Vacuum Cleaner is so creepy it makes you cheer for the germs.
The Savage Automatic
Maybe don't ask existential questions when you're trying to sell me a gun?