Do you remember these products?

These drink products are from the 1960's and some are no longer around but I do remember them fondly.

some of the prettiest historic seed catalogs

I have made free cross stitch charts out of some seed catalogs, use the links below

flower seed catalog
Wood seed catalog
another flower seed catalog
pansy seed catalog
seed catalog with muskmelon

Advertising Trade Cards

Advertising trade cards were an early form of mass advertising of products. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, many products were invented or improved. Many products that were sold without any particular name now had brand names that needed to be advertised. These are some attractive examples.

CUNARD TRAVEL POSTERS

Cunard is a luxury liner company that is still in existence. They are most noted for the transatlantic route between New York and Southampton. These are some of the early travel advertisements.

some circus posters

In the 19th century traveling circuses were very popular in the United States. To advertise the shows , advance men would travel ahead of the circus and blanket towns with circus posters advertising the coming circuses. These posters had to be large and colorful to catch potential customer's attention. The advertisements were not meant to be permanent, so the actual posters are fairly rare, but reproductions were widely available.

combination sewing machine and player piano

This is quite odd. I can't imagine how a sewing machine company decided this was a great idea. I guess they saw the sewing machine had a pedal at the bottom to power it and decided they should invent something else that could use that pedal. I don't think many homes had player pianos, weren't they in saloons or something? Anyway, I don't think this invention was a success, but it is an interesting idea.

paper dresses

Paper Dresses was an odd fad from the 1960's. The dresses were made of treated paper, they could not be washed, were basically created for one or two uses.

I don't know why anyone would want a shapeless dress made of paper, but they were a huge hit. Quite a few companies made dresses based on their products, including this Campbell soup dress.

1950'S JELLO-O ADVERTISEMENTS

Jello Magazine ads

Jell-o was developed around the turn of the century, but was not a big success. Gelatin was a complicated, expensive desert. The new gelatin powder was inexpensive, but people really didn’t know what to do with it and sales were low. So the company turned to print advertising in 1902. The ads did raise awareness of the product, but it was the free jell-o cookbooks that were given away that really helped. Now people knew what to do with the product. Today Jell-o still advertises extensively and the company is still creating new recipes.

1922 ADVERTISEMENT

1928 ADVERTISEMENT

60's bra ad

I have seen in the stores bras that made sure your nipples don't show. Nowadays this is considered vulgar. But not always, in the 1960's at least some women wanted to wear a bra while looking like they are not wearing a bra and a product was developed to take care of this need.

Electric Cures

When electricity first started being available commercially many products were advertised with electricity in the product name. These products had nothing to do with electricity, but around the turn of the century, putting electricity in the title said your product was modern and cutting edge. These are some of the ads from that time. Note: the electric toothbrush is nothing like a modern electric toothbrush, it is just in the title.

Society woman wearing corset.

Maybe I'm wrong about corsets. This woman seems to wear it with aplomb.

corset ad from 1890's

I cannot imagine wearing this! I don't know how women survived these, they used to wear them even when they were pregnant.

French meat advertisment

This is just about the sickest advertisement I ever saw. This could make you a vegetarian. It reminds me of the cow in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where the cow comes over to the table and recommends himself for eating.