It’s easy to laugh at ads of yesteryear that come off as almost shockingly tone-deaf today. For this week’s Throwback Thursday, we’re bringing you ads that in retrospect are what you would call politically incorrect. These are commercials from the 1960s and ’70s with a hint of sexism or a dollop of racism. If we were in a generous mood, we can chalk them up to, “They just didn’t know any better.”
Women — surprise, surprise — were typecast either as kitchen-bound housewives (Gold Medal Flour), unreliable drivers (Goodyear Tires) or simpleton office candy (Xerox). (Before we get too smug about it, though, let us remember that commercials today are more likely to feature bikini-clad babes lustfully gobbling burgers than they were back then.) Interestingly, none of the women in our retro supercut is scantily clad or overtly sexualized.
Minorities, for their part, didn’t fare well either. They were infrequently represented in the mass media back then, but when they did appear in on-screen ads, it was with exaggerated accents and wearing stereotypical garb. The Chinese supposedly have “ancient secrets” for just about everything from Jell-O to Calgon detergent. And who can forget the gun-slinging Frito Bandito with his sombrero and mariachi mustache?
More in Marketing
Future of Marketing Briefing: Media measurement is becoming an asset in boardroom theater
Major advertisers spent their quarterly earnings calls talking up media effectiveness efforts to analysts and shareholders this week. It suggests a shift in the way C-suites consider ad spend.
Nike, Lululemon hit with lawsuits alleging deceptive ‘phantom discounts’
In recent weeks, major global brands have been the subject of lawsuits alleging deceptive pricing strategies.
Inside Unilever’s 300,000 creator network: the logistics behind the headline number
Unilever says it works with 300,000 creators, but not all of them play the same role. Agency executives explain what that number means.