Customer Reviews

All American Ads of the 60's (Midi Series)

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Wow! was my first reaction upon devouring these heavy, nearly one thousand, slick pages of incredibly square, hip, liberal, conservative, and completely cool advertising. Some of the fashions, hairstyles, designs, attitudes, and language that you'll encounter will make you laugh, cry, deeply ponder, and wonder how the world could have changed so much since that era.

The book begins with a couple of pages of commentary by the author explaining the power of advertising and consumer consumption in the 1960s. If someone doesn't read English, then he can read it in 4 other languages - German, French, Spanish, and an Asian language (not Chinese, but possibly Japanese or Korean).

Most of the ads are in color, though a few are in their original black-and-white design. The ads are divided into nine categories, starting with the early part of the decade, progressing to the end. There are approximately 60 pages on alcohol and tobacco, 160 pages on automobiles, 100 on business and industry, 160 pages on consumer products, 50 pages on entertainment, 150 pages on fashion and beauty, 100 pages on food and beverage, 60 pages on furniture and appliances, and 50 pages on the travel industry. Thus, the book is not geared towards men or women or any age group.

Inside, you'll find the one-and-only Groucho Marx declaring, "If you don't serve Smirnoff (vodka)....hide the label!"

For those who think that foreign imports are just little toys, an ad for the 1966 Dodge Dart proclaims, "Join the Dodge Rebellion. Stamp out cramped compacts. Up with man-sized Dodge Dart."

One of the more surprising ads was for Motorola television in 1962. About a dozen nude, smiling people (you can't see private parts) are outside in a meadow, all gathered around a tiny television set displaying the face of a little boy.

In 1965, the Hoover company shows a smiling man in a neat little shirt and tie with thick black glasses and a crewcut surrounded by a mop, dustpan, and other household goods. The ad declares, "Chances are you won't marry a guy who cooks, cleans, irons, scrubs, and sweeps." The next picture shows several vacuum cleaners and other household products and says, "We've thought about that."

"How come all non-conformists look alike?" In 1969, with a picture of a Janis Joplin look-alike, Simplicity states, "Sew your own thing."

"When your TV screen goes black for an hour, you're watching ABC," the company's ad says in 1969. "Because ABC is five major television stations that are the leaders in community-minded broadcasting. Each one, for instance, is currently involved in programming exclusively for black people. On San Francisco's KGO-TV, it's `Black Dignity,' an hour program every Sunday. Originated and produced by black people. For black people."

To appeal to the teenage mod community, who apparently were threatening to consume mass quantities of diet colas, the sugar industry began telling us that we need more sugar in our lives. In 1966, we see a girl with a slightly thick midriff in a bikini on a surfboard with the caption, "Lisa needs a sugarless, energy-less soft drink like a kangaroo needs a baby buggy. Lisa's strictly the go-go type. After sunning, shopping, afternoon tennis date, and discothèquing into the wee hours, she's up first thing to catch the early morning surf. What keeps Lisa from washing out? Energy...And sugar's got it. That's right, sugar. Everything in it is go. Note to people on the go: Exhaustion may be dangerous. It can even rob you of your resistance to illness. But sugar helps offset exhaustion - puts back energy fast. Synthetic sweeteners put back nothing. So play safe - make sure you get sugar every day. People need what sugar's got.....18 calories per teaspoon....and it's all energy."

That's all I needed to hear. I'm off to energize my life with some Krispy Kreme donuts. For my health, you know.

Another wonderful knockout edition in the Taschen six volume All-American Ads series, this book is bursting with pages (960) and color ads (well over 2500) and follows the same design format as the first two editions (Forties and Fifties) with ads as whole page or two or four to the page, all beautifully printed.

Unlike the ads from previous decades I found these from the Sixties show a new awareness of design. Shapes and the use of white space is much more creative than in the past, typography, with increased use of photo-setting for headlines and text, gave the hard sell a crispness not seen before. Also Madison Avenue happily turned trend spotter and used psychedelic and op-art, for instance, to convey the message to the reader.

There is something for everybody in the nine chapters, my favorites are in Automobiles (164 pages) where twenty-four ads use the painting skills of Arthur Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman to sell Pontiac cars, these pictures still look great today. In Consumer Products (166 pages) I can even remember one ad, for MasterCard, from Christmas 1969, it showed a realistic model of a city square with some of the buildings made from everyday products, when you get the book turn to pages 428-9 and be amazed.

If you lived through the Sixties you'll enjoy this huge book, if you didn't you'll have a chance to catch up on some interesting popular culture.

These books are a great resource and provide hours of enjoyable reading. My graphic designer keeps borrowing them for reference. When I was a kid, I used to love going through the old copies of TIME and NEWSWEEK...just to read the ads! I think they provide more insight into popular culture than articles.

There are some limitations. The source of materials seems to be from particular magazines, and perhaps some manufacturers did not consent to some ads. For example, in the Consumer Products section, there are ads galore for the SEARS bicycles, but NONE for the Schwinn "Sting Ray" - certainly the icon of mid-60's bicycling. Similarly, the car ads appear to favor big Cadilliacs and some offbeat marques. Perhaps the Euro-centric view of things colors (colours?) this.

Also, there is a certain amount of mockery in the book. Each section features a "winner" advertisment, which is often derided for its naievity or for its promotion of racial stereotypes, overconsumption, etc.

But, while our European friends may be laughing at us, it is clear that they lavish attention upon our degenerate culture - four volume's worth!

My only other suggestion is get a magnifying glass. Many ads are reproduced in quarter-page size and are hard to read. Many more are oddly cropped at the edges. While all four books are great, the 50's and 60's may be the best nostalga trip for many - and an interesting commentary on the evolution of popular culture during that time.

This thick book of 60's style technocolor print, on quality paper stock, if so fun to thumb through, you'll never get tired of it. It's so much more than a coffee table book that just stays on the table. You'll find new discoveries in it each time you pick it up. It's a great conversation piece too. Who knew the 60's would be so hip today?

This super thick book is packed with reproductions of various advertisements from the 60s. Each ad is wonderfully reproduced. Lots of memories will flood back if you are old enough to recall these products and their accompanying ads. Everyone else will simply enjoy how silly we were back in the 60s and how hip we thought we would be if we only owned these products. Especially hilarious are the ads predicting homes of the future! A truly outstanding compilation.

For the price, I had high expectations of the book - when I received it, it honestly surpassed them by FAR. The color, quality (all have been perfectly retouched), layout & ads they chose for inclusion are fantastic. A real collector's item & treasure in anyone's library. I've bought many "retro style" books and this is the best purchase I've made.

This is an excellent way to take a trip back to the 60's and some of the culture of that time. Look at those cars! How about that Maidenform Bra ad! How about those fashions and hairstyles! If you want to learn or remember some of what was popular then this is an excellent, thoroughly enjoyable way to do it!

. . . comes this collection of the kind of print ads the "Mad Men" characters turned out in the 1960s. The size of a telephone book (remember them?), this volume contains a good variety of ads that try to sell all kinds of things.

The introduction is entertaining and the reproduction quality of the ads is beautiful, although if you really read the ad copy you will see that occasionally words are missing because the edge of the ad has been trimmed off.

Besides being a visual treat, these ads are a study in history, sociology, psychology and nostalgia all rolled into one. If you're old enough, you will undoubtedly remember at least some of the ads. If you're too young to have been around when these ads first appeared, after thumbing through this book you might have a better idea of how your parents got to be the way they are.

Some of these ads are also available in smaller-size compilation books, but if you buy one of them they will just make you lust after this monster-size collection. Highly recommended. Bravo to Jim Heimann and the folks at Taschen.

This book is really wonderful! Full of advertisements from the 60's - complete with the trends and styles, cars, space program pitches, homes, architecture, and other nostalgic things from the 60s! It is really a wonderful visual time capsule and has hundreds of pages! I love it and refer to it often both for reading as well as getting ideas for my 1960's style artworks! Has tons of full color photos and fills the pages with lots of eye candy! Great book and brings back memories!

what an incredible look into the not-so-distant past! ads always show an airbrushed version of reality, and it's funny to see 60s products like polaroid cameras and nehru suits presented as if they were the cat's pyjamas. a great gift book for any graphic designers or advertising-types on your list.