Customer Reviews

All American Ads of the 80's (Midi S.)

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The seventh book in the fascinating Taschen 'All-American Ads' series and as editor Jim Heimann says in his short introduction, print creativity wasn't exactly sparkling in the Eighties. Television took most of the ad budget leaving print to soak up what was left with ads that reinforced what had been seen on the small screen. Still, some ads did capture the consumer's imagination, do you remember 'The united colors of Benetton', 'Just do it' for Nike, Maxell cassettes, Swatch and Absolut vodka campaigns?

The 608 pages in this latest book follow the same style as the others, divided into nine chapters which do actually vary in each book according to which decade you are looking at, here Electronics gets a fifty-eight page section all to itself and not an mp3 or DVD player in sight (or a reel-to-reel tape-deck). The ads are either whole page or four to a page and they have all been cleaned up colorwise and corrected to avoid screen clash with the originals.

I enjoyed the section on Entertainment, loads of memory-jogging movie ads showing how Hollywood moved ever closer to the teen and twenties market. Alcohol and Tobacco contains almost the last ads for cigarettes, remember the Camel 'Smooth Character'? As with 'All-American Ads 70s' I thought the best designed stuff was in the Business and Industry chapter, agency designers and typographers could ignore the restraints that often applied to consumer ads.

I now have the seven books in the series (the set will be complete with 'All-American Ads of 1900-1919) and they all reveal a fascinating look at American life and consumer culture over the previous decades.

I first tried the examination of 70's advertising as nostalgia and boy did I receive it in spades. The comprehensive nature of these books truly allows readers to examine attitudes towards a variety of products (Technology, Business, Cars, Food, Liquor, Movies, etc.) and see how our sensibilities have changed and in many regards regressed. The 80's book highlights the dawn of Spuds McKenzie, the peak of Joe Camel and the advent of Absolut. The ads carry such immediacy that you'll be reminded of ad campaigns, jingles and events you hadn't considered in years. I can't even recall the last time I thought of the MG Midget automobile, but it was wonderful being reminded how much my sister wanted one as her first car. The book is even more valuable when you have other volumes to compare it to as the verbose nature of ads within the 70's seems remarkable compared to the high gloss "image first" approach of the 80's. I adore these books and the introductory chapter also helps frame the time beautifully. I cannot more heartily recommend this book and all the others for readers with even a cursory interest in advertising or popular culture.

An awesome collection of ads from this decade. Hundreds of pages w/ ads of all categories. Very enjoyable. I'm an advertising major & this is a fun book to own!!!

I loved this book. Taschen always comes out with great books. It was like looking at a time capsule of my teen years, I saw many ads I had forgotten about through the years. My only complaint is that I wish there had been more women's clothing ads in it.