Weird Vintage Ads That Definitely Did Not Age Well But Are Kind Of Hilarious
Advertising has always been an odd thing, and if you thought it just keeps getting weirder, maybe these vintage ads will change your mind.
Vintage ads can be oddly charming, but they can also be wildly uncomfortable by modern standards. Some are funny because of their dated style, while others are memorable for all the wrong reasons.
This collection pulls together old advertisements that Reddit users shared from different eras, and the mix is part of the appeal. Some are clever, some are bizarre, and some feel like they belong to a completely different world.
From strange slogans to outdated social attitudes, these ads show how much marketing has changed, and how much it has not. Scroll through the gallery and see which ones still make you do a double take.
1. “Superman against racism/discrimination ad circa 1950”
Reddit2. “LEGO (1981)”
Reddit3. “Bacardi rum AD, 1983”
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Some of these ads are funny in a very awkward way.
4. “Homosexuals are different, Mattachine Society of New York, 1960”
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5. “They All Got Vaccine Except Dad - Workbench magazine - 1958”
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6. “An unusually progressive Seagrams ad, circa 1970s.”
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That shift in tone is hard to miss.
7. “Philips (Netherlands, 1951)”
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8. “Best Buy, 1999”
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9. “American, 1885”
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10. “1978 Star Wars vaccination ad.”
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Even the most ordinary products had a very different pitch back then.
This is the same kind of chaos as marketplace finds that are useful and completely unexplainable at the same time.
11. “Electricity was new once. These signs were mostly in hotel rooms and other public places.”
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12. “Jester Wools (1947, UK)”
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13. “1934 ad by the ‘Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’”
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14. “Beauty is More Than Skin Deep, Cordless Massager, Anthony Enterprises, 1971”
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Some of the copy is so dated it almost feels accidental.
15. “Volkswagen Beetle, 1965”
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16. “The closest some of us will ever get to Heaven” -- World Trade Center (1980)”
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17. “1979 ad for London transit showing how the city would look if built by American planners.”
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18. “Drunk driving ad, London... I'm going to say 1930s? Sorry for the light reflection!”
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The weirdest ones are usually the ones people remember most.
19. “How to carry 20 megabytes of data around in 1985”
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20. “The Day My Kid Went Punk... What do you do when your bright, lovable, talented kid turns into a punker overnight?” - ABC Afterschool Special, Oct. 23, 1987”
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21. “Drummond Sweaters - 1967”
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22. “One Oregon newspaper clip reads: “We appeal to your civil patriotism to cooperate with us in our effort to stamp out the Spanish Influenza or ‘Flu’ Plague in Portland by wearing a mask.””
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23. “1/2 Page Converse Ad Scanned in from a 1984 Playboy Magazine, I just read it for the ads.”
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Old ads can be a time capsule and a punchline at the same time.
Want more “wait, what?” energy, like these grandparents photos where safety was a suggestion, not a guarantee? See the 77 vintage photos proving your grandparents were built different.
