I am fascinated with advertising history. I especially like old magazine ads, as they are very accurate representations not only of advertising technique from various eras but also offer great cultural insights. That said, I'm not sure I like them enough to want to spend money to buy and collect them. But apparently some people do.
Recognizing that wit the Internet there is a market for virtually everything, the people who run AdClassics.com are ready to sell you ad pages from old magazines. Seriously.
I have to give this seller credit, though. They do see a market. For example, they target people who own or just love old automobiles. From their web site...
Vintage ads offer a fascinating glimpse of history and represent the archival documents of our consumer driven society. If you own a vintage or show vehicle, a print of its original publicity advertisement is the finishing touch to your investment.
Ready to frame or laminate, our authentic classic car ads provide a unique decor to your home, business or showroom. All our ads are guaranteed authentic, carefully cropped from original publications. Our collection consists of over 1,000,000+ vintage ads so visit often to view our constantly updated selection. Click here to view all our ads.
It seems like they really do have an extensive inventory of car ads. They even have one for the obscure Datsun F10 coupe (1976)... the car my parents got for me when I was a high school senior. Yeah, I was stylin'...
But they have more than cars. For around $20, you too can own gems like these...
I have to wonder about this Marlboro ad. Does this guy look happy? It looks like he's holding a martini glass in his hand. A little gin, a cigarette, and the look of regret... hmmm... interesting lifestyle emulation. Oh, yeah: nice tattoo. (1957)
I kind of doubt I'd ever spend money on any old ads. But I could spend a lot of time just looking through the archives on this site.
[cross-posted on my course blog, J646 Overtime]
Tom and I moved to Madison from Chicago about seven years ago. For as close as we had been before heading up here, we actually knew little about the city. Sure, we had heard the jokes about the "People's Republic of Madison" and "77 square miles surrounded by reality." But one visit to see how strikingly beautiful, fun and vibrant the city is turned out to be all we needed to know that we wanted to move here.
We quickly figured out once here that the local population has some interesting traits. The locals are really friendly. They are (no surprise) liberal and progressive thinkers (perhaps to a fault sometimes). People here, for the most part, are very active and healthy compared to the rest of the state (and country). And people here seem to be pretty smart.
On that last point, the numbers back it up.
(Reuters) - Los Angeles is the entertainment capital of the United States and New York is the financial hub but Madison, Wisconsin gets the highest marks as the most educated American city.
The midwestern metropolis, which Men's Health magazine described as the city "where the average household has more degrees than a thermometer" edged past Plano, Texas and Raleigh, North Carolina to score the highest grades in magazine's ranking of the 100 cities with the best educated population.
:::
"It is all about education there," said David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men's Health and editorial director of Women's Health, about Madison.
At times, people in other parts of the state -- and even our own governor -- complain about Madison and deride its citizens... often without the ability to back up their criticism. Reminds me of how the jocks and stoners made fun of the geeks in high school. Then, as now, I'm happy to be on the side of the geeks.
Well done, people of Madison!
I'm not entirely sure what led to my desire to have an over-sized black-faced watch with a rubber wrist band. Perhaps it was that this high school neighbor kid (that in hindsight I kind of crushed on) had one. Or that it just looked cool. All I really know for sure is that I had a little kid's Timex and I wanted something more, I don't know, adult.
My parents didn't disappoint. On August 11th, 1970, they gave me this Caravelle diver's watch, just like I had wished for. I was ecstatic. It was so cool, and it was exactly what I pictured when I asked for one. It's a wind-up, and I only bring it out on my birthday. And goddamn if the thing doesn't still keep perfect time after all these years.
It's scratched, the band is pretty worn, and overall it looks kind of tired. No matter. This watch, $39 at the time, has held up. I wore it every day all the way through college. It shows up in family and yearbook photos. It's probably the most treasured thing I have from my childhood. The local jeweler here tells me that the Caravelle brand is still made by Bulova, and that he can restore it if I want him to. I don't. I like it just the way it is.
Of course, there is a dark side to this story. This watch became the first of well over a few hundred watches I have owned since that time. I have a kind of watch obsession. A compulsion. An addiction. Whatever you want to call it, I have a shitload of watches. I usually wear a different one each day. Some, over time, have been pitched or packed away. But the current rotation has maybe 50 that all work and are all pretty cool in there own way. Tom thinks I'm nuts, but I just like watches. Cheap ones. Gaudy ones. Precise ones. Just about everything except for over the top expensive ones. No need. There are so many reasonably priced cool watches that the gold Tiffany watch I received as an award at work 20 years ago never comes out of it's box.
So, yeah. Today's my birthday. If you are still trying to decide what to buy me, you can't go wrong with a watch.
