by Jonathan Marshall

It all really started in the 1960s – the Golden Age of Advertising. At a time when the consumerist euphoria of the fifties was still going strong and the race to the moon was in daily conversations. The mood of advertising in the sixties was cheerful, optimistic, and at times – revolutionary.

The decade’s ads hyped perceived progress (such as Tang-”just add water”) while striving to reinforce good ole’ American values. Stars like Sean Connery, Woody Allen, and Sammy Davis Jr. endorsed everything from sunglasses and Bourbon to handmade suits in an attempt by the Mad Men on Madison Avenue to employ Americans to open their wallets and participate in the largest consumer binge in history.

Evident social change at the end of the era liberated women and minorities to a never-before conscious public. From forgotten cars such as the Studebaker Avanti, and cigarettes (“Marlboro… a Man’s world of flavor”) to food, clothing, endless consumer products, furniture, travel, and much more.

Over the next few weeks, the JTCG Blog will be featuring standouts from a colorful collection of vintage print ads that explores the wide, insightful and influential world of American Advertising. From the time of it’s inception til now, the collection includes ads from the last 100 years on a website called Vintage AdBrowser, and serves as inspiration for Advertising agencies, graphic designers, web design and marketing professionals today.

If you enjoy scrolling through these ads as much as I do, feel free to suggest ads that you would like to see featured on the blog. If you are as convincing as the ad you suggest, we will chat about it. Enjoy.

by Jonathan Marshall

Advertising agencies like McCann New York and Universal McCann teamed up with others in the ad community to put together this 30-second spot with the International Rescue Committee. The creative agencies hope the video will encourage immediate donations for Haiti relief efforts.

The Haitian Red Cross believes up to 45,000 and 50,000 people have been killed by the quake and as many as 3 million people injured or made homeless. Huge numbers of people in the Haitian capital lack food, clean water, shelter and medical care, even as one of the largest international relief efforts in recent history gets underway.

I really like the message, and with the help and assistance of most major cell-phone companies, we can all easily and quickly donate without having to fill-out any paperwork, call anyone, or even provide bank account information. It’s VERY easy and every dollar counts.

Please text HAITI to 25383 to donate $5 to help the International Rescue Committee rescue lives in Haiti.