Amusing Ads from the 1950s: Change Everything Overnight for only $2
Money back if not delighted!
As a lover of outdated periodicals, aka magazines, it’s always amusing to peruse the various advertisements not only for their cheery and cheeky disposition, but also for the occasional insight that an ad from 1955 might have nearly 70 years later.
This one… cut a little too close to home.
What pitch could be better than this? For only $2, get the secrets to unlocking the adventure that your own life promises.
It reminds me of two great movies, and two underappreciated moments in both.
The first is a reflection from 1997’s “The Edge” with Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin, where Hopkins tells Baldwin that he wants to change his life but has never met anyone who successfully has. Everyone wants to generically ‘improve’ their position in life, but no one wants to undertake the hard work to actually do it.
I couldn’t find that specific clip, so here’s another fun clip from the movie anyway:
Here, we’re being promised a book that almost sounds as though it is self-executing. It will reveal the secrets necessary to make all your dreams come true.
Excellent marketing.
The second movie clip that came to mind was from 1990’s “Total Recall” where Doug Quaid is making his selections at the Recall company, choosing what he wants his adventure to be for his mental vacation.
The challenge of changing your life would be so easily discarded if you could just solve it with a computer program, virtual reality game, or similar escape. If self actualization were reduced to a mere pill, who wouldn’t take it no matter what the consequences?
If you could change your life, or live your wildest dreams, just by putting on a screen, who could resist that temptation? If that’s all it took to change your life?
Related: most underrated line in Total Recall: “Sleazy.”
There’s something eternal about the struggle to change bad habits, bad situations, difficult and challenging forces.
One is defined by struggle.
A struggle without adversity, without long odds, is merely a thought experiment. Without a verb, the moment is merely a noun.
Change without pain is empty, it’s the cuteness of reprogramming the robot.
Part of the challenge and joy is the inordinate effort it takes to make small changes to self.
But hey, for only $1.98 plus postage, you can short circuit all that work and just get to the result!
Great advertising not only relies on timeless needs, wants, and desires - but ensures that the consumer won’t be satisfied with the purchase and will keep coming back for more.