Thursday, July 03, 2008

Some other 1970s comic book ads

Sea-Monkeys! That says it all. Remember being disappointed when they didn't look like this picture? Yet only $1.25 plus postage.
This Hostess ad series ran for quite a bit throughout all comics, Marvel and DC. Various heroes were featured. I just love this one because Cheetah, the villain, says, "MMMMM, what a smart puss."
Superman PSA about family life and corporal punishment. I simply love the audacity of the guy having absolutely no fear of Superman by saying, "I'm his father! I have a right to hit him!" I guess he never heard the Jim Croce song about tugging on Superman's cape. And then Superman solves it all by saying, "Let's go to counseling!"
Then this ad for Sea World just for pure WTF gaping. Sea World. Waterskiing. Superheroes. Let's waterski with superhero costumes on! That'll attract people. (Why would Superman be waterskiing?--I bet that was asked by many a young kid at the time.)
This ad perplexes me. I know that daytime TV has plenty of ads for finishing school and alternative colleges and whatnot. If you're home, you might not be at work or at school. This one is geared toward WOMEN, mothers especially. I at first started wondering what mothers were reading DC comic books in the 1970s, admittedly a mostly male medium then even more so than today. Then I realized that maybe the mother must be reading to her kids. Which may be a catch-22--does a woman who never finished high school read to her kids? Hopefully even more so, trying to give her kids a better life. I just love near the bottom it says, "So if you're 17 or over, mail this coupon below for our free booklet." (I hope there were no 16 year old mothers going, "Shoot, I'm not old enough.") I am sure they looked into the advertising demographics for this, but just realizing who their target audience is is sort of depressing.

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