Ten Suggestive Automotive Ads from the Past
The fine petrolheads at Jalopnik have compiled this list of ten very suggestive automotive print ads, from the 1960s onward. It reminds me of a study where men were shown two ads of the same car, one ad with a sexy woman, the other without. The men rated the car with the living hood ornament as more appealing, expensive, and faster than the car without. At the same time, the men vigorously denied that the model's presence had any affect on their opinion whatsoever.
"Sex sells" may be a cliche, but it's an impressively enduring and effective one.
"Ten Highly Suggestive Automotive Ads" [Jalopnik]
Carrie McLaren & Jason Torchinsky are coeditors of Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture. In previous lives, they worked together on the hopelessly obscure and now defunct Stay Free! magazine .
Post a comment
Comments:
Maybe these Jalopnik guys don't know much about cars. #9 and #10 are both Chargers.
@HiPwr: Nobody said they were all for different cars. "Ten highly suggestive ads." That's it. They could have all been for Volkswagen. Well, not really, but that's not the point.
@larrymac: In the text, they call the model of #9 a Challenger & #10 a Magnum (which wasn't even around in the 60s).
Lulz @ the Matchbox ad
@cgraham: Yes, the Magnum engine. They are not selling the engine. They are selling a Charger that has a 440 Magnum engine. It's a feature of the car. It also has the feature of air conditioning listed. Air conditioning isn't the model either.
The one with the 2 Italian lasses and the guy in the convertible...I think they are stretching a bit there. Yeah, the women are in the foreground, but they extrapolate a bit too much from there.
Ugh, I hated that first ad when it ran. That's borderline statutory.
I Just found my New 24 Inch Wallpaper desktop backround screen!!! (The Matchbox Ad).
Now on to the toy store so i can buy some!
-dave
Since a lot of the appeal of cars to men is to transport women for mating purposes, using attractive girls in ads is hardly surprising. It is surprising that the ads are rarely sexual and even when sexual less suggestive than ads for burgers or shampoo.
God, I love 60s ads. They are all awful in the best ways. They're not so funny when I see people today doing the same sort of thing. That Matchbox ad is...horrifying?
I concur with Morlo. Burger and Shampoo TV/Radio Ads have women moaning in a simulated orgasmic pleasure (i recall an herbal essences commercial where the woman moaned "yes...yes...yes") as well as some very voluptious burger ads (Carl's jr aired one where a few guys in an office with binoculars were watching a woman in a white shirt eat a burger while spilling ketchup on her semi-buttoned, cleavage showing shirt). These were at least somewhat decent.
-dave
@BenderRodriguez: Another way to look at it is that the woman isn't scratching using her hand, but by rubbing against the car, which blocks part of the view.
@BenderRodriguez: He saying that the woman is scratching her ass OO THE CAR. Kinda like indian cows.
Mopar! Those were the days!
At the same time, the men vigorously denied that the model's presence had any affect on their opinion whatsoever.
Dangit, woman. Scratch your ass elsewhere. I hate it when things obscure part of a classic.