Friday, January 15, 2010

Put Some Clothes on

I used to collect ads that featured gratuitous images of scantily clad women. You know the type -- the ones where a half naked gal is sprawled on the hood of a car.

But why bother writing an example when I've got a whole bunch to show? These are more or less in chronological order, some from before my time.

Old cigarette ad with woman in bathing suit
What's amusing about this is that the ad advises the bathing beauty to light an Old Gold cigarette not because it will help to drive away to beach bore, but because "its mellow fragrance will calm your raging tempest like nobody's business."

Almost naked woman modeling for an artist, her back to the viewer
This ad is selling paper to printers, in case you couldn't tell.

Headless woman in blue one-piece reaching for something in a cooler, a hand around her waist
I love the disembodied possessive hand around her waist.

Woman in red pants and white bra throws her arms up dramatically in front of a train, saying I dreamed I stopped traffic in my Maidenform bra
One of the strangest campaigns ever imagined by a mainstream ad agency.

Black and white photo of a woman in a bikini, repeated multipe times
Ads for printing-related products are great sources of gratuitous girlie shots. Whether it's chemicals...

Woman in a bathing suit, divided up with different screen conversions on parts of her body
... or selling different types of half tone and line effects.

Panty hose package with woman in short dress flaring up while man in hardhat, down in a manhole, looks up her skirt
A friend gave me this panty hose package in the early 1990s. He bought it at a small grocery store on Hennepin Avenue, just south of Uptown, Minneapolis. I assume (given the model's shoes) that it had been in the store for at least 20 years. As they used to say in Ms. magazine, "No Comment."

Naked woman in darkness, same women in a nightgown
This is an early 1990s two-page ad for a naked, nipple-free, high-heeled-but-shoeless woman. The headline on the left page reads "The most beautiful feeling in the world is just a touch away." Really!

Woman in blue jockey underwear, standing in her bedroom
This ad is also from the late 1980s. This use of a semiclad woman is not really so bad (after all, it is selling underwear). And given the trends of the past 20 years, I actually appreciate that the model appears to weigh more than 100 pounds.

8 comments:

elena said...

An amazing assortment: thank you! (and my word verification for this comment is: de man)

Nancy/BLissed-Out Grandma said...

That Maidenform campaign went on for a long time. It's still burned into my brain, and it pops up anytime I say the words "I dreamed...."

Ms Sparrow said...

The Maidenform ad must have been from a later time. The ones from the 50's were restricted to showing the bra OVER the clothing.

Daughter Number Three said...

I would place this Maidenform woman in about 1962 or 63, given her hair and clothing, as well as the way the printing looks. I wonder when they switched from bras over clothes to no clothes?

Unknown said...

The decapitated picnic girl reminds me of so many book covers (YA and romances) that present the body, but not a face. I think the notion is that it will make it easier for the reader to identify with the protagonist as depicted. OR maybe it is just the fashion of the time--like wearing an onion tied to the belt...

T-Viper70 said...

The Jockey For Her ad with the blue panties is NOT from the 1990s, it is from the 1980s!

Daughter Number Three said...

I've revised the date on the Jockey For Her ad.

T-Viper70 said...

Cool. Thanks Daughter Number Three. :-)