For Father's Day, Go Beyond Mad Men

NEW YORK - May 13, 2013 - PRLog -- For Father's Day: Go Beyond Mad Men

Even if your father (or grandfather) was not the man in the grey flannel suit,  Madison Avenue had its way with him.  Advertising seeped in and shaped everyone's youth,  including men who might be leery of some messages today.

Outrageous Ads by Kate Parker (Red Rock Press) opens up the riotous world that Don Draper and other Mad Men inherited, a world of utter idiocy they actually pushed us beyond.     But it was such a weird, funny world, that revisiting it will add fun and thoughtfulness to Father's Day.

Not only is it likely that Don Draper's physician smoked almost as much as his patient did, some doctors recommended their favorite brands to ease sore throats.  Okay, you know this---but how about the cigar merchants who recommended a man blow smoke in a date's face to seduce her:   "Blow in her face and she'll follow you anywhere," men were promised in 1976.

But that's not as bad as what preceded Mad Men's heyday, such as  the tobacco ad that recommended snuff to keep teething babies quiet, or the Gillette Safety Razor ad that featured . . .  a toddler shaving under the legend "Begin Early/Shave Yourself."

Gillette was only joking, of course, but Gillette's ad men must have thought their particular joke would help sales.  And here's a thought:  Maybe it did.

Some male problems just don't go away:

What to give a wife for the holidays.  A new kitchen sink, according to a 1960s ad.  Really.

How to deal with baldness.  Well, there was a new rub-in tonic that worked quickly according to before- and-after Gatsby-era photos.

How to appear ripped after you've let yourself go.   A century-old sandwich-board ad got it right: wishful thinking.

NOTE:  Please contact publicity@RedRockPress.com to request  an image of the OUTRAGEOUS ADS cover and up to two images of the ads described above.   We recommend finishing with the b/w drawing of the ad described in the final paragraph.      

All photo use should be credited as follows:       From OUTRAGEOUS ADS edited by Kate Parker (Red Rock Press).