80 Retro American Ads That Show Just How Different Things Used To Be

According to the National Museum of American History, the advertising business in the United States grew up alongside mass production.

Selling strategies such as branding and national campaigns guaranteed a steady demand for new products. A new breed of agents created full-service agencies with transparent billing systems, and they designed as well as placed ads and staked their success on trust.

After World War I, advertising became a mature industry and a cultural force that presented the social benefits of consumption: individual liberty, social status, convenience, and even improved personal relationships.

The Great Depression, however, cut revenue and changed the tone of the industry heading into the 1930s. In these lean years, advertisers perfected the hard sell, invested in the new medium of radio, and studied consumers with gusto. And while Americans continued to consume, they did it with a mixture of interest and skepticism.

During the Consumer Era of the 1940s–1970s, production boomed, and consumerism shaped the American marketplace, spreading from cities to suburbs. Innovative technology, expansion of white-collar jobs, more credit, and new groups of consumers fueled prosperity. Business and political leaders started claiming that consumerism was more than shopping: it defined the benefits of capitalism.

This era marked a high point of American productivity and a high standard of living; however, it ended with many Americans questioning the promises of the system. As the economic engine slowed in the 1970s, productivity waned, wages flattened, and Americans faced an energy crisis that reshaped their expectations.

In the 1950s, television became the centerpiece of people's homes, fueling competition among broadcasters. Scrappy upstarts challenged established networks, innovated programming, and catered to underserved audiences.

As the TV industry grew, Americans worried about its effect on children. A national conversation about television and the common good fostered public broadcasting.

During the 1970s–2010s, or what many call the Global Era, the United States became a nation of fewer limits, but also fewer guarantees. Consumers and producers adapted to rapid change driven by computers, large amounts of data, and smart devices. Increased global interdependence created efficiencies and opportunities for some, but erased safeguards and employment for others, and this turbulence was visible in advertising, too.

For example, in 1971, McDonald’s expanded to Japan. Some people worried that American brands endangered local traditions. Others argued that successful brands adapted to local culture.

A wave of mergers in the 1980s created five huge multinational advertising companies. At the same time, however, small independents and regional agencies sprouted on the margins and tried to compete with the giants. Advertising circulated around the globe and inspired debates about the power of American mega-brands. Many wondered: did global brands destroy local cultures, turning everyone into homogenized consumers? Or have local cultures made global brands their own?