Ads for teenagers -
See another Modess True
or False? ad
(October 1949, from Seventeen magazine)
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Modess Snipes at Kotex (U.S.A.),
October 1949
In the same month, October 1949,
Modess and Kotex published cartoon
ads.
The Kotex ad, below, part of a long
series of advice-to-teenager ads (see
here for
more), speaks in a wise-guy teenage
slang, supposedly appealing
to teens of the time and reflecting
their speech. It brings to mind Frank Sinatra songs,
fast and tough.
But the Modess
ad scoffs at this speech and advice
and cattily advises kids that
tactfulness is the key. Note that in
the ad and in the booklet it promotes
- Growing Up
and Liking It - there's little
slang and cutesiness. The booklet even
uses drawings like the Kotex ad's,
which are much better than the drawing
in their ad.
The two companies were the main
producers of pads at this time, which
probably explains the static.
I broke the
ad into three parts to make it
download faster in an era of slow
connections.
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Isn't
"fizzician" great? Corny, but
great. By the way, apparently people
weren't allowed to drink soft drinks
with "fizz" - carbonation - on Sunday
in certain parts of America (it was
thought immoral) so someone invented
the sundae, which had no carbonation.
Such is America.
Look how dressed up
everyone is!
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I haven't deciphered
"come y'aout" yet (third line in
the left paragraph) - is it "come out"
or "come you all out"?, which is
strange in itself.
"(Boo
coo welcome feature - n'est-ce pas?)"
is priceless (last line at right), boo coo being
the French "beaucoup," meaning "much,"
and n'est-ce
pas being "right?" I guess
you had to be bilingual to fit in in
high school in 1949, which is becoming
true today.
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Ads for teenagers
© 1999 Harry Finley. It is
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