When Do Multicultural Ads Become Offensive? Your Thoughts

Readers debate a recent Atlantic article on race and advertising in the 1970s. Tom Burrell, the legendary adman, responds to critics of his early work.

‘If Sugar Is Fattening, How Come So Many Kids Are Thin?’

In the 1970s, the Sugar Association launched an ad campaign premised on the idea that sugar is … a useful diet aid.  

How Apple and IBM Marketed the First Personal Computers

In 1977, companies building PCs had to try to convince the American public that this confusing new technology was missing from their lives.

When Words Sold Music

The strange, conversational language of early Rolling Stone ads

‘You've Come a Long Way, Baby’: The Lag Between Advertising and Feminism

Even at the height of ‘women’s liberation,’ products aimed to female consumers were actually marketed to men.

Revisiting the Work of One of the 20th Century's Best Ad Men

Fresh from the industry’s creative revolution in the 1960s, the art director George Lois helped make some of the greatest advertisements of the modern era.

The Year Political Advertising Turned Positive

American campaigns embraced the spirit of 1976, stressing the virtues of candidates to a nation weary of war and Watergate.

‘Dinnertimin’ and ‘No Tipping’: How Advertisers Targeted Black Consumers in the 1970s

In an attempt to reach African American customers, many U.S. businesses began integrating their commercials—often by relying on fraught stereotypes.

A Trove of History As 1970s Housewives Lived It

Inside a 1976 issue of Good Housekeeping, when Betty Ford lauded homemakers and Henry Fonda did needlework.

The 70s Were Unkind to Real-Life Mad Men

Reading the scholarly literature on the Watergate-era backlash against advertising

The 70s Were Awkward for Superman

The comic-book franchise's attempts to get hip included turning Lois Lane black.

Protest Posters From the Vietnam Era

During the 1960s and 70s, protest posters served as rallying cries for peace, as defamations of the federal government, and as tributes to the martyrs of the civil rights movement.