Ad Boy: Vintage Advertising with Character

by Warren Dotz, Masud Husain

More than 450 American ad characters, industry icons, and product personalities hailing from the 1950s, '60s, and '70s pack the pages of this vibrant, vintage collection.

The postwar economic boom launched a generation of charming, cheeky, and relentlessly cheerful critters and characters that found their way into our homes--and our hearts--in print, on television, and on packaging. Some took detours that reflected the times (Elsie the Cow was sent into outer space in 1958). Some were fashion victims who survived (remember hippy Hush Puppies, circa 1969?). And some are no longer with us (the Frito Bandito was finally brought to justice in 1971). These endearingly offbeat characters are as fresh and entertaining today as they were creatively inspired in decades past.

Genres: Art, History, Nonfiction, Design

176 pages, Paperback

First published April 7, 2009

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are older than 55 this book will reintroduce you to many long lost 'advertising friends.' To this day I can still remember the commercials for cereal - and how I would bug my poor mom to buy boxes we did not need for the 'prize' inside. Thank you mom - you never said no; even when I promised to do things I did not do.

[Paul Hankins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each year, a colleague and I exchange gifts on or around our birthdays. It must have begun with that first year out of college and into our first building together. And so it goes. Fourteen years running, we try to find something that the other would like to read.

This year, Aaron got me this book and what a nice graphic, nostalgic journey this little book has been. Bright packaging and thoughtful consideration of the the number of images coming at one at once are a feature of this book. Allowing for only four or five images across the spread invites the eye to stop and consider vs. what might have been a collage or grid presentation.

The advertisements are alphabetized by major categories which is also a nice feature.

Ad Boy comes in little windows of text at the bottom or the side of the page to offer some insight into the ads featured in the category or on that particular page. Each advertisement is tagged with the company and the year that the icon or logo may have been in use.

[Penny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and colorful book. I bought it because I enjoyed the authors other book, Meet. Mr. Product. I find books like these to be inspirational in my work as a graphic designer. As for the ad boys, they just don't make them anymore like they used to in the 50's and 60's.

[Shree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graphic design course introduced me to the vintage era...trying to understand the advertising aspect of an assignment lead me to this gem in a library. Wonderful and timely find, it has yesteryear ads in full color of some famous and some out of market products, including Post's cornflakes, The Orange Bird (1971) Disneyland Record Album Cover, EverReady batteries (Energizer Bunny), Standard Fireworks (1951) to name a few!

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loud, bright, fun and scary at the same time. Cool to see ad evolution from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Gave me many t-shirt ideas. Some of them have a creep factor which interested me as well, not gonna lie. Technicolour escape.

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was amazed to find out how many of these characters there are (and a lot of ones I'd never even noticed before!).

[Richard Downey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting and nostalgic view of print ads using characters (as in people animals etc.)as their main spokesmen, or image. It's lots of fun!

[Shanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun to see the influence of culture on advertising. Unfortunately, many of these images were ones I was unfamiliar with. Perhaps because of regional advertising or maybe that some were already gone before I was born. Would love to see a book that goes through the transformation of beloved and recognizable mascots for companies that we still see today.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute post war 20th century illustrations and advertising combined. Creative and fun.