Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Pride, coal and clocks: Ads from 1981 issue of National Geographic

National Geographic remains one of my favorite magazines. Some articles that you won't find anywhere else that I've really enjoyed in the past 12 months include pieces on nuclear tourism, Svaneti (Georgia), and hay farmers in Transylvania. And there are a bunch of articles from 2014 I still need to go back and read, too. So little time!

I also enjoy reading the (way) back issues. The articles don't get too dated, but the advertisements can provide an interesting look back in time.

These are three advertisements the piqued my interest from the November 1981 issue, which has stories about pandas, Mount St. Helens and Orange County in California.

Whirlpool
"Is this country in the autumn of its time?" is an interesting way to begin an advertisement for home appliances. Whirlpool was asking Americans to renew their faith in the United States' heritage of pride and quality at a time when the Reagan Era was in its first year (and had already included an assassination attempt), Three's Company and The Dukes of Hazzard were among our most popular TV achievements, and the early 1980s recession was underway.

"Whirlpool believes that this is not the onset of winter but the advent of spring."


ARCO
The less I say, the better about the 33-year-old advertisement from Atlantic Richfield Company. I'll let it speak for itself.


GE Computer Radio
And here's a great example of how far technology has come in one-third of a century. This was the cutting-edge clock in 1981. Program your favorite radio stations! Deploy the Snooz-Alarm®! Enjoy the faux-wood design! "The Great Awakening Computer Radio is so smart it even tells you when you've made an error." It's like having HAL 9000 by your bedside!

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