In color

Read carefully the copy in this ad from 1960 and ask yourself: "Who'd be so thick to order one of these?"

The ad talks about a screen that fits over you current black-and-white TV screen, and produces "...brilliant, eye-filling colors..."

And your friends will like it too - they'll get to make jokes about you and your "color TV".

"Thrilling color", 1960
-click to enlarge-

TV tennis

Thirty-five years ago, playing anything on your own TV set was all the rage, and legends were born.

We're talking about PONG, of course. Back then it was a revolutionary device, but as the following advertorial warns "...this is one of those novelties everyone will shortly get tired of..."

Yeah. Right. 35 years later, the video game industry is bigger than Hollywood, and one of those original little consoles is worth a small fortune.

I wish I had one.

"TV tennis", 1976
-click to enlarge-

Meat? Really?

If there was ever a sillier name for a trade organisation, the "America Meat Institute" -sponsor of this ad- takes the cake.

Also silly is the claim that luncheon meat is goodness in a can... 12 hearty, tasty ounces of it.

The reality is that packed meat is actually high in salt and cholesterol, it is manufactured from the unsaleable bits and bobs that nobody wants to eat, and is considered an emergency erzats for when you can't actually eat real meat.

"Meat", 1947
-click to enlarge-