Friday, July 15, 2011

Vintage swim ad Friday: This one for 'Catalina' circa 1951

Welcome to vintage swimsuit ad Friday. Every Friday I pull an ad from our past to either marvel or laugh at.

I was contrasting this Catalina swimsuit ad from 1951 to an Armani swimsuit campaign circa 2011. Ads that were placed 1/2-a-century a ago, Catalina, Jantzen, and others were seemingly positioned as "honey traps" for lonely men rather than having to do with actual swimming. Note the Cupid suspended above her head read to spear the parietal lobe of her brain with a golden tipped arrow.

The Armani swimsuit ads of today seem more oriented towards status, sex, power, and function. Sand is on the body, men are worn as corsages and of course the girls are healthy and generally either very blonde or very "Moroccan-esque."

See these Armani swimsuit ads as evidence at Zimbio: [Link]

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