Comments on: Evolution of Health Ads and Communications, Part 1

By: Pulse & Signal » Blog Archive » Evolution of Health Ads and Commnications, Part 2: Burning down the Tower of Babel on Health Topics

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:31:10 +0000

[...] 2 of a series on the history of communication efforts focused on public health/health education. Part 1 of the series looked at ads from the middle of last century. This is a guest blog post written by Marc van Gurp [...]

By: Siobhan

Siobhan — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:31:36 +0000

Hey Andre! I have been meaning to ping you. (We met at Blog Potomac and of course I found your card at the bottom of my purse. I guess that only happens to women…:-)
I was at the Clarendon market last weekend and saw a great old poster — for Marlboros, I think– bragging that more Dr’s smoked Marbs than any other brand. Doctor endorsed. I loved it.
best,
sdm

By: Andre

Andre — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:02:29 +0000

@Alex: That’s a great idea to find a copywriter to chat about classic ads – I remember growing up with Camel cigarette commercials and having the plug pulled on Joe Camel because it was a “cartoon” character.

@Vanessa: Thanks for stopping by! That is a great point about the lifestyle vs nutritional content – do you think nutrition was more important back then?

@Marc: Always a pleasure to have you drop by! You’re right about watching our history, learning from mistakes (or victories) is important in moving forward with new and effective innovations.

By: Marc

Marc — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:02:49 +0000

Always fun but also very important to watch our history. Place the things we do now in perspective.
- Many ads from the past tell us how healthy the products are. Nowadays ads tell us about dangers
- What a enormous amount of copy they needed.

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:19:33 +0000

I love seeing old ads and it’s even more interesting to see old ads oriented for health communication. I like how the Viceroy cigarette ad highlights how the cost of changing to their cigarettes is so low but maximize the benefits. I have to say my favorite is the beer ad which touts the nutritional benefits of their brand. Today’s alcohol ads are focus on glorifying a certain lifestyle rather than pragmatic concerns like nutritional content. Can’t wait to see the rest of the series!

By: Alex, aka Socialbutterfly

Alex, aka Socialbutterfly — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:10:57 +0000

ooo…what a great topic! There’s so much to discover and different directions to take it. I look forward to being in touch. A classic one is I think the lucky strike cigarettes aimed towards women, Marlboro man, or the one with Santa smoking and the tag lines for these. A classic copywriter would be best to talk to probably, I had a professor at Mizzou who was great at recalling any ad you named due to his experience.

Also, what’s interesting, is how the regulation of advertising has changed. And even in other mediums that are influencers, like films. No actors really smoke in films anymore.

Anywho, great topic choice and look forward to the rest! =)