Advertising: Decades of Change
Advertising has changed and developed
so much over the past few decades. Through the years vast amounts of experimental,
new, iconic and simply brilliant design work has made its way into the public
eye.
Going back to the 1960s in this
radical period where youth cultures were born, young people had an income and
things were looking up after the recovery of the post war economy. Graphic Design
was a fairly new career and advertising was naïve, there were only three television
channels; with only one of them, ITV, being able to advertise. One of the very
iconic 1960s advertisements was that of the Volkswagen Beetle, selling it to
Americans (as lovers of unnecessarily large Cadillac’s and Corvette’s), the ingenious
idea to play on its small size and make it appear as a toy car on the posters.
This wave of “Beetlemania” rushed across the states.
In strode the 1970s; a decade where
Graphic Design really came into its own, designers began creating advertisements
to shock and catch everyone’s attention. This was also where advertisements for
and against political parties began. Some of the more shocking adverts of the
decade included the “Pregnant man” contraception advert and the 1971 Playboy
cover first using an African American model, Darine Stern.
The 1980s had many big changes
from technological advances to Margaret Thatcher becoming Prime Minister. Channel
4 had been introduced, giving more scope for television adverts; one of the
most iconic being the Levi’s 501 jeans advert, which went hand in hand with the
1980s revival of soul music and a love of vintage. However, the decade also
became known for being a period in advertising history where things were becoming
a little too commercial and superficial and style was being valued over
substance.
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