January 8, 2011

Vintage 365: A&P ad for Marvel bread makes me long for the golden days of advertising

Day 8 of Vintage 365

 

In this world where it seems that technology becomes out-dated before it even reach store shelves, and consumers are bombarded with ever flashier commercials for a million things we actually don’t need to get by, it can be nothing short of heartwarmingly special to look at vintage ads and let feelings of nostalgia for simpler, better time flow over you.

I saw this classic 1940s A&P supermarket ad featuring Marvel Bread a couple of days ago (on Lushie Peach’s Flickr stream) and couldn’t shake it from my mind. While it’s certainly charming (and there's no denying that gal's hat is fabulous!), it wasn’t the image, font or design that drew me to so much as the message in the text that encourages shoppers not to be “bread squeezers” (in other words, don not squeeze loaves of bread to determine if they’re still fresh).

It’s so incredibly easy to take for granted the fact that seemingly commonplace things like having best before dates on much of the food we buy, were once novel concepts - even as recently as a few decades ago. In vintage ads like this I find much to be grateful for and also much to wish was different about today's world. They make be long for a time I never actually in lived firsthand, but feel as though I truly belonged to. Where women always looked elegant, even when grabbing a few groceries, and the idea of having a best-by date on bread was a cool new concept :)


5 comments:

  1. Yes, and these ladies mopped the floor in heels and pearls! At least that was the what they would have you believe.

    I love vintage ads. They say a lot about the mind set of a particular time in history.

    Thanks for sharing them!

    Diane

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful, Jessica! I imagine our current advertising won't have the same charm in 50 years. I came across another post that you might enjoy here along the same vein.

    http://artygirlsblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/shanghai-poster-girls.html

    Wishing you a beautiful Sunday! xo – g

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow - I can't ever imagine squeezing bread to test freshness. How times have changed :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh I agree! LOVE the vintage and antique ads and packaging. *sigh*

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well, Jessica, I'm up to January 8th now. At the rate I'm going, you'll be starting a whole new year of posts and I'll still be back in early 2011.

    I love this A&P ad...it's another thing I've pinned to my Pinterest page. (I take alot of your amazing, fabulous things!)

    I lived within walking distance of both sets of grandparents until I was 15. One set lived about a block away from a shopping center...and there was an A&P in that shopping center. I used to walk there with my grandmother quite often, and sometimes, when I had grown up a bit, I was even allowed to go there by myself. Believe it or not, I still remember the name of the store manager from that A&P! (I might not remember what I had for dinner 2 nights ago, but I can remember names from the 1960's!!)

    Thanks for sharing this memory-laden ad.

    Blessings to you,
    Patti

    ReplyDelete