Vintage German illustrations, poster art, and advertisments.
posted by Fiasco da Gama on Mar 10, 2010 - 12 comments

1. Photograph billboard.
2. Replace head with bloody stump.
3. Affix stump to original billboard.
4. Repeat as necessary.
posted by Partial Law on Jan 11, 2008 - 65 comments

The city of Sao Paulo passed an ordinance last year banning outdoor advertising; photographer Tony de Marco has been documenting the skeletal remains of the advertising infrastructure throughout the city; the impact looks like the aftermath of a new type of atomic weapon that targets marketing but leaves buildings & people unscathed.
posted by jonson on Jun 19, 2007 - 84 comments

The Ad Generator is a generative artwork that explores how advertising uses and manipulates language. What it actually does is that it randomizes words and structures from real advertising slogans and pairs them with related images from Flickr, generating fake ads on the fly.
posted by sveskemus on Jan 24, 2007 - 53 comments

Fans of Vintage Cultural Ephemera Rejoice!

Illustration and print design of the 1920s-30s
Cold War Propaganda (on both sides)
Illustration and print design of the forties
Vintage cigarrette advertising
Sheet Music of the 1800s - 1950s
Out of print cookbooks
7-Up advertising (pre 1980s)

All of these (and much more) found via this excellent Flickr Page of Groups administered by cultural archivist Paula Wirth.
posted by jonson on Dec 15, 2006 - 15 comments

Her Secret Past is a Flickr group of retro (1950's - give or take a decade) advertisements targeted at women's fears, both the common ones (hairiness/lack of tiny monkey, wrinkles) and the lesser known ones (vagina so dirty it causes you to repeatedly leave parties early). Along the same lines, but for men is His Secret Past - although if you really want to see retro advertisements targeted at men, this set of ads from May 1963's Playboy would be the perfect source.
posted by jonson on Dec 11, 2006 - 47 comments