Men who know say NO!

September 10, 2003 8:45 AM

American Social Hygiene Posters from the University of Minnesota. Remember boys, You may think she's just your gal, but she may be everyone's pal.
posted by JoanArkham (32 comments total)

I imagine that second link was meant to be to this.
posted by me3dia at 8:50 AM on September 10, 2003

D'oh! Here's my favorite for the ladies.
posted by JoanArkham at 8:52 AM on September 10, 2003

Avoid the man who tries to take liberties with you. He is selfishly thoughtless and inconsiderate of you.

Actually not bad advice.
posted by Ufez Jones at 9:03 AM on September 10, 2003

[this is good]
posted by jonson at 9:10 AM on September 10, 2003

She deserves 100%.

Damn right I do. Slackers need not apply.
posted by orange swan at 9:13 AM on September 10, 2003

Frankly I don't like where this one's heading. Are they implying we should have sex with the horse?
posted by jonson at 9:17 AM on September 10, 2003

Thanks, JoanArkham.

I was intrigued to see the generic "musical notes" at the top of this one, only to realize that they actually match up with the lyrics - it's apparently a song parody. But who today would put out a poster like that assuming the general audience could read even a melody line? Them days is GONE FOREVER!

Anybody know the original song?
posted by soyjoy at 9:19 AM on September 10, 2003

Ignore Fake Advertisements
posted by woil at 9:25 AM on September 10, 2003

Hey now, they shouldn't diss autoriding. I heard it prevents prostate cancer.

And orange swan, I don't seem to get the original meaning of that one. My mind is blocked, I guess, by the obvious salacious interpretation.
posted by soyjoy at 9:26 AM on September 10, 2003

When literal intepretations aren't in good taste, use symbolism.
posted by orange swan at 9:30 AM on September 10, 2003

Mixed message? Certainly one meaning of this would be "Want beauty of body, vivacity, and charm of manner? Then TRY SEX!!!"
posted by soyjoy at 9:32 AM on September 10, 2003

If I'd been the graphic artist working on any of these, I totally would have loaded the illustrations with all kinds of naughty visual jokes and waited to see who would get them. The evil-Bert-in-the-Bin-Laden-poster kind of thing.
posted by orange swan at 9:36 AM on September 10, 2003

Aha! See, I knew football was homoerotic!

OK, I'll stop now.
posted by soyjoy at 9:52 AM on September 10, 2003

Remember boys, You may think she's just your gal, but she may be everyone's pal.

Right, because of course women spread the majority of sexual diseases.
posted by agregoli at 9:53 AM on September 10, 2003

incidentally, the cure for syphillis, pre-antibiotics, was a 12 week course of mercury / salversam (arsenic) injections, which may explain why they had to push people to favor the cure over blindness and insanity.
posted by condour75 at 10:05 AM on September 10, 2003

Great post, JoanArkham!
posted by widdershins at 10:45 AM on September 10, 2003

I love the picture they put with this one. You can tell he had pleasant dreams.
posted by kavasa at 11:15 AM on September 10, 2003

When literal intepretations aren't in good taste, use symbolism.

Would that be that Man uses a tool (stick) and Woman does not to obtain an apple?
posted by rough ashlar at 11:57 AM on September 10, 2003

I love you, Joan Arkham. Not in the nasty, auto-riding way, though.

Why do all those posters that come from the same series (like the boy/girl/apple one, the horse, and the sexy girl with beret) so scrupulously avoid the period?

It's a little unsettling

Somehow, the thoughts seem unfinished
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:06 PM on September 10, 2003

I love Joan in the nasty, auto-riding way.
posted by Fenriss at 12:45 PM on September 10, 2003

Oh thank you ... this is just the perverse distraction I needed to keep me from doing the laundry. :D
posted by Orb at 12:56 PM on September 10, 2003

soyjoy, the tune in that poster is Turkey in the Straw.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:00 PM on September 10, 2003

All I can think is: thank god I don't live back then. With all that PSA going down, folk must NEVER have put out.
posted by scarabic at 1:21 PM on September 10, 2003

D'oh! I didn't try singing all the way through it. It takes liberties with the pickups, the rhythm and the last measure, but yeah, the gist of it certainly is Turkey in the Straw. Thanks, joe's_spleen.
posted by soyjoy at 2:01 PM on September 10, 2003

BOOBY TRAP!
posted by SenshiNeko at 2:14 PM on September 10, 2003

"The Glory of Manhood is Strength"

Hmmm... no symbolism there...
posted by jpburns at 2:17 PM on September 10, 2003

"Them Days Is Gone Forever" was a cartoon strip by Al Posen that ran in the 1930s. The shtick of it was that the narrative and/or dialogue in the balloons would be set to a tune, which was indeed, more or less, "Turkey in the Straw". The last panel, and punchline, was always "Them Days Is Gone Forever".

I cannot find a single link on the interweb to this poster, but I have seen the cartoons reproduced in various "history of the comics" books.
posted by Sidhedevil at 7:02 PM on September 10, 2003

I cannot find a single link on the interweb to this comic strip, that is.
posted by Sidhedevil at 7:04 PM on September 10, 2003

Great post, Joan.
...assuming the general audience could read even a melody line? Good point, soyjoy.
posted by philfromhavelock at 8:29 PM on September 10, 2003

I feel the need to put this poster up in my office...
posted by Katemonkey at 2:11 AM on September 11, 2003

Thanks, Sidhedevil. And phil, yes, I get the irony. After trying out the first few notes I gave up and assumed it was just a popular song of the period that I didn't know. I promise to be more thorough before slamming the music-reading capability of the public in the future.
posted by soyjoy at 8:46 AM on September 11, 2003

Right, because of course women spread the majority of sexual diseases.

Actually, many of these posters seem to be aimed at men, encouraging them not to infect their "pure" wives and children: 1; 2; 3; 4; and (my favorite) 5
posted by anastasiav at 10:49 AM on September 18, 2003