The babies wrapped in cellophane were really cute.

Good find, Subby

Lose weight with AYDS™

Those are funny, but most of them are about as "ironic" as rain on your wedding day.

Maker's Mark whiskey, famous for their trademark red wax seal on the cork.

brigid_fitch: Maker's Mark whiskey, famous for their trademark red wax seal on the cork.

Dammit. New keyboard, et cetera.

"Why take diet pills, when you can enjoy AYDS?" (pops)

I know this one isn't ironic, but it is mildly amusing

Man. When I was in school, my dad said that I'd get a car when I graduated. (I'm the youngest of 6 and the only one to grad). Anyway, he gave me a corvair, then took it back to sell it before I could drive it.

All these years I've been lamenting that cute little, blue car...NOW I find out it was a death trap?!?!

Yeah people are ignorant savages that believe what they are told.

Nothing new here.

You know the Breyers "Lickable" one is fake, FarkinHostile, don't you?

Earpj: Man. When I was in school, my dad said that I'd get a car when I graduated. (I'm the youngest of 6 and the only one to grad). Anyway, he gave me a corvair, then took it back to sell it before I could drive it.

All these years I've been lamenting that cute little, blue car...NOW I find out it was a death trap?!?!

So not only was your old man a hypocrite, but he couldn't even make the premiums on your life insurance policy that would see him through retirement? Happy mothers' day!

Cyberluddite

You know the Breyers "Lickable" one is fake, FarkinHostile, don't you?


Of course, but it's still funny.

what interests me is wondering which of our modern ads will be equally amusing in the future.
I'm guessing any number of pharmaceuticals but especially the antidepressants once we have some idea of how the brain actually works.

It was ironic that the James Dean PSA was meant to show that he's just a safe law abiding guy unlike the characters he plays, except he acts like a rebel in the PSA too.

HEROIN at $4.85 an ounce??

I knew I was born in the wrong decade.

PirateFreedom: what interests me is wondering which of our modern ads will be equally amusing in the future.
I'm guessing any number of pharmaceuticals but especially the antidepressants once we have some idea of how the brain actually works.

Like this?

Bukharin: Lose weight with AYDS™

What made that awesome is the product showed just before AIDS got a foothold in the media. I mean like just months before.

Thalidomide: Mostly 'armless.

Actually, it only harmed fetuses, and only in a particular stage of development. Infants cannot develop birth defects after the fact.

Lead paint was the premium stuff. It was expensive as hell (as you would expect, since it contained a boatload of lead). Very durable, very attractive. It was the granite countertop of its day. "Oh honey, can we please splurge and get lead paint for the nursery?"

Combine thalidomide with cellophane and all of your child-care problems are SOLVED.

For some unknown reason, I have a throbbing erection.

Don't know how they missed "Radio-Thor" health water - with a microgram each of Radium and Thorium in every 1 oz bottle. This product actuall did kill a number of people - most of whom drank many, many bottles of this glowing elixar.

WhyteRaven74: Bukharin: Lose weight with AYDS™

What made that awesome is the product showed just before AIDS got a foothold in the media. I mean like just months before.

Nah, AYDS the diet product was around for at least 10 years or more (probably since the 1960s) before AIDS the disease was identified and named (which was around 1981). What was stupid was how they stubbornly refused to change the name for a couple of years after the disease showed up, and then changed it to something like "AYDS Diet," like that was much better.

I grew up in Reno, and I remember that, prior to the disease AIDS arriving on the scene (yes, I'm old), the primary "ambulance company" (this was before the major rise of paramedic services) was called "AIDS Ambulance." They changed the name to something completely different about a year or two after AIDS the disease got to be known. But before they changed it, they had the contract to provide ambulance services at the fairgrounds in Reno, and one of the annual events at the fairgrounds in those days was the "Reno Gay Rodeo," a huge party event on the West Coast gay calendar. At any rodeo, they always had a few ambulances standing by at the state fairgrounds in case any of the rodeo contestants got injured, so of course there were many pictures taken of the group of "AIDS Ambulances" parked at the gay rodeo. I'm sure it was a great photo-op.

Nakito: Lead paint was the premium stuff.

The danger of lead paint is a myth. In the late 60s, it became apparent that certain groups of children were simply unable to progress, in spite of social programs such as Head Start. Some sort of environmental cause had to be found. Enter lead paint.

I know some folks who worked in a law firm where the judge from the Pinto case became a partner. He reportedly kept the gas tank in in office.

bmwericus: Don't know how they missed "Radio-Thor" health water - with a microgram each of Radium and Thorium in every 1 oz bottle. This product actuall did kill a number of people - most of whom drank many, many bottles of this glowing elixar.

Or better yet, these (new window)

Love the Corvair ad ... in fact I'm thinking of buying one.

Cyberluddite: Nah, AYDS the diet product was around for at least 10 years or more (probably since the 1960s) before AIDS the disease was identified and named (which was around 1981). What was stupid was how they stubbornly refused to change the name for a couple of years after the disease showed up, and then changed it to something like "AYDS Diet," like that was much better.

Believe it or not, Wiki has an entry on it. Turns out that it had been around since 1937, and they didn't even make that slight name change you mentioned until farking 1988.

They ended up taking it off of the market. With a common-sense real name-change they could have easily saved it, but I guess they didn't want to lose the branding of the old name that dated back so far. Stupid, stupid.

The danger of lead paint is a myth. In the late 60s, it became apparent that certain groups of children were simply unable to progress, in spite of social programs such as Head Start. Some sort of environmental cause had to be found. Enter lead paint.

If this is a troll, sir, it is brilliant. Otherwise, no one ever told you to never go full retard.

But I'll bite:

Lead poisoning, and its effects, have been well understood for some time. The problem with lead paint was that children liked to peel it (rubbery goodness!) and eat it (it tastes sweet). Lead poisoning isn't ADD- it's a clear-cut thing to diagnose.

Joce678: Love the Corvair ad ... in fact I'm thinking of buying one.

I've owned two. The second was a parts car. They're fun and speedy but, you know, they'll kill you and eat your soul. They also like to break loose in the corners a bit more easily than they should. Those are toys of my misspent youth I suppose, between those and a Dart and a very old Cutlass that is the extent of the real "muscle" that I've owned.

I've been pondering getting something new to tinker on. My buddy has a '73 Cuda that I'm interested in.

bmwericus: Don't know how they missed "Radio-Thor" health water - with a microgram each of Radium and Thorium in every 1 oz bottle. This product actuall did kill a number of people - most of whom drank many, many bottles of this glowing elixar.

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2chris2: PirateFreedom: what interests me is wondering which of our modern ads will be equally amusing in the future.
I'm guessing any number of pharmaceuticals but especially the antidepressants once we have some idea of how the brain actually works.

Like this?

Yup, I'm guessing once were past the current trial and error stage of psychiatric drugs that kind of thing will look pretty funny, especially if we understand why they effect some people so negatively.

No_One_Special: The danger of lead paint is a myth. In the late 60s, it became apparent that certain groups of children were simply unable to progress, in spite of social programs such as Head Start. Some sort of environmental cause had to be found. Enter lead paint.

If this is a troll, sir, it is brilliant. Otherwise, no one ever told you to never go full retard.

But I'll bite:

Lead poisoning, and its effects, have been well understood for some time. The problem with lead paint was that children liked to peel it (rubbery goodness!) and eat it (it tastes sweet). Lead poisoning isn't ADD- it's a clear-cut thing to diagnose.

Yeah, I mean, it's heavy metal poisoning. You just look for the substance in the body.

I like the comment about spending a year removing the lead from their house. When we were faced with that I washed the walls with TSP several times, used a good primer, then painted everything. Tested myself before and after, lead levels were low. My neighbor decided to do an abatement - dropped 20k on it. His levels were high for well over a year. Removed all sheetrock, flooring, etc.

No_One_Special: If this is a troll, sir, it is brilliant.

Look at his login.

That Pinto memo is incredible. Now I see where Fight Club got "the formula".

No_One_Special: The danger of lead paint is a myth. In the late 60s, it became apparent that certain groups of children were simply unable to progress, in spite of social programs such as Head Start. Some sort of environmental cause had to be found. Enter lead paint.

If this is a troll, sir, it is brilliant. Otherwise, no one ever told you to never go full retard.

But I'll bite:

Lead poisoning, and its effects, have been well understood for some time. The problem with lead paint was that children liked to peel it (rubbery goodness!) and eat it (it tastes sweet). Lead poisoning isn't ADD- it's a clear-cut thing to diagnose.

He is actually a terrible troll.

The Cornballer: That Pinto memo is incredible....


TFA passes along too much conventional wisdom. Want some real facts about the Pinto memo? I highly recommend this to the curious reader (an independent attorney's examination of the whole case, years later--Rutgers Law Review):

Link (new window)

Cigarette ads were really shameless. All we have today is Smiling Bob.



//hawt

There are glowing examples of how a stranger's life is valued less than the almighty buck.

I just spent an hour tracking down a couple of tubes of lead oil paint on the internet (I painted with Flake White for ten years before I found out it was carbonate of lead). The nanny state is trying to phase it out -- they already did it with Naples Yellow (lead antimonate). There are some very good reasons that lead paint is/was so popular. It's absolutely permanent, it speeds the drying time of otherwise slow-drying pigments, it conveys its permanence to other pigments, and it's relatively cheap. There are 17th century portraits in which the faces were painted with lead white, the rest of the painting in transparent glazes. The faces are still as good as new, the rest of the paintings have dusted off the canvas.

The problem for artists is, once you ban Naples Yellow or Flake White because they're poisonous, where do you stop? Virtually all pigments are poisonous to one degree or another. Will they ban cadmium colors next? How about the thalo colors? They contain cyanide. Vermilion is mercuric sulfate. Eliminate all the poisonous pigments and artists might as well take up finger painting.

Sorry for ranting, this is a subject very near to my heart and it pisses me off no end. There is a certain amount of risk in life, whatever you do. I wish the smoking/alcohol/fatty food/drug nazis would mind their own business and let people make their own choices, good or bad, and take responsibility for their actions.

letrole: The danger of lead paint is a myth.

QFT. Romans used to dissolve lead in casks of wine and drink the stuff and as a result their empire lasted 1000 years. Think the US will last that long?

saminman: bmwericus: Don't know how they missed "Radio-Thor" health water - with a microgram each of Radium and Thorium in every 1 oz bottle. This product actuall did kill a number of people - most of whom drank many, many bottles of this glowing elixar.

Or better yet, these (new window)

How about radioactive toothpaste? Guaranteed to give you teeth so white they glow in the dark.

castufari: I like the comment about spending a year removing the lead from their house. When we were faced with that I washed the walls with TSP several times, used a good primer, then painted everything. Tested myself before and after, lead levels were low. My neighbor decided to do an abatement - dropped 20k on it. His levels were high for well over a year. Removed all sheetrock, flooring, etc.

We had a similar experience with asbestos in our confetti ceiling(among other things). Rather than pay a shiatload for removal, we put a few tons of paint on it to seal it in.

First they came for the Naples Yellow artist paint, and I said nothing...



clambam: I just spent an hour tracking down a couple of tubes of lead oil paint on the internet (I painted with Flake White for ten years before I found out it was carbonate of lead). The nanny state is trying to phase it out -- they already did it with Naples Yellow (lead antimonate). There are some very good reasons that lead paint is/was so popular. It's absolutely permanent, it speeds the drying time of otherwise slow-drying pigments, it conveys its permanence to other pigments, and it's relatively cheap. There are 17th century portraits in which the faces were painted with lead white, the rest of the painting in transparent glazes. The faces are still as good as new, the rest of the paintings have dusted off the canvas.

The problem for artists is, once you ban Naples Yellow or Flake White because they're poisonous, where do you stop? Virtually all pigments are poisonous to one degree or another. Will they ban cadmium colors next? How about the thalo colors? They contain cyanide. Vermilion is mercuric sulfate. Eliminate all the poisonous pigments and artists might as well take up finger painting.

Sorry for ranting, this is a subject very near to my heart and it pisses me off no end. There is a certain amount of risk in life, whatever you do. I wish the smoking/alcohol/fatty food/drug nazis would mind their own business and let people make their own choices, good or bad, and take responsibility for their actions.

"Mad as a hatter" refers to the effects of occupational lead exposure.

Nakito: "Mad as a hatter" refers to the effects of occupational lead exposure.

That's the wrong element, there buddy.

Mad hatter was a reference to felt hatters who suffered from mercury poisoning.

Nakito: "Mad as a hatter" refers to the effects of occupational lead mercury exposure.

FTFY

This isn't a Photoshop Contest why?

Bow before your masters!



/actual ad

For big fat honking linked goodness: Click here

/Hot like burning fossil fuels

bmwericus: Don't know how they missed "Radio-Thor" health water - with a microgram each of Radium and Thorium in every 1 oz bottle. This product actuall did kill a number of people - most of whom drank many, many bottles of this glowing elixar.

Sounds like that nuka cola quantum that darn biatch in girdershade wants.

Cyberluddite: Nah, AYDS the diet product was around for at least 10 years or more

You're right, I was confused with another diet pill, which was also heavily advertised on TV in the early 80s. I remember when half of the medicine commercials, for any kind of medicine, made a big deal out of being in capsule form.

Funny used to be tons of commercials for Anacin, Excedrin etc now the commercials are for prescription stuff.

whammer: i2.photobucket.com

Also useful for annoying children!

And yes, for those who don't know, Thorazine really was marketed that loosely back when it came out. Comforting ain't it?

bhcompy: We had a similar experience with asbestos in our confetti ceiling(among other things). Rather than pay a shiatload for removal, we put a few tons of paint on it to seal it in.

That _is_ the proper way of doing it.

pisstron: /Hot like burning fossil fuels

I can remember a bunch of those from when I was a kid. Remember the fun of going on vacation seeing the various regional gas station chains.

pisstron: For big fat honking linked goodness: Click here

/Hot like burning fossil fuels

There was a company called Terrible Herbst?

bmwericus: Don't know how they missed "Radio-Thor" health water - with a microgram each of Radium and Thorium in every 1 oz bottle. This product actuall did kill a number of people - most of whom drank many, many bottles of this glowing elixar.

Eben Byers, an iron magnate, was the most famous user, draining 1,400 vials of the stuff in 2 years. He reportedly felt just dandy until he started losing teeth and, soon enough, his jawbone had to be removed. By 1932, he was dead.



The maker, a bogus MD, was never brought to trial. There weren't a lot of laws against this sort of thing then.

Oh shiat. I meant to say Byers took radium from 1927 or '28 to '30, and died in 1932. Surprised he lasted as long as he did.

James May's Haircut: pisstron: For big fat honking linked goodness: Click here

/Hot like burning fossil fuels

There was a company called Terrible Herbst?

There still is. I know of at least one station in Pahrump, NV.

You don't necessarily have to go too far back to find things like these. Take fen-phen for example. Or like that real-estate commercial, where the wife is whining to the husband to get a house they can barely afford.

I wonder if there would be some examples like this of Enron or Worldcom...

Bagelox-99: There weren't a lot of laws against this sort of thing then.

If I remember right, the first laws attempting to address the problem made things worse-- most of them targeted "bogus" products that weren't actually radioactive.

What, no Logitech pissing baby ad from Mondo 2000 back in the day?

Would probably get you on a couple undesirable lists, actually.

PirateFreedom: what interests me is wondering which of our modern ads will be equally amusing in the future.

hershmire: There are glowing examples of how a stranger's life is valued less than the almighty buck.

"You know what the fellow said-in Italy for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace-and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

/for no other reason than I love Orson Welles, and not in a Bogdanovichy way

Bomb Mecca: bmwericus: Don't know how they missed "Radio-Thor" health water - with a microgram each of Radium and Thorium in every 1 oz bottle. This product actuall did kill a number of people - most of whom drank many, many bottles of this glowing elixar.

Sounds like that nuka cola quantum that darn biatch in girdershade wants.

I promised the dude there a threesome to go do it for me. Was killed by a radscorpion within 2 minutes.

PirateFreedom: 2chris2: PirateFreedom: what interests me is wondering which of our modern ads will be equally amusing in the future.
I'm guessing any number of pharmaceuticals but especially the antidepressants once we have some idea of how the brain actually works.

Like this?

Yup, I'm guessing once were past the current trial and error stage of psychiatric drugs that kind of thing will look pretty funny, especially if we understand why they effect some people so negatively.

That essentially is how SSRIs work - there's something about the patient's individual neurons that causes rapid reuptake of serotonin, and the SSRI corrects that. Problems can arise when the SSRI messes with uptake or reuptake of other, likely properly-balanced chemicals such as epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine, and they can also arise from the fact that we don't yet know about everything serotonin does.

Fluffymama: James May's Haircut: pisstron: For big fat honking linked goodness: Click here

/Hot like burning fossil fuels

There was a company called Terrible Herbst?

There still is. I know of at least one station in Pahrump, NV.

http://www.terribleherbst.com/ the interwebs the do something.

bmwericus: Don't know how they missed "Radio-Thor" health water - with a microgram each of Radium and Thorium in every 1 oz bottle. This product actuall did kill a number of people - most of whom drank many, many bottles of this glowing elixar.

I found an old New York Times article about Radio-Thor from 1909. Link

After going on at length about this Dr. Bailey and his amazing discovery, the article unintentionally hilariously ends with:

"Dr. Bailey said that his experiments had made him quite nervous, and he gave visible signs of being unstrung. Alarm was expressed lest his continuation of his investigation might bring on serious trouble. A physician said it was the duty of those present to try to evolve something for preventing this nervousness if they used thorad-x in their practice".

I'm not understanding the irony part. The products in these ads were very the "cats meow", or the "bees knees" at the time. Asbestos was a wonder material, Mercury wasn't harmful, nor radio active materials. These were all wonderful wonderful things back then. Of course, now we know that isn't the case. I wonder what the next couple of generations will think of our ads and all the harmful products we consume.

Nakito: "Mad as a hatter" refers to the effects of occupational lead exposure.o

No, that was mercury. They used it as a sizing.

bhcompy: We had a similar experience with asbestos in our confetti ceiling(among other things). Rather than pay a shiatload for removal, we put a few tons of paint on it to seal it in.

We did that also. The only thing I did was to remove the paint from the edges of the window sills so if the kid chewed on them she'd not end up with a mouthful of lead. She never did chew on them or anything else.

They had us scared to death over the lead issue yet we have tons of crap coming in from China that is full of the stuff. We have a test kit at work for testing children. It has cups, etc. They've been recalled due to lead in them.

letrole: Nakito: Lead paint was the premium stuff.

The danger of lead paint is a myth. In the late 60s, it became apparent that certain groups of children were simply unable to progress, in spite of social programs such as Head Start. Some sort of environmental cause had to be found. Enter lead paint.

It's about time you came up with some fresh material.
2/10

No_One_Special:
Lead poisoning, and its effects, have been well understood for some time. The problem with lead paint was that children liked to peel it (rubbery goodness!) and eat it (it tastes sweet). Lead poisoning isn't ADD- it's a clear-cut thing to diagnose.

Fun fact. The man who put lead into gasoline, and covered the entire world with lead fumes, is the very same guy who invented refrigerant coolant that made the hole in the ozone layer.

There cannot be a man who ended up doing more damage to the world than him.
Thomas Midgley (new window)

No_One_Special: The problem with lead paint was that children liked to peel it (rubbery goodness!) and eat it (it tastes sweet).

Ahhhh...that brings back good memories...

Tofu: letrole: The danger of lead paint is a myth.

QFT. Romans used to dissolve lead in casks of wine and drink the stuff and as a result their empire lasted 1000 years. Think the US will last that long?

If I remember my classical history correctly, the Romans were aware of the dangers of lead- yes- Google brings up Vetruvius.
The theory that Romans suffered from widespread lead poisoning never really caught on. But they did shove some weird things in their mouths.

FarkinHostile: Cyberluddite

You know the Breyers "Lickable" one is fake, FarkinHostile, don't you?


Of course, but it's still funnydisturbing.

FTFY

Getting back to the subject of unreasonably banned pigments, there used to be a dye pigment called Uranium Yellow. No longer available for some reason. Too bad, the color really glowed.

You also can no longer get Mummy, made, as its name implies, from ground-up Egyptian mummies. There used to be quite a brisk trade in mummies back in the 19th century. You can still get a pigment called Indian Yellow, but I doubt it's still made from the original recipe: cow urine (from specially fed cows).

Photo similarity too much to ignore...

Chelsea Clinton Is Carrot Top's Lost Twin: PirateFreedom: what interests me is wondering which of our modern ads will be equally amusing in the future.

As the scion of two unfortunate families each with a top life expectancy of just under 60 and rapidly approaching that age myself with little desire to shuffle off, I'm kept erect by a variety of powerful and disturbing drugs unavailable to my ephemeral ancestors. My doctors tell me I have an excellent chance of making it to 90 in good health. Better living through chemistry in action. I do not mock big pharma.

2chris2: PirateFreedom: what interests me is wondering which of our modern ads will be equally amusing in the future.
I'm guessing any number of pharmaceuticals but especially the antidepressants once we have some idea of how the brain actually works.

Like this?


The sad part about that is that they have to mention that this is a dramatization, and that you don't have labeled cells in your body exchanging squares and circles.

One of the good consequences of the FCC, the FDA, and related agencies is that with perhaps only a rare exception, you're never going to see "ironic" ads like that again.

Also, the dutch boy paint ad doesn't strike me as "ironic" so much. Lead paint goes on gorgeous and lasts forever. That is why it was so heavily used. Much like with Freon and DDT, scientists have spent billions trying to find something that works almost as good as what we already have.

PirateFreedom: what interests me is wondering which of our modern ads will be equally amusing in the future.




Taking chances indeed.
The damage done to millions of people around the world is unknown at this point,(removes glasses) but informed sources tell us that miscarriges and still births caused by just the cover picture of this audio poison increase everyday.

Fluffymama
James May's Haircut: pisstron: For big fat honking linked goodness: Click here

/Hot like burning fossil fuels

There was a company called Terrible Herbst?

There still is. I know of at least one station in Pahrump, NV.

Grew up in the San Fernando Valley, remember my dad paying 1.75 to fill his VW Bug at a Terrible Herbst near the Mission in the early 70's. Haven't been down there in 10+ years, it was at the corner of Rinaldi & Sepulveda Blvd. Right near the cemetery Richie Valens is buried at.

Tofu: letrole: The danger of lead paint is a myth.

QFT. Romans used to dissolve lead in casks of wine and drink the stuff and as a result their empire lasted 1000 years. Think the US will last that long?

Their civiliztion did. The average life expectancy was about 25.

http://www.utexas.edu/depts/classics/documents/Life.html

Idiot.

No mention of that creepy Jimmy Dean video? Man, that was weird.

Since irony is broken, I'm surprised I'm first with this.