16 Ads from the Past That Were Shockingly Offensive
Here's a shocking journey through 16 vintage ads that reveal how once-accepted marketing crossed the line into blatant racism, sexism, and exploitation, reminding us how far we’ve come and why vigilance still matters.
- Alyana Aguja
- 6 min read
Advertising from the past often reflected the prejudices and blind spots of its time, resulting in campaigns that shock us today with their offensive content. From blatant racism and sexist stereotypes to the dangerous glamorization of harmful products, these ads reveal how marketing once exploited social biases to sell goods.
1. Pepsi’s 1960s “Come Alive” Campaign Featuring African Americans
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In the 1960s, Pepsi ran ads showing African Americans as overly cheerful and almost caricature-like, implying that Pepsi could “awaken” them in a way that reinforced racial stereotypes. The portrayal was tone-deaf, reducing a whole community to a simplistic, almost objectified image for commercial gain. It sparked discomfort because it perpetuated a view that Black people’s joy and culture were commodities to be packaged and sold.
2. Ford’s 1927 Advertisement Comparing African Americans to Machinery
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Ford ran an ad showing a Black man alongside a car engine, implying that Black workers were as mechanical and unfeeling as machines. This ad dehumanized African Americans by stripping them of individuality and humanity, treating them like tools for industrial labor. It reflects a cruel era when racism was not only socially accepted but aggressively embedded in commercial messaging.
3. Lucky Strike’s “Reach for a Lucky Instead of a Sweet” – Promoting Smoking to Children
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In the 1930s, Lucky Strike cigarettes ran ads encouraging children to smoke instead of eating candy, featuring bright, cartoonish imagery that appealed to them. The message blatantly ignored the health risks and exploited youthful innocence, nudging children toward a deadly habit. Looking back, it’s chilling how normalized tobacco marketing was to vulnerable audiences.
4. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s “Plant a Dead N****r in Your Garden” (1970s) — A Controversial Urban Legend
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Though debated, this offensive phrase is alleged to have appeared in an underground or protest context referencing a Scotts product, capturing a deep-seated racist attitude in a shocking way. Whether fact or myth, it symbolizes how racism could be so overtly violent in marketing ideas or slogans. It serves as a stark reminder of the ugliness once tolerated or whispered about in commercial culture.
5. Hoover Vacuum’s 1950s Ad Using a Pregnant Woman in Distress
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One Hoover ad showed a heavily pregnant woman struggling under the weight of vacuum bags, implying that domestic work was so tough it caused physical suffering. While the intent was to highlight the vacuum’s ease, the portrayal reinforced sexist stereotypes about women’s roles and trivialized pregnancy by using it for humor. It reflected a time when ads frequently boxed women into narrowly defined and often demeaning roles.
6. Aunt Jemima’s Plantation Era Imagery
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Aunt Jemima, created in the late 1800s and used for decades, featured a caricature of a Black “mammy” — an enslaved woman devoted to serving white families. The branding glorified a painful history of slavery and racial subjugation, presenting it as wholesome and comforting. Only recently have efforts been made to retire this deeply offensive imagery.
7. Native American Stereotypes in Land O’Lakes Butter Packaging
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For years, Land O’Lakes used the image of a smiling Native American woman on its butter packaging, reducing complex cultures to a marketing mascot. This imagery played into stereotypical and romanticized visions of Indigenous peoples, erasing their true stories and struggles. It’s a classic example of cultural appropriation that went unchallenged for decades.
8. Pepsi’s 1992 Ad with Madonna That Some Saw as Racially Insensitive
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Pepsi’s commercial featuring Madonna dancing with a multi-ethnic crowd was seen by some as trivializing racial and cultural tensions by glossing over real social issues with a pop spectacle. While intended to unite, the ad was criticized for using race and culture in a superficial manner to sell soda. It highlighted how big brands often appropriate diversity without deeper respect or understanding.
9. British Airways’ 1980s “The World’s Favourite Airline” Featuring Colonial Imagery
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This campaign utilized nostalgic images evoking British colonialism to sell luxury travel, glossing over the violent histories associated with the empire. It romanticized colonial power while ignoring the oppression it entailed, making many viewers uncomfortable with its undertones. It’s an example of how advertising can whitewash and sanitize troubling pasts.
10. Kellogg’s Corn Flakes Featuring Racist Caricatures in the Early 1900s
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Some early Kellogg’s ads used exaggerated, demeaning caricatures of Black children, perpetuating harmful racial stereotypes to sell cereal. These ads reinforced damaging social hierarchies by presenting racial caricatures as normal and acceptable entertainment. Such imagery reflected widespread systemic racism embedded in everyday culture.
11. “White Man’s Burden”–Inspired Ads for Household Cleaners in Mid-20th Century
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Some ads leaned on the racist idea that it was the “white man’s burden” to “civilize” others, equating household cleanliness with moral and racial superiority. These messages subliminally justified racism by linking cleanliness and order to whiteness, dehumanizing others as inherently “dirty.” It’s a stark reminder of how advertising once propagated dangerous ideologies.
12. Lucky Strike’s 1940s “L.S.M.F.T.” Slogan – Suggesting Smoking Made Men More Masculine
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This ad slogan stood for “Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco” but was heavily tied to a hyper-masculine image that promoted smoking as essential to manliness and toughness. It played on insecurities and toxic masculinity to push a product known to cause harm. This normalization of smoking in male identity contributed to health crises later widely recognized.
13. Camel Cigarettes’ 1930s Ads Featuring the “Camels Are Mild” Slogan and Anthropomorphic Camels
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These ads used playful cartoon camels to downplay the dangers of cigarettes, making smoking appear harmless and fun, even for younger audiences. The messaging was misleading and contributed to decades of tobacco addiction. It’s a prime example of how advertising exploited innocence to push harmful products.
14. Ivory Soap’s 1910s “99 and 44/100% Pure” Campaign with Anti-Immigrant Undertones
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Ivory’s emphasis on “pure” soap was sometimes linked in ads to “purity” in social and racial terms, subtly reinforcing white supremacist ideals during a time of high immigration anxiety. The soap became a symbol not just of cleanliness but of racial and social exclusion. This demonstrates how product marketing can echo broader societal prejudices.
15. Volkswagen’s 1930s Ads Featuring Nazi Symbols
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In its earliest days, Volkswagen ads openly used Nazi imagery and propaganda to promote the “People’s Car” as part of Hitler’s vision for Germany. This direct association with a genocidal regime is a chilling reminder of how corporate branding can become entangled with dangerous ideologies. Post-war, the company had to work hard to separate from this dark chapter.
16. Irony-Free “Happy Housewife” Campaigns from the 1950s Household Product Ads
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Many ads from the 1950s celebrated the “happy housewife” who found fulfillment only through endless domestic labor and pleasing her family, dismissing women’s ambitions beyond the kitchen. These ads reinforced rigid gender roles and the idea that women’s value was confined to homemaking. Today, they feel painfully outdated and limiting, though at the time they shaped societal expectations.