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20th Century Alcohol & Tobacco Ads

45th Ed.
Series: 45th Edition
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
20th Century Alcohol & Tobacco Ads is a lush compendium that explores the evolution of alcohol and tobacco advertising throughout the 20th century. It captures how marketers transformed these vices into vivid visual feasts, weaving iconic brand images like the Marlboro Man and Spuds MacKenzie into American popular culture. The book details clever advertising techniques, including subliminal messaging and even doctor endorsements, portraying smoking and drinking as social successes and soothing pastimes. This vibrant and sometimes controversial chapter of advertising history is illustrated with an exuberant array of ads reflecting the changing trends and cultural attitudes towards these products.
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Format: Hardback
$5499
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book appeals to readers interested in arts and culture, advertising history, graphic design enthusiasts, and those curious about the social impact of marketing on public behaviour in the 20th century.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

The quest to affirm Americans' need for alcohol and tobacco is a tale of 100 years of advertising intended to seduce consumers to partake in these delicious vices. This catalogue of ads showcases the extensive and abundant campaigns and trends of drinking and smoking in the United States that, for better or worse, explore a vibrant chapter of advertising history.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Vices or virtues: drinking and smoking provided marketers with products to be forged into visual feasts. In this lush compendium of advertisements, we explore how depictions of these commodities spanned from the elegant to the offbeat, revealing how manufacturers prodded their customers throughout the 20th century to imbibe and inhale.

Each era's alcohol and tobacco trends are exuberantly captured page after page, with brand images woven into American popular culture so effectively that almost anyone could identify such icons as the Marlboro Man or Spuds MacKenzie, figures so familiar they could appear in ads without the product itself. Other advertisers devised clever and subliminal approaches to selling their wares, as the wildly successful Absolut campaign confirmed. Even doctors contributed to an improbable propaganda, testifying that smoking could calm your nerves and soothe your throat, while hailing liquor as an elixir capable of bringing social success.

Whether you savour these visual delights, or enjoy inhaling and wallowing in forbidden pleasures, you will certainly be thrilled by this exploration of a decidedly vibrant—and sometimes controversial—chapter of advertising history.

Series: 45th Edition

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Critics praise the book as an engaging and thorough look into the century-long saga of alcohol and tobacco advertising. Esquire calls it a nostalgic reflection on the ads that tempted generations over to these vices. The Guardian highlights its compelling narrative on how advertising aimed to hook consumers. Creative Review appreciates its wonderful collection of kitsch and bizarre visuals, making it a fascinating cultural archive.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9783836593717

Publisher: Taschen GmbH

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 17 October 2022

Country: Germany

Imprint: Taschen GmbH

Edition: Multilingual edition

Contributors:

  • Edited by Jim Heimann
  • Edited by Jim Heimann

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 33.0mm

Width: 156.0mm

Height: 217.0mm

Weight: 1195g

Pages: 464

About the Author

Jim Heimann is the Executive Editor for TASCHEN America. A cultural anthropologist, historian, and an avid collector, he has authored numerous titles on architecture, pop culture, and the history of Los Angeles and Hollywood, including TASCHEN's Surfing, Los Angeles. Portrait of a City, California Crazy, and the All-American Ads series.

Steven Heller has produced over 200 books on visual communication and published countless articles in international design magazines. Currently he is cofounder and cochair of the MFA Design program at the School of Visual Arts, New York.

Allison Silver is a writer and editor based in New York City. A former contributing editor to Culture & Travel magazine, she was editor of The Los Angeles Times Sunday "Opinion" section, an editor of The New York Times "Week in Review," and a founding editor of The Washington Independent.

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