Spend anytime on the internet and you will find lots of vintage advertising with ironic witticism tagged on the picture as the blogger marvels at the sexism of vintage advertising.

Perhaps it’s Mad Men that has led us to devour anything that seems vaguely retro but for some reason ads from the midcentury continue to be a source of amusement for those who think that they are oh so enlightened.

Those reading the vintage commercials no doubt have a right “ol guffaw” at the commercials and exclaim that the Sexual Revolution changed all that for the better and that they are so glad they live in the twenty first century.

The irony is that the so called “targeted marketing” could actually come from 1961, it’s simply draped in a modern veneer with a modern looking mother who clearly works in television and may have once been a model. There’s the sexy twenty something who serves beer to a bunch of football players. There’s the underage underwear models dancing about the stage, and of course the typical mother at home with children and father at work scenario that looks so vaguely familiar, but hang on, it’s different because Dad drives a Toyota to work, not a 59 Chev.

Sounds a little retrospective maybe? You bet! The women are pitched as “empowered” when in reality they are used in exactly the same way corporations sold beer, cigarettes and cars in the mid twentieth century.

I’m sure it will only be a matter of minutes before some post Y2K hipster posts the next vintage advertisement. My advice is to give them a current example of advertising so they can see how ridiculous their faux irony really is.