There was a small series of these ads in the 1950s. This was before a big public awareness campaign about the dangers of asphyxiation from thin plastic, especially to small children. While the material technically dates to the early 1900s, it was still new to the public in the 1950s, who had not yet come to appreciate its dangers.

In 1959, New York City Health Commissioner Leona Baumgartner, herself a physician, staged a famous and viscerally disturbing photo of her own face wrapped in a thin plastic bag, to vividly illustrate the risk. I'll link it here, but not inline it.

Also in the 1950s, the risks to wildlife from improperly disposed plastics was not widely understood, a critical problem that persists to this day for both ocean and land animals.

Cellophane

Cellophane

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[–] 2 points 1 month ago

To me, vintage ads have a lot more meaningful and resonable copy than modern ads.

Sometimes the science is wrong (because they didn't really understand) and sometimes they outright lie about the product (because they could get away with it!) but the core of the advert is about what tangible benefit it can bring you or what problem it solves.

These days we live in a world where every practical domestic household problem is long solved, and so ads are now all about image and lifestyle marketing - no actual content, just "buy this and it will make you sexy and popular!" for absolutely every type of product.

I know which I prefer.

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