Put a Tiger in your tank: advertising evolves at glacial speed

You may have seen this ad, which has been circulating through at least two email networks we’re aware of.

Cop that, climate denialists! Humble Oil eventually became Exxon after having difficulty marketing itself as a national brand in the United States.  Exxon went on to achieve great fame for its environmental record in some of the world’s colder regions.

It may be Photoshopped, but it has the ring of ’60s authenticity to it.  You can just see Mad Men’s Don Draper hitting on the idea of melting glaciers as he contemplates the ice in his fourth lunchtime Old Fashioned.

Ancient advertising seen with the benefit of modern-day enlightenment usually gets gender politics (and basic fashion sense) woefully wrong, but there are a host of new areas of political correctness against which the efforts of advertising execs of yesteryear can be compared and found wanting.  Climate change.  Diet. Racial and ethnic stereotyping. The idea that banks are anything other than gouging usurers.

To help us all feel superior to our parents and grandparents, send your most cringe-worthy old ads to boss@crikey.com.au.