Craig McNamara writes

Interesting celebrity endorsement: That's actor Wally Cox , a character actor of the '50s/'60s known for playing milquetoasts in sitcoms and variety shows, starting with his 1952 show, " Mr. Peepers ." Given the aspirational nature of most adult beverage advertising (then as well as now), it's a bit surprising to see Cox in this ad. After all, his fame notwithstanding, he's not exactly the type of person most liquors would want to associate their products with. Was Lee Marvin busy? Wally Cox? Why not just get Woody Allen to pitch Smirnoff? Oh, wait a minute: Well, Smirnoff, since you've gone this far, you might as well complete the 1950s Nerd Triumvirate and get Tony Randall, too:

Here's a zeitgeist-y ad from 1970 that reflects not one, but I'd guess, two elements of the era's popular culture: I suppose, after a few shots of rum, some women can be talked into anything, but actually, it was fashion designer Rudi Gernreich who was the inventor of the scandalous but popular -- (though rarely worn in public) " monokini " in 1964. And by inventor, I mean he just followed through on the same thought all bikini-ogling males of the era probably had when eyeing women in their two-piece swimsuits. What's more interesting to me, however, is the look of the woman "Ron Rico" is about to expose. Despite modeling a swimsuit, she looks mousey, prim, mortified -- and with that limp pixie-cut, she looks a lot like she was intended to suggest a younger version of the prim, mousey "Gladys" portrayed by Ruth Buzzi on the late-'60s hit TV show, " Laugh-In ."

This 1969 ad for a line of jeans doesn't just speak the visual language of its intended audience, along with the Vaughn Bode -like graphics and griffiti-inspired typefaces, those hipsters at LB lay it on the line with this barely-veiled reference: Indeed.

I had no idea that being somebody's mistress was so demanding. I thought you just had to put up with sporadic, last-minute trysts and holidays and birthdays spent alone. But apparently, you've got to have a passion for Fibber McGee and own an ocelot, among other things. This whole 1974 ad bears reading. I guess its somebody's idealized image of a mistress, but even with tongue-in-cheek (I assume), the insecurity and cruelty of the situation for women is perhaps unintentionally touched on with the line about her "seeing a psychiatrist by your giggling at her striptease." It's almost like a "scared straight" thing for The Other Woman. Click on it to enlarge:

Nothing too interesting about the message of this 1959 ad (except that the need to push wood floors as a decorating option seems to be in response to the post-World War II growth of "wall to wall" carpet, plastics and laminate furniture), except for the surreal, deconstructed representation of a home... ...which could well have inspired (or been inspired by) the surreal, deconstructed images of 1950s/60s comic book artist (and later Spider-Man co-creator) Steve Ditko :

...because they can't -- not with today's cookie-cutter car models. From 1957:

In 1969, this is what passed for racial sensitivity at ABC: Meanwhile, over at the Tiffany Network, CBS took a more sobering, more provocative approach in their 1968 ad on their coverage of similar cultural issues: (The CBS ad, by the way, is the work of legendary designer, Lou Dorfsman .)