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You may be pleased to learn that Eastern Airlines dissolved in 1991

This is an ad from 1967. Sure, you want your stewardesses to be pretty, don’t you?

What’s going on in the streams and lakes and ponds around here? » « I think the deplorables want a participation trophy

Comments

  2. quotetheunquote says

    @whywhywhy

    Back when there were a lot more “girls” around, apparently.

    Yikes.

  3. rietpluim says

    Of course girls with bad grooming are impatient with any question I may have, careless in serving my dinner, and unconcerned about my needs. Can’t have those badly groomed girls. If only the selection process was as thorough nowadays as it was back then!

  7. euclide says

    I’m not that sure the mentality is that much better in airlines and elsewhere nowadays.
    Ryanair had a its bikini calendar until recently, there was Formula One Grid girls until this year…

    And there’s the whole fashion industry or the fact that the average actress retires before her 40th birthday…

  9. acroyear says

    My “white guy” blinders were on. It took a few to realize that race is being played here, too.

    I totally failed to notice that none of them are persons of color in any way, either. black, hispanic, and asian women weren’t even elevated to the ‘loser’ status here.

    Granted, in 1967, one should expect that, too…but that consciously, I didn’t notice it for a few minutes? sigh…

  10. davidnangle says

    Mockpaperscissors has been doing a fine job of highlighting Bad Ads for years. There are some shockers out there. This one barely qualifies.

  11. Ragutis says

    Errr, I’m certainly not going to complain if I find a flight attendant attractive, but they better know what the hell they’re doing. I mean, I’d pick Sully over George Clooney to fly the damn plane any day. Are you going to turn down an EMT over their looks? I’d rather look at their latest evaluation than their profile pic. Besides, it’s just buying into the bullshit marketing of what exactly is “attractive” . I don’t think that I’m alone in being attracted to people different than what magazine editors and ad executives tend to find so. Looking at that ad, I find a whole 4 of them appearing somewhat physically interesting/attractive. (and I’m a fan of 60’s looks)

    Just hire people that know their shit. They’re there to look after you, keep you safe, and give you half a can of soda, not give you a boner or wet your panties. When you land in Vegas or Reno, you can look through all the ads and flyers and be as picky and choosy as you want.

  13. What a Maroon, living up to the 'nym says

    Kip T. W.,

    “You’ve come a long way, baby.”

    Which of course was an ad for cancer sticks.

  14. numerobis says

    My girls are very well groomed, but it’s quite clear who’s serving who. My soup bowl is empty? My problem. Their kibble bowl is empty? Also my problem.

  15. says

    Maroon: Around 1976, I drew a comic strip (on ditto masters, because it was for a friend’s zine) with a group of ad writers sitting around a table. One reads, “In 1875, Mrs. Otis Cadwallader was caught smoking cornsilks behind the icehouse. She…” Another interrupts: “We’ve done that!” The next stands and confidently begins reading his. “In 1880, the rate of lung cancer among women was only one fifth that of men. You’ve come a… long…” He’s blushing as he looks down, apparently seeing these words for the first time.

    In the last panel, he’s back in his office, glowering at his secretary, who happily asks, “How’d they like my idea?”

  17. robro says

    David Oglivey (of Oglivey & Mather fame) is explicit about his attitude toward women in his 1963 book Confessions of an Advertising Man. I’m sure he wasn’t alone in those attitudes toward women. By the way, there is a film version of the ad.

  18. says

    davidnangle:

    Larry @ #12, might not get this post past the spam filter, but check out these ‘wonderful’ ads:

    Wow, that’s quite missing the point in order to be a mansplaining asshole. I’m sure women everywhere are ever so impressed by your judgment that this particular ad “barely qualifies” as a shocker. When you’re a woman, all those “shockers” are the constant background, and often the foreground of your whole fucking life. Perhaps women are best qualified to judge. No one is about to complain about a further lack of mansplaining. You should be quite ashamed of your arrogance.

  19. Pierce R. Butler says

    FTR: Eastern Airlines crashed in 1991 because their executive team did a lot of breakthrough development on the now-ubiquitous “loot the company treasury and the employees’ pension fund for top-tier bonuses” corporate strategy.

    Imho, Eastern ran a slow second at best to Quantas in the gawdawful airline ad competition of the 1960s, if only because at that time environmentalists were a bigger target than feminists to deliberately offend for cheap yucks.

  20. Andrew David says

    So, this is Volkswagen’s “Lemon” ad, with women as the “lemons.”