Advertising agencies typically try to find ways to tap into cultural trends to create immediacy for the products they are hired to promote. At times they fail at this in spectacular fashion, but they also succeed in their goals on a regular basis. As a result, ads (whether they take the form of product campaigns or book jackets or other forms) can provide the historian with a glimpse into the cultural rhythms of a specific time and place. The five “ads” below certainly accomplish this. The Schlitz ad and the Pepsi ad are from the early 1950s, the Dodge and Newport ads are from the late 1960s, and the book jacket for “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” is from 1971.
Analyze what each of the images conveys about U.S. culture at the time of its publication and evaluate the degree to which and why the ads from the 1950s contrast with the ads from the 1960s and the book jacket from 1971.
PPTs #15a/b and #16a/b/c will provide you with some help in interpreting the images, BUT the analysis HAS to be of the images themselves. DO NOT provide an overview of post-WWII culture or examples drawn from other sources because that will likely receive a failing grade because you will not be answering the question as asked. The answer has to be an analysis of these 5 images.
