vkimo's poP CulTurE ScRaP BOok

A visual roller coaster of retro Advertising

PoPuLarCuLturE

The Dictionary defines Popular Culture as "A contemporary lifestyle and items that are well known and generally accepted, cultural patterns that are widespread within a population."

I have been on this planet for approximately 22 years. Although not a long time by any standards, I have seen and observed a few things in my life time so far. In particular I wanted to do something a little different. The whole article will be composed of images. 80's and 90's Magazine ads, to be specific. I don't want to interrupt with unnecessary commentary. So I will hold off till the end. If you have read this far, please Keep reading, or rather, viewing![/text]

Advertising

It's the way we see the world. In terms of merchandise. I'm talking about all those ads you would see in magazines and at the end of Comic books. So come with me on a visual tour, RetroJunk Style...BEWARE, I don't want disrupt the visual flow so there will be no text till the end.

If the old adage is true that a picture says a thousand words, then this will be the longest article you'll ever read!

Phew! I'm beat! For those of you who are thinking "Dude, this article was just pictures, what did it take you, 15 minutes to do?" I wish. I have been compiling these pictures ever since I joined here. I spent countless hours tracking down some of those rare video games ads. If you went through this quickly, go back again and really look at the ads. You can learn alot.

I may turn this into a series of articles depending on how this one is received. I can go into specific categories like video games, toys, food- you name it!

Well I hope you guys enjoyed looking at this. I really enjoyed making it. So long...for now!

Comments

There have been many articles of this catagory posted on this website that have received thumbs downs for to many pictures and very little words and I believe that this article got 60+ not because of the quality of the article but because of who you are, your Vkimo the Retrojunky that wrote what is considered to be one of the best reads on this website and I completely agree but I do find it unfair that other people get critized where as you get the opposite. This isn't much of an article but I will admit the quality of your pictures are very nice and it goes to show you didn't just get them from any old website.

My comment is of course a personal opinion so don't get offended by it

My god, do I miss Funcoland. Fuck Gamestop!

that cigarette arm wrestling match ad was hilarious

I LIKE PICTURES!

Nice article, but I wish that the ads with smaller text had been large enough to read, or able to be enlarged somehow.

Great compilation...one blast from the past that totally escaped me until now is Funcoland. Which I think was called Funco... GameStop bought them all out though If I remember correctly. Great pics! Nice work.

This a very good article, I really enjoyed most of the pictures, especially the one with Mario in it. I never knew that Bowser and the koopas looked like that back then.

The best, by far... Chuck Norris action jeans.
Who wouldn't want a pair of those things man...

What a joy to browse through all those images. I'm very impressed and had a lot of great memories along the way. I look forward to any new additions you care to make. Nice job and well crafted.

Enjoyed man. And I appreciate you compiling it.

To Do:
1)Eat Jello-O Gellatin pops (don't forget to save UPC for free Legos!)
2)Go to FuncoLand and buy a Freedom Stick
3)Try on a pair of Chuck Norris Action Jeans
4)Get in an arm-wrestling match with a Geraldo look-alike for cigs
5)Photon Laser Tag at 6:00, See Garbage Pail Kids movie at 8:00
6)Water-Pik my teeth and go to bed!!!

Even though there wasn't much to read, I truly do consider this one of the better articles that I've seen around here.

Really enjoyable. I have a bit of a thing for old ads, tha'ts prolly why I have all these Woman's Day's from the 60s, 70s and 80s.
Well done!

Some of those are hilarious, especially now. I couldn't read the small text on the Chuck Norris Action Jeans, but they probably said something like, "With jeans like these, Chuck will compliment your style before he kills you."

I had forgotten about Battle Beasts, now I have to look up the commercial on youtube and see if it's still like I remember.

so- should we consider this article the trailer or advertisement for you upcomming articles? That's how i see it- give us just a little taste and then release individual articles on various topics- very innovative! Great job!

They used to go all out in the 80's and 90's when it came to advertising. Sometimes it sucked that most of the products didn't live up to the adverisement. Thanks for the visual trip down memory lane.

I rememeber many of those ads.. hey you need to make like volume 2and 3 and such..

pogoball!

Is that Shrunken head in the shrunken heads ad ment to be Barbara Striestand ?

Wowwwww now that did bring back some great memories. Thanks.

these were some great images...i remember most of them and the pictures themselves say more than any article would great job!

Okay, yeah it's not much of an article...BUT that doesn't mean it's not really cool. I actually recognized a handful of these from my comic book collection, that's really one of the best things about reading old comics is for the amusing adverts you come across. If you've got any more, feel free to share in another piece, but next time I suggest you do some commentary to balance the article out better. Nonetheless, thumbs up!

I had photon, that was a blast. I think I still have them somewhere, I should break them out and have a game for old times sake. Good article.

vkimo, you are expanding the formatting frontiers of my mind. Hooray for the Fun Fruits ad! Those were my favorite brand of fruit snacks growing up, just a simple oval of gummy, fruit flavor, mmmmm.

This was great. "New Star Wars Space Stuff!" I peed a little.

Interesting to see those blasts from the past. Thanks vkimo!

Yet again my hat is off to you, In this one you said SO MUCH, with out saying anything at all.... brilliant!!!!!!!

Those Sesame Street Costumes are sure creepy looking.

Anyways these retro advertisments remind me of a project that I did for advertisment analyisis class when I was in college. Great Stuff.

Retro advertising has always interested me. There's something about an old TV commercial, radio jingle, or magazine ad that just makes me feel more nostalgic than anything. The funny thing is is that when we were kids and these ads were still current, we avoided them!

This may have been an article of few words, but you really made up for it with these cool ads. I might have to do something like this sometime. Great article indeed!

CHUCK NORRIS ACTION JEANS - nuff said.
That was soo awesome I almost had a joygasm, great article and nice how you had even ads from the 90s. awesome

Holy flashback, Dapper Dan. I had one of those when I was little. He taught me how to tie my shoes. Great article/pictures.

Enjoyed it so much I had to register just to tell you!

Nice Article, reminds me of this old scrap book my Mom and I had. It contained various plush toys from catalogues.

For those of you who are thinking "Dude, this article was just pictures, what did it take you, 15 minutes to do?" LOL at first I almost got to wondering, but I can't, these ads are so fantastic. You did a nice job with getting these. I would personally love to see what you can do with making this a series of articles, going into specific topics!

Good work I must say!

Holy Retrogasm, Batman!!

yeah you fished a bunch of photos...who cares ! AWESOME ARTICLE! this may be one of my favorite things seen on retrojunk yet. what i love about this site is SEEING shit from my youth, feeling that tingle when you see something that makes you go...holy shit, i can't believe i remember that!
don't get me wrong, i dig the actual articles but just a sweet visual tsunami is much appreciated. everything from the ads for pogoball to the freedom stick to battle beasts to the lynx handheld (who remembers taht until you see the pic?!). good job, lets see a part 2!

fished a bunch of old photos...anybody can do that!

You're a great writer, and I would've loved to have seen some of what you call
"unnecessary commentary" in regards to the ads.

Either way, another thumbs-up.

Awesomesauce!

Old advertising is extremely fascinating to me. Its 50% of the reason i buy old comic books. I dont know exactly what it is, but it just embodies the whole attitude of an era. Great variation of an article. Well done.

That was VERY nice. I like the prologue with the way you positioned the pictures and text. and seeing those old ads really remind me of a simpler time.

wow, that was cool!