Mid–Century Ads. 40th Anniversary Edition

Sit back with this anthology of ads and zoom back in time to the height of American postwar consumerism, when real life Don Drapers labored day and night to sell everything from girdles to guns. This panorama of midcentury marketing paints a fascinating portrait of the 1950s and ’60s, high in color, crisp fonts, and sexy, carefree capitalism.

Advertising for the space age

Gleaned from thousands of images, this book offers the best of American print advertising in the age of the “Big Idea.” From the height of American consumerism, bold and colorful campaigns paint a fascinating portrait of the 1950s and ’60s, as concerns about the Cold War gave way to the carefree booze-and-cigarettes capitalism of the Mad Men era.

Digitally remastered for optimum reproduction quality, the ads burst with crisp fonts and colors, as well as a sexy sense of possibility, beguiling their audience to buy everything from guns to girdles, cars to toothpaste, air travel to home appliances. At turns startling, amusing and inspiring, this panorama of midcentury marketing is at once an evocative period piece and a showcase of design innovation and advertising wit.

The contributing author

Steven Heller has produced over 200 books on visual communication and published countless articles in international design magazines. Currently he is cofounder and cochair of the MFA Design program at the School of Visual Arts, New York.

The editor

Jim Heimann is the Executive Editor for TASCHEN. A cultural anthropologist, historian, and an avid collector, he has authored numerous titles on architecture, pop culture, and the history of Los Angeles and Hollywood, including TASCHEN’s Surfing, Los Angeles. Portrait of a City, California Crazy, and the All-American Ads series.

Mid-Century Ads. 40th Ed.Hardcover, 15.6 x 21.7 cm, 1.11 kg, 512 pages

ISBN 978-3-8365-9147-8

Edition: English, French, German