It's some kind of April Fools' joke — you're somehow transported back in time 40 or 50 years, and you find that, back then, savvy marketers dreamed up advertising slogans just as they do now.
Thumb through a few old magazines, and you'll see that even back then, ad men were catching on to the art of techno-babble as they described "miracle ingredients" in products.
 Deseret News graphic Take the quizRequires Adobe Acrobat. | |
For instance, the May 31, 1943, issue of Life magazine boasted hairbrushes made of "Prolon," described as "the very finest grade of synthetic bristle that 'duPont' (as it is spelled in the ad) makes," and Coty's "Air-Spun" rouge, which is "dangerously smooth, like its liqueur namesake."
In the Aug. 6, 1960, issue of The Saturday Evening Post, you'll find an ad for General Duo's "Exclusive Nygen cord, two-tread" tires. According to the ad, Nygen cord is "the most indestructible tire fabric known." Pennsylvania Motor Oil boasted a "Miracle Molecule," while Pennzoil chose to play the alphabet game with "power ingredient Z-7" to assure superior lubrication. Does it have anything to do with the "AT-7" that, in an ad a few pages away, helped Dial soap kill odor?
We can laugh at these advertising slogans. But 50 years from now, folks will likely roll their eyes and wonder about the meaning of "Techron" in gasoline and "olestra" in potato chips.
To see how slogan-savvy you are, take this quiz, culled from actual ads in old issues of Life, Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal and The Saturday Evening Post.
Can you guess — or recognize — the correct mystery ingredient or product?
E-mail: johnc@desnews.com
E-mail: vphillips@desnews.com