These Controversial Vintage Ads Show How Women Were Viewed Before the Millennium

In the world of advertising, there is one technique that always seems to be at the forefront of everyone’s mind in every advertising campaign, and that is the idea that sex sells. Even when it seems like it might be impossible to make a connection between the particular product being sold and sex, somehow, people manage to do it.

We’re not sure how an advertisement for cigarettes involving a female dental hygienist became so sexualized, but hey, that’s the industry. One of the most common advertising techniques back in the day was to create a literal story and connect it to the ad, even when it had nothing to do with anything.