Lovely Japanese Vintage Ads

"QUANTUM SHOT" #775 Link - article by Avi Abrams Industrial Design with a Deliciously Cute Factor Some of you might remember these gems of industrial design. Others would just wait for weird, outlandish commercials. Both appetites will be duly satisfied in this article, as we leaf through the pages of 1960s-1980s Japanese product catalogues and consider their consumer culture artifacts. Here is an absolutely beautiful egg-shaped 1960s TV set (want!!!) and some "starry virgins" advertising shiny things: Round shapes in consumer electronics, for example these early 1970s music centers, seem to have been produced my multiple companies in Japan: I absolutely love this "National" ad showing a wanna-be "Easy Rider" guy, hauling a compact TV and a music center (all he really needs is an iPhone): Remember when Japan totally dominated consumer electronics in terms of innovation and design? Here is a taste of it from the 1982 catalog: Western style, taken to a (miniskirt) extreme: Graphics from "Akira" and similar science fiction productions were popular in advertising, and still ubiquitous today: More portable TV sets and some miniature cars; "compact" size being definitely in vogue in the 1960s Japan: Speaking of cute cars, the car on the left is positively smiling (or just having a twinkle in its headlights): Weird monsters with girls? Why, of course, this is Japanese consumer catalog after all - Japanese design in the early 1970s deserves its own article on DRB. Here is an impossibly cute "Swimmer Toothbrush Holder & Cup" (left) and Reiko Ohara's plastic (transparent vinyl) groovy outfit (on the right): (images credit: Kimberly Lindbergs) What is this object, a model of a starship? Amazing futuristic device? No, just the 1970s Japanese DYMO labeling device: An UFO sighting, floating alien artifacts? No, just some bottles of skin cream: Girls Never Give Up! Japanese Modern Advertisements Seen at Shinjuku's Lumine Est department store, this is quite a statement: (image credit: Ko Fujimura) On another note, here is a macho symbol of impossible manliness, Tommy Lee Jones, doing what he does best - being the BOSS: (image credit: Chimpomatic) A charming walking penguin, the mascot of a SUICA card Penguin, appears in different forms, including the eatable cake incarnation: (images via 1, 2, 3) More mobile company monster mascots (dancing all over the subway walls, and often looking like a genuine graffiti): (image credit: Chimpomatic) "Please do it at home": (images credit: David Solanes) And of course, anime style rules Japanese advertisements... forever and ever, amen. Click here to see a cute girl advertising some juice (could be nsfw). (images via, Makayoshi / Neco-Suite) For creative use of bar codes in Japanese packaging, see our article Japanese Creative Bar Codes: (images via) Two more companies experimenting with bar codes are Bar Code Revolution and Vanity Bar Codes. Article by Avi Abrams, Dark Roasted Blend. ALSO READ: "JAPANESE CREATIVE BAR CODES" -> CONTINUE TO OUR "COOL ADS" SERIES! -> ALSO CHECK OUT OUR "BEST OF JAPAN" CATEGORY ->