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Vintage Audio Advertising

KellenVancouver

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Must say, the internet can sometimes be wonderful. By pure chance I landed on a discussion about vintage Empire speakers and that led me to other vintage discussions, and eventually to vintage audio advertising. Some of the ads are downright comical, at least I thought so. Lots of posing women who flock to the audiophile man... probably for Playboy or similar mags? Showing one below which may tickle your funny bone, as well as another add for Hitachi that actually tried to advertise measurements! I think the Hitachi one might be from the 80s. If you have pictures of fun or interesting vintage audio advertising please share.
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KellenVancouver

KellenVancouver

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I don't know what's more egregious - the sexism or the speakers are facing away from him
Nice one garbulky. I got my first laugh from seeing the ridiculous ad. You gave me a second laugh by pointing out the speakers. Good catch, that. (And by the way, is it a good idea to put lighted candles on speakers??)
 

anmpr1

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An ad with the right female, and the right copy, makes all the difference in the world. In the late '50s (might have been early '60s) Pioneer was new to the US. Instead of Pioneer Electric of America, they used a transliteration of their Japanese name, which sounded like a dirty word in English. Not good. Then, they used a photo of a Japanese actress that no one in the US recognized or could relate to.

They should have asked me, and I would have pointed them to the two Japanese movie stars that most Americans were familiar with. Godzilla and Emiko would have sold a ton of receivers, I'll tell you for sure.

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KellenVancouver

KellenVancouver

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This one from the early 70s seems historically interesting for a few reasons. First, is this "Sound Machine" the precursor to the boom box? Second, I was surprised to see that Bell & Howell did audio; from what little I know of them I thought they were more of a camera/movie projector company. That guy in the background... looks like he's holding some kind of audio component up to his hear. "Transistor radio" maybe? And then the gothic church seen in the distance is kinda weird for an American-made product. Perhaps this was an ad targeted to UK consumers or something...
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Robin L

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Coming from a different angle, the early advertisements for Acoustic Research were designed to be the undisputed truth, often aligning with famous figures in music or musical institutions and featuring their speakers in live vs. recorded demonstrations. Standing out as nearly puritanical compared to so many advertisement images of the time:

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Katji

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Standing out as nearly puritanical compared to so many advertisement images of the time:
Apparently the Japanese companies had American ad agencies. [ I suppose that might seem a bit confusing, but...]

...............Interesting how it's all changed, they're now all Lifestyle, with stark home interiors, referring to Technology but no details.
 

Katji

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This one from the early 70s seems historically interesting for a few reasons. First, is this "Sound Machine" the precursor to the boom box? Second, I was surprised to see that Bell & Howell did audio; from what little I know of them I thought they were more of a camera/movie projector company. That guy in the background... looks like he's holding some kind of audio component up to his hear. "Transistor radio" maybe? And then the gothic church seen in the distance is kinda weird for an American-made product. Perhaps this was an ad targeted to UK consumers or something...
neh, Very unlikely, I think. Check pictures of old churches in north-east.
Projectors. Hi-fi/audio [?] ...quite surprising.
Check the polo neck jersey - great clothing improvement, of beatnik 1960's /early 70's.
Portable, 2 different meanings of portable; this is only portable like portable Bluetooth party speakers. ...Going by the small inset picture, it's not as big as it looks in the main pic. ...Not as big as big boomboxes. :)
 

mhardy6647

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Superscope-era Marantz had some hideous ones -- but ads that stick with us through the decades. I.e., I guess they were effective.

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This is literally the first of the type that I came across in a quick perusal at worldradiohistory.com :) There were tackier ones. ;)

Of course, there was also this fairly effective ad from Superscope-era Marantz.

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Sort of from the John Cameron Swayze "Time for a new Timex" (or the Samsonite American Tourister luggage with gorillas) school of advertising. :)
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Katji

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Those speaker grilles look familiar. Amazing how the memory works.
 
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