Smoking Santa and Other Really Ridiculous Vintage Ads

The 1930's were nicknamed the "Terrible Thirties" for a reason. Back then, "truth in advertising" was completely optional and for the most part, companies just claimed or did whatever they wanted to in their advertising campaigns.

December 21, 2010 by jayfrankwilson

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Does “truth in advertising” really exist? Things are a lot better now than most of the 20th century. Many advertisers just made untruthful claims in their ads. From the silly and sexist, to a smoking Santa, here are some of the most ridiculous vintage print ads ever created by advertisers.