Sure, we haven't invented a time machine yet. But at least we have ads. As Don Draper, the macho marketing maven at the center of AMC's Mad Men, once put it, "Advertising is based on one thing: happiness." Ads don't so much create desire as reflect it, showing us who we are and what we want—even when we're not quite sure ourselves. Last year, my colleague Tony Dokoupil and I wrote a cover story for NEWSWEEK on how the definition of masculinity—at work and at home—needs to change if America wants to stay competitive in the 21st century. One of the most rewarding parts of my research was scouring the NEWSWEEK archives for signs of how American manhood had changed already. Here are 21 of the most revealing (and/or ridiculous) ads I discovered, organized chronologically from the 1950s to the 1980s.
