ADS I LOVE

+ Is there a time in your childhood when watching ads on telly was a special event?
If so, maybe you are Italian, born in the 60's and were waiting to see Carosello before bed time.
For the ones not knowing what am I talking about: Carosello was a tv program broadcasted daily from 1957 to '77. It consisted of a series of films (often sketch comedy or musical), followed by advertisements. The rigid format of Carousel was not just a container of advertisements. The concept proved to be a huge success; Carousel remained for many years one of the most popular TV shows, coming to represent a typical round of the Italian family, and even today the phrase "in bed after Carousel" has been part of the spoken language.
For children my age was infacts a happy moment before going to bed, moment when you felt you were really grown-up if you were allowed to watch telly so late.
In those years many characters were invented to push sales of everyday products, but the characters and the stories were more important than the advertising message itself: for instance the lovely black chick Calimero became soon more famous than detergent advertised.

++ You see, that is why there are more reasons why I like ads of the 60's and 70's. Some of them are not only very good for their graphics, illustrations or concept, but also they remind me of my youth.

+++ When I see stands selling old ads at flea markets I am all happy and my research of those characters starts. The past summer I had found some interesting posters (that I will have to hang on the walls soon. Some re-styling projects are much needed around here).
I did not find Calimero, Susanna-tutta-Panna or others of my faves but a lovely Bertolini yeast poster that evokes lovely scent of freshly baked cakes [see picture1] and lovely ads of Martini and Campari that I really like.

++++ But... the best find are two Olivetti ads from Giovanni Pintori, one of the Italian graphic artists of the period I most admire.
His name is linked to a long and very successful series of posters, advertisements, book covers, outdoor signs, stands. Among his best known works of recent years are the posters dedicated to the calculation and calculators Olivetti, like "abacus" or "numbers", or again, the cover of the famous book "Olivetti 1908-1958."

I love his use of color, their simple and pure lines, the visual connection to pure typography. They are now 60 years old yet do look so good and kind of contemporary today. Great design with no time.

Ok, the posters in pictures 2 & 3 will soon hang on my walls, hopefully I will find also the ones you can see here below next to Pintori himself.

{ * last images from here }

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