The breaks in the opening episode of Mad Men on Sky Atlantic were a nostalgiafest of 60s commercials, including the Milk Tray ads, in which a black-sweatered hero dives into ravines and jumps on to moving trains – "and all because the lady loves Milk Tray". Ooh, and there's Go To Work On an Egg (a slogan Fay Weldon has spent half a lifetime denying she dreamed up) featuring Tony Hancock and his virtuoso jowl movements. Ahh, and a young Lesley Ash being versed in the merits of mild green Fairy Liquid by Posh Mother – no doubt little Leslie will be washing dishes herself in the 80s, passing them to a robot to dry.
Were these "classics"? They certainly made a deep impression – some of these campaigns, like the Flake one, lasted decades. Of course, they carried some dubious messages about gender role-play and, despite wholesomely crooned jingles, could be insidiously, sexually implicit, such as the Doublemint gum ads, always featuring a pair of female twins – "double your pleasure, double your fun". They didn't always make sense. How could a Mars a day help you rest, as well as work and play?
They remind us not just of more innocent times but of an age of things – of chocolate, baked beans, Playtex girdles, deodorants, washing powders, instant mash, toothpaste, shampoo, Butlins. Aa bold, spangly, optimistic new post-ration book Britain of comestibles, detergents, undergarments and domestic holidays. Contrast them with today's ads, which reflect a world whose consumers spend every spare hour poring over price comparison websites, prompted by the unsubtle suggestions of meerkats and fat opera singers. Yesterday bad, today good? I think not. Go compare …
