When I was a kid in the 60's, television was in the process of becoming a tour de force in shaping trends, attitudes, language and behavior. I suppose it's fortunate that in our little town in Northwest Iowa, we only had four TV stations... well, sometimes, since the fourth station was iffy at best. Regardless, I was hopelessly addicted to the boob tube and relished every opportunity to plop down on the floor with a bowl of popcorn and a bottle of pop and immerse myself in this cool and groovy world of mindless black & white entertainment. Frankly, it was just so exciting to see people who were "different", as our little corner of the world was pretty darn homogeneous. I assumed that they were all more worldly and exciting than we were, and did my best to emulate these TV people whenever possible.

Commercials at that time were long, and a large percentage of them were touting the wonders of cigarettes with catchy jingles and "mod" people doing hip things.

As the Feminist Movement was beginning to gain attention, crafty advertising execs a la Larry Tate & Darren Stevens on Bewitched were capitalizing on the trend. Check out the classic Virginia Slims ad...



But what really blows my mind now is this classic Winston cigarette ad... starring the Flintstones. Yes, cartoons peddling cigarettes!! Check it out...