“Americano, blue jeans and chinos, Pepsi and Oreos, oh whoah whoah..” is the way in which Scouse songster Holly Johnson catchily summarised the land of the free (where you can be who you wanna be) back in 1989.
Taschen however have given us ‘All-American Ads of the 40s’ to sum up this golden, Edward Hopper coloured decade when cigarettes were good for you, going to war was a no-brainer and everything was ‘better with butter’. Though a lot of it is pretty un-PC you can’t help but flick through this big book of archive ads without getting more than a twinge of jealousy that you didn’t grow up in the 1940s fantastical visions of America as portrayed here. It will also have you pondering why today’s adverts are so rubbish by comparison. So whether you’re seriously into mid-twentieth century pop culture or just really like looking at old adverts for LEE jeans (like me) then this beauty of a book won’t disappoint you. Buy it HERE.
