Monday, May 16, 2011

Your Passport to International #$%@ Pleasure


Growing up in essentially a one horse town in outback Australia in the early seventies I had a constant stream of magazines and other sources which would fire my imagination. Glamorous far off locales and the jet-set was something that always inspired me, and I was very lucky that my family were great travellers.

Long before tobacco advertisements were banned from magazines one company’s ads always inspired me with their wonderful graphics and the phrase “your passport to International smoking pleasure”. Peter Stuyvesant ads had the most wonderful graphics that were entirely evocative of the era and the jet-set lifestyle.

I have no idea of who the artists were, however with their bold colours and images of airports and airliners they promised a lifestyle of savoir faire and sophistication. Promising Paris in the morning and New York in the afternoon the highly stylized images of airlines and airports pressed all my buttons.

Having never been a smoker, I would imagine that if was I would be smoking Peter Stuyvesant, just for the lifestyle.


15 comments:

  1. Beautiful graphics! I don´t smoke either but I gotta admit if I did it would also be from his cigarrettes haha..they look so stylish

    xx
    Andy
    The Black Label

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  2. Forgive me, please; I can only think of a title to an Emmanuel movie :)

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  3. but I have never seen one, of course!

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  4. David I also love to see some of the other airline & travel posters from the past!

    xoxo
    Karena
    Art by Karena

    Come and enter my New Giveaway from Serena & Lily! You will love it!

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  5. Hi David,

    I love the graphics and colors of these ads - which are new to me. Did you ever see Holiday Magazine? Some of those early covers made me dream of travelling one day.

    Best,
    Marjorie

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  6. ===============================================

    Super David !

    You work so much !
    I'm impressed by this and most of all by the super quality of your articles !

    As always thank you for your Royal Presence !

    Kiss_Kiss,
    Have a Magical Week !

    ===============================================

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  7. Beautiful graphics, David. Love the bold bright hues in them. Hope you are well!

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  8. Hello David:
    Ah yes, the jet setting lifestyle with the cigarette to match. Certainly, the advertising executives at Peter Stuyvesant knew how to convey this well. You are so right about the graphical illustrations reflecting the 'Spirit of the Age' and, at least in our case, not quite but nearly powerful enough to convince us to start smoking.

    Marlene Dietrich on the other hand.....

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  9. Wow...I can't believe that you were able to dredge up this inspiration for this post!!! What a great trip down memory lane! Those cig ads do one heck of a job painting a picture of a glamorous lifestyle :)

    xx Cat brideblu

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  10. And of course, flying in the 50s, 60s, and 70s was glamorous, from climbing stairs that were rolled out to the plane, to passengers who dressed to travel, to stewardesses who wore hats and gloves, to very nice meals. Sigh.

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  11. The designs are so good. And so is your selection of topics. It is an international pleasure to follow you!

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  12. Love the graphics...I have to admit, those "Mad Men" new how to make smoking look glamourous.

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  13. Many thanks all for your wonderful comments. The graphics do make smoking look glamourous!

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  14. The ads are so beautiful. In particular I admire the bottom two.

    The early 1960s has to be my favourite period for commercial illustration. Illustrated ads are so much more appealing than photographs. So many of the photo ads are so dull and repetitive, I don't even see them when I look at magazines or billboards. Why don't ad agencies get with it and use some illustrated ads to set themselves apart from all the other dull ones?

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