I think we can all agree that Mad Men is a pretty great show, right? The various characters – most especially Don Draper – acted pretty reprehensible, and yet I couldn’t help but watch episode after episode, week after week. There’s just something about the style of the times.
No, I don’t mean the style of treating women like second class citizens (finished man don’t do that,) but the actual aesthetic, especially of the advertising that the men and women of Madison Ave created. The look was a lot more striking than what we see today, even if modern advertising shows a lot more cleavage.
Contemporary Problems as 1950s Advertising
So what if we took problems common today, and portrayed them in the style of a 1950s advertisement? Well, British artist John Holcroft has done just that, and if you ask me, the collection looks absolutely fantastic. The illustrations depict our flawed human qualities as they relate to technology and society as a whole, and… I think you’re really going to enjoy them.
John Holcroft is a veteran editorial illustrator who has worked with the BBC, Reader’s Digest, The Guardian, The Economics, Financial Times, and numerous other clients over the past 15 years of his career.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this collection as much as I have, and if you’re interested in seeing more of his work, you can do so by visiting his official website and browsing around. I’ve included only a small handful of his pieces.
