Vintage UWM Post Ads: 1960s
The phrase “Sock it to Me” had been around for decades (it appears in Mark Twain’s work), but by the 1960s it gained popularity as a song lyric with sexual undertones and as a catchphrase on the Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In TV show. And by 1969, it had descended to the level of corporate advertising, reworked here to sell cordless electric razors. (October 24, 1969)
Before the internet, the best way to avoid reading an assigned text was Cliff’s Notes, a series of pamphlets that summarized popular and classic books. The company was founded in 1958 and, by the time this ad ran in March 1965, were well-known among college students as a shortcut method of keeping up in class.
The soft drink Sprite was still relatively new in the US when this ad ran in September 1966. Adapting the style of the crude adverts that appeared in the underground newspapers of the day, this was probably an attempt to cash in on the counter-culture.
Office supplies were advertised regularly in the Post in the 1960s, with the stapler marketplace being (apparently) one of the most hotly contested on campus. In this September 1969 ad, Swingline swings for the fences by offering photo enlargement services in addition to its staplers.
Record stores were in abundant supply in the 1960s, including Stereo East, which opened in Shorewood in 1970. A sister store, Stereo West, operated in West Allis. The record advertised here was the soundtrack for the 1968 counterculture semi-documentary film, You Are What You Eat. (October 29, 1968)
