Vintage food ads

In this ad from 1948, a community nurse tells a young mother to put Vegemite in her baby’s milk to tempt his appetite, and recommends it for children ‘of five months – or even younger’ (!)

The legitimisation of food products via various medical ‘authorities’ is still a part of our world. However, the pace of this ad is strikingly different. Over half of its two-minute running time is spent on establishing the community health setting, reflecting on baby centres’ ‘wonderful work for young mothers and young Australians’, and on general remarks from the jovial narrator about the worries of child-rearing. We don’t even hear the word ‘Vegemite’ until we’re a minute in. The 1940s attention span, shaped by cinema consumption, was obviously very different from our own, and allowed for extensive scene-setting, prolonged explanations and detailed emotional appeals.

Did all this effort convince parents to put Vegemite in their babies’ milk?

Explore more gender roles in 1940s advertising

Did you know that in 1949, ice cream was ‘the health food of the nation’?

This ad for Peter’s Ice Cream opens like a film of the Hollywood Golden Era, with a richly bound book opening to show us its title, The Best Things in Life. There follows a full minute-and-a-half of ice cream-free reflections on the wonder of being human, celebrating our experiences of children, animals, nature and art, and illustrated with film of flowers, sheepdogs, mountains, oceans and sunsets.

Are you ready for the long bow? Here it comes: ‘our sense of taste’ leads us to a children’s party, with various mites in bows and pirate hats tucking in to elaborate ice cream cakes as the voice-over extols Peters Ice Cream as ‘nature’s (almost) perfect food … it provides the necessary milk and cream.’ Fortunately, the children who are gobbling down their ‘health food’ are mostly absorbing it by osmosis, as none of them are too good at getting it in their mouths.

The gorgeous production values and lofty philosophical treatise of The Best Things in Life (almost) have us ready to swap out our breakfast oats for a cat-in-a-boot ice cream cake. Mmmm, necessary cream!

Explore more vintage TV and cinema ads

‘Are you waking up with a glass of Milo this morning? What about before you went to bed last night?’

This cinema ad from the 1940s showcases the simple solution for getting a restful night’s sleep and waking up feeling rejuvenated: drink a cup of Milo before bed!

The ad features a woman visiting her local chemist to pick up a tin of Milo, where she discovers the ‘golden rules for sleeping well’. These tips encourage you to unwind with a good book, savour a light supper, and enjoy a soothing cup of Milo before drifting off to slumber. The result? A wonderfully restful night. The alternative? Tossing-and-turning nightmares.

The advertisement also lists the added vitamins and minerals contained in Milo, before the final line: 'Milo, it’s the tonic of the times’. Cheers to that!

Explore farm to factory to table treats in our Food collection

Chocolate is everywhere these days – but is any of it quite as groovy as this Cadbury’s Crunchie bar from 1966?

Working in the era of black-and-white TV, the producers had to get creative to build an effect of psychedelic rapture, using stroboscopic effects over the latest in fashion, hair, make-up and music.

We’re left to imagine the saturated colours of those flowery minis and satin shirts – and the golden wrapper of the Crunchie that’s fuelling this blissed-out disco.

Please be advised that this video contains strobe effects and flashing lights

Cooking for a dinner party can be stressful at the best of times. But what if the future of your partner’s career depended on whether you had the right ingredients on hand to stuff a roast chicken?

With opening title credits and a highly invested narrator, this cinema ad feels more like a short film. It's a cautionary tale of a 1940s housewife battling onion tears and weighing the consequences of serving an unstuffed chicken when her husband’s boss is coming to dinner. Only Tandaco can save the family! As the narrator helpfully reminds us, you can use Tandaco for cutlets, baked rabbit and stuffed tomatoes on pineapple rings. With some foods in short supply due to the Second World War, everyone was getting creative with packet mixes.

Looking for more?

• Tune into our collection of vintage cinema, radio and TV advertisements
• Dip into a more-ish sampler of Cadbury chocolate ads
• Hit the road with two decades of classic Holden car ads

Main image: Detail from poster 'Wholesome – nutritious. Foods from corn', 1918. Artist: Lloyd Harrison for the United States Food Administration. Boston Public Library on Unsplash