Unbelievable Old Newspaper Ads That Show Just How Times Have Changed

Oh, how times have changed, and mostly for the better! Yes, I know it's easy to complain about how things used to be better and everything is terrible now, but that is just not true! Literally everything is better now—human rights, standards of living, healthcare, reduced crime rates, level of education—everything is better than it was in the last century. And that's a fact! Is the world perfect now? Absolutely not, but if you think you would have been better off fifty or a hundred years ago, you are just looking at reality through rose-tinted glasses.

One place you can easily see how far we have come is in old newspaper ads. Women were expected to do nothing but please their husbands, kids were fed horrific things, every other culture was a subject of ridicule, and smoking was considered not only cool but healthy! Take a look at these ads and tell me life used to be better.

Author image for John Summers John Summers
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