I can’t imagine any company running an ad like this today – the backlash against them would be incredible. But this was 1968, before the the current obesity epidemic and increasing politcal correctness. The ad is for The Guys “preferred profile pants”, and is one of five printed in the August 1968 edition of Playboy Magazine. The pants are advertised to “look good on people who look good.” One ad suggests that if you can’t wear the guys (If your waist size is 40 or over) that it would be worthwhile to lose weight so you can wear the “pants made only for trim people.”
According to this article, the obesity rate in the 1960’s was 13%. In 2004, it was up to 32%. I imagine that if these ads ran today, they would be attacked as being tasteless, making light of what what is a serious issue, especially in the United States. In our modern world where we have grassroots efforts to address discrimination against overweight and obese people, ads like this seem really strange.
“If your chest is bigger than your stomach – you can wear The Guys.”
Here are all five ads, scanned by me:
