During the 1950s, many parents viewed comic books as a scourge designed by deviants to corrupt impressionable children. That view as popularized in the controversial 1952 book "Seduction of the Innocent." Parents were less concerned that their children were exposed to all manner of advertising in those books. Several prevalent themes dominated those ads.
Charles Atlas
One of the most iconic comic-book ads is the "Hey Skinny!" ad from bodybuilder Charles Atlas, which originally appeared in the 1940s but continued to run throughout the 1950s. A scrawny protagonist is enjoying a day at the beach with a pretty girl when a musclebound bully suddenly shows up, kicking sand in "Skinny's" face and punching him in the jaw. Having lost both his girl and his dignity, he decides to "gamble a stamp" and send away for the Charles Atlas "dynamic tension" program, which promises to "make YOU a new man" in just "15 minutes a day." At some unspecified later time, the skinny protagonist returns to the beach as a bulked-up Adonis. He beats up the bully, and the girl proclaims him to be "a real man after all."
Breakfast Cereals
Long before Saturday-morning television became home to commercials for sugary breakfast cereals, the pages of comic books served the same purpose. In the 1950s, Sugar Crisp cereal was frequently advertised in comic books. In one such ad, children were encouraged to send away for hand-puppets of the cereal's mascots, a trio of bears named Handy, Dandy and Candy. In another, the bears inexplicably encounter a malevolent giant, but wind up placating him by stuffing an enormous spoonful of Sugar Crisp cereal in his mouth. Wheaties, which even then was known as the "breakfast of champions," used baseball heroes such as Yogi Berra in its comic book ads, while Kelloggs' Shredded Wheat promoted the prizes kids could find inside the cereal box, such as "funny face cutout masks."
Children's Weapons
Weapons such as knives and air rifles were deemed perfectly acceptable children's toys in the 1950s. The Daisy Training B.B. Rifle was often advertised in comic books. The ads featured the image of cartoon cowboy Red Ryder and billed the rifle as a "realistic western-style saddle carbine." Not only will you have fun, proclaimed the ad, but "you'll also be somebody" if you manage to talk mom or dad into buying one for you, for the low price of just $3.98.
Comic Characters
Comic books dabbled in product placement ads just like TV stars did at the time. The website Vintage Ad Browser contains an ad featuring comic characters Dagwood and Blondie extolling the virtues of Gillette razor blades. In another, cartoonist Al Capp's Lil' Abner is in a serious dilemma that can only be solved if his girlfriend, Daisy Mae, can cook a pot of Cream of Wheat in five minutes. This, as the ad indicates, is the exact amount of time it takes to cook Cream of Wheat, and the day is saved.
