Every ad tries to sell you something. And some of them do it so well that they become part of everyday culture & history books, whether intentionally or not. What is it that makes some adverts so powerful? That’s what we’re going to find out, with some of the greatest ad campaigns that made history.
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A 1929 cigarette stunt on Fifth Avenue
During the Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue in 1929, a group of women was paid to light up Lucky Strikes in front of everyone. It was quite controversial. Edward Bernays staged what reporters dubbed “torches of freedom,” and overnight, smoking in public for women stopped being so scandalous. It started to be more normalized.
A diamond slogan that reset engagement norms
It may sound strange, but before 1947, diamond rings weren’t the norm for engagements. But then Frances Gerety wrote the “A Diamond is Forever” slogan for De Beers, and everything shifted. In just over a decade, diamond engagement rings became expected for engaged couples in the U.S., with more than 8 in 10 couples buying them by the early ’50s.
A single broadcast changed the Super Bowl forever
Apple rolled out its 1984 Super Bowl ad, and nobody had seen anything like it on TV, especially not during a football game. It was directed by Ridley Scott in a dystopian, cinematic style. It ran nationally just once & cost close to a million dollars. Of course, Super Bowl ads have always been important. But this advert pioneered companies spending a lot of money on advertising during this slot.
A vodka brand built history with a 25-year print run
At first, Absolut didn’t flood the airwaves or hire celebrities. They just stuck a plain bottle in the middle of clever, minimalist posters & just kept going, and they did so for a quarter of a century. Those print ads ran without interruption. By the end of the campaign, Absolut had transformed from a niche Swedish liquor to owning half the U.S. imported vodka market.
A milk campaign reshaped national habits
Milk sales were tanking in the early ’90s. To fight this, California’s dairy folks tried something different with the famous “got milk?” campaign, which didn’t push health claims or cows. They focused on everyday moments, like a guy who lost a trivia prize because his mouth was glued shut by peanut butter. And it actually got people drinking milk again.
A simple slogan turned a shoe company into a global force
Nike was mostly for runners. Then came their 1988 “Just Do It” campaign that was everywhere, on TV & plastered across sports stars. It worked for weekend joggers and elite athletes alike, with sales exploding over the next decade, and Nike selling a mindset people bought into worldwide.
Banana ads helped shape geopolitics
United Fruit’s banana campaigns completely changed how Americans saw this fruit. The early 20th-century ads showed it as exotic yet wholesome, which led to demand. That surge tied the U.S. economy to Central American growers. As a result, the company’s influence over the region helped give rise to the idea of a “banana republic.”
The following sources were consulted in the preparation of this article:
- Edward Bernays’s 1929 “Torches of Freedom” March: Myths and Historical Significance
- Creating an engaging tradition: N.W. Ayer & Son and De Beers’ advertising campaigns in the United States from 1939 to 1952
- Remembering Apple’s “1984” Super Bowl Ad
- Absolut’s approach to marketing: Then and now
- got milk?
- Nike, Inc
- The United Fruit Company in Central America: A Bargaining Power Analysis
