Giant Pin Ups on the Road ! Vintage Handpainted Billboard Signs of the Past

There is no real evidence that billboards are effective in generating profit, but they do aid in brand recognition.  Signs offering a "petting zoo" and clean bathrooms probably worked during the glory days of road travel, but today it is mostly the big yellow hamburger sign drawing in customers.  The concept of sex in advertising also comes to play here.  That we KNOW is effective. There is no way to measure how many riders have been killed by the wandering eyes of the driver in these snaps. The photographer stood close enough to the signs to eliminate any skid marks on the ground.

Lady Bird Johnson tried to eliminate billboards during the Johnson administration.  To preserve beauty, not the money in your pocket.  Some countries have outlawed them for safety, but texting while driving is far more dangerous now.  

I would have looked at these while passing, but I don't think I would have gotten off to buy tires.

Vintage (1940?) Pin-up Billboard Snapshot photographs.  Thanks to CURLEY'S ANTIQUES.

The Early Gigantic Upskirt Silver Foam Soap and the Clean Billboard

Silver Foam Granulated Soap seems to have "left the (grocery) building" and joined the league of dead brands, but it certainly wasn't for a lack of taste. As you can see, their logo featured a hard working scrub woman with giant cheeks. She is working up a lather to match Lawrence Welk's bubble machine!

So falling under the category of "World's Earliest "Upskirt" photo (if you don't know what that is, check your son's phone camera) I have posted this on the Vintage Sleaze blog as well. But how many upskirt photos do you know with a robot featured in the middle of the desert with her gigantic glutes facing the traffic?

In case you think me demented for describing this logo as a stealthy and secretive photo technique, I am certainly not the only one. Note the "fine print" on the billboard. "Danger Electric Fence" and a "Reward $25.00" sign. Obviously, it was something to leave your car and peer up at...but for some fellas it got out of hand and they spoiled it for all by climbing up to grab a closer look. That there was electricity leads me to believe our washerwoman was an automotan, but I can't tell for sure. Make that "automowasherwomanotan."

Like when little Theodore Cleaver climbed up to see what was in the giant coffee cup, I don't think there was anything up there...but it would be worth a peek to make sure.


Original snapshot, circa 1945 Collection Jim Linderman