We’re back with a third installment of shamelessly sexy vintage video game and arcade game ads. Marketers produced so many of these from the 1970s through 1990s that there’s enough for future installments, too. As I’ve said before, it was a very different time. Game makers knew their target audience—adolescent boys and young men—and understood the way to their wallets was through their gonads. Or something like that. You catch my drift. And just in case you didn’t, the ads that follow express it better than I ever could.
Not only is she dressed appropriately for some arcade game action, but she’s also accessorized with the perfect pair of Pac-Man yellow shoes.Aaaayyyyy. Ladies love the Fonz. Now I’m wondering how many of my friends’ parents played Interlude in the early 1980s. For the odd history of Softporn, the first erotic computer game, check out this 2014 article at The Atlantic. This particular blonde model normally retails for a small fortune, so getting her free with your computer purchase is a real steal!It’s your move. Atari Chess, circa early 1980s. Between the groping, the “Vidiot” shirts, and the hilariously incomprehensible copy, this ad couldn’t possibly be any more of its era. Good to see he has his priorities in order. What’s a nice girl like her doing with a bunch of ruffians like this? And if they’re the crime fighters, I’d hate to see the criminals. Sometimes ads even targeted young girls. Those sexy studs from Duran Duran are vid-kids!Pretty sure “the spoils” is innuendo for something.
I write about movies, pop culture, Michelle Pfeiffer and more in order to make sense of the world around me. Hopefully my personal writing will feel universal to readers. That's the goal.
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3 thoughts on “The Art of the Ad: Sex, Lies, and Video Games, Part III”
Whew, talk about shameless advertising, but I’m sure it did catch many a hormone erupting teens and young single men’s eye. The adverts of Defenders of the Crown and Crime Fighters would still work today I think as even back then they weren’t too provocative looking.
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Whew, talk about shameless advertising, but I’m sure it did catch many a hormone erupting teens and young single men’s eye. The adverts of Defenders of the Crown and Crime Fighters would still work today I think as even back then they weren’t too provocative looking.
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