34. Exxon’s Predecessor Bragged About How Much Glacier Cap It Could Melt
When poring through advertisements from decades and generations past, we frequently come across ads that were totally innocuous and non-controversial for their era, but that have aged like garbage. Due to social, political, or technological advances and changes, things that seemed like a good idea and that were perfectly acceptable in one era, can be seen today as silly, ridiculous, or outright offensive.
An example of that dynamic can be seen in an advertisement run in 1962 by Humble Oil & Refining Company – which eventually rebranded as Exxon – for its Esso brand gasoline. The company – contra its name – bragged about its size and technical efficiency by boasting that it could melt millions of tons of glaciers every single day of the year.