10. In the 1950’s, Advertisers Realized That Scantily Clad Women Would Make Millions
In 1953, The first issue of Playboy premiered, and it flew off the shelves. Simply by word of mouth, the magazine grew and grew until it was selling over a million copies a month. No matter what a company’s personal moral compass may have been, they could not deny that these ideas would sell, and they needed to get one the pin-up girl bandwagon if they wanted to keep up with the competition.
For years, the genre had been considered disgraceful, but it became more and more acceptable to include suggestive pictures of women, or hire beautiful girls to attract customers to a brand. For example, in the later 50’s and early 60’s, it became mandatory for young flight attendants to be attractive, fit, and well-dressed. Looking back at the photographs, you can almost have side-by-side comparisons of pin-up art of the fantasy stewardess and they look identical to what they actually ended up looking like in reality.