This Week: adflip

Social critics often view advertising as the embodiment of evil, a corruptive influence that drives gullible Americans into wanton consumerism. But ads are more often reflective of societal mores that already exist, and by examining ads from the past you can get a good idea of what people were like back then. Ad copywriters try to pitch their products according to how they think they can get people's attention–so if people are into disco at the time, then glitter balls and polyester will make an appearance. You can conduct your own research into societal tastes by perusing the massive ad archive at adflip.com. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, adflip was created by brothers Dan and Burk Forrer. The laconic, 41-year-old Dan Forrer answered our questions.

How did the idea for adflip come about?

I was flipping through a National Lampoon Magazine from the '70s and discovered that I was spending as much time looking at the old ads as reading the John Hughes satire

Why do we need an archive of old ads?

Ads distill society into a single page. The fashion, language, morals, desires, trends. It is a very revealing study of society for a given time period. The archive allows students and others to study this material.

Why do you personally "love" ads?

Ads are a great trip down memory lane. The nostalgia aspect and also observing how are society has changed over the decades. The racism in some ads can be disturbing but the lack of political correctness is sometimes refreshing.

What's your favorite ad decade?

I like them all!

Do you have a particular ad that's a favorite?

The Atari video game ad from National Lampoon that sparked the idea for adflip

Where do you get the ads for reproduction?

Stacks and stacks of magazines. Some are quite valuable–movie magazines from the '40s and '50s for example

What makes an ad worthy of inclusion to adflip.com?

We try and have a good cross section of different types of advertising. If an ad helps achieve that goal then we include it.

How many ads do you have online?

We launched with 3,500 ads and we now have approximately 8,000.

How many do you add a week?

Depends on the week.

That must take a lot of scanning–how does the work get done?

Scanning the ad is only one part of the process. Each ad has comprehensive information entered into the database. For example if an ad is blatantly sexist, this will be noted when it is entered. If you type in the word "sexist" into the search box you will get results.

Does the site pay for itself in any way?

Not really. The bandwidth costs are also quite high due to the graphic nature of the site. We have removed banner ads since the revenue was miniscule.

How have people reacted to the site?

People love it. We have been written up in Playboy, USA Today and dozens of other publications. Yahoo made adflip the Site of the Week. Dozens of television stations around the country have done stories on adflip.

Why do you think people like these ads when they've been conditioned to ignore them?

Ads are only annoying if you are not interested in what they are selling. On the other hand if you are interested in the product or serve they are information. I am a vinyl collector so I buy MOJO as much for the editorial as for the advertising.

How have professional ad people reacted to the site?
Are they filching ad ideas from the past?

I am sure they are.

What's in the future for adflip.com?

More ads!

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