"You'll get a laugh out of the hairstyles," my husband said, handing me the March, 1966 edition of the National Geographic. He wanted me to read an article about the Soviet Union.

Here's what really struck me: the unsophisticated advertising. One 4" 1-column ad bore a cartoon of a man in a beret with a palette and easel.

Design your different vacation in GALA MISSOURI
Free booklet shows you the variety and value that has made Missouri the "Vacation Capital of the Midwest."

Once Burma-Shave ended its iconic rhyming signs campaign in 1963, apparently there wasn't much advertising clutter to compete with back then. Madison Avenue types could whip out ads like this even after 3-martini lunches--no unique selling propositions necessary.

The ads in the 1966 National Geographic reminded me of the ones I see in trade journals now, earnest and informative. In an expanding economy, I guess you didn't need to be witty. All you had to do was lay out the product benefits. Mom and Pop would write away for your travel brochure and load up the station wagon. Apparently, it worked. Branson, MO's website now announces.

"And in 2010, Branson is celebrating 50 years of family entertainment!"

By contrast, the ads in the January, 2009, National Geographic are arch (a stomach-turning shot of a man in too-short gym shorts, knee-high tube socks, Converse high-tops, headband and wooden tennis racket: SURVIVE THE '70s? YOU DESERVE SPECIAL TREATMENT) or suggestive (Buck Naked Blue Beauties: Feast your eyes on a colossal 350 carats of raw sapphire). Advertisers are fighting much harder now to pry those dollars away from consumers.

I may not want to turn back the clock to simpler advertising, but I'd like to turn back to the thriving economy that allowed it to succeed.