Weekly Playboy Ads

This post brought to you by the beautiful ladies of August 1989.

A couple interesting things about this issue, but first let's get to the technological signs of the times.

A brand new Toyota car which, by the picture presented, will push you into orgasmic delight, looks like this:





It's a nice looking car, by 1989 standards. I'm not sure what the guy has under his arm, though. What's funny is that at first glance I assumed it was a laptop, and then I was like, 'uh, no. Can't be.' Is it a thin briefcase? A folder of papers? And what's with the suspenders?

An ad for a "nuclear" walkman. Very high-tech, very impressive, as all the neon squiggly lines show. And you know what? Back in 1989, I probably would have wanted to own this...Nah. Weren't we already into CDs by then?

This neat little guy is actually a VCR that can play tapes right onto that screen there. It also can run in your car. It's expensive, but you gotta admit, it probably came in pretty handy for the people who owned them. Families who went on long car rides, most likely.




Okay, so here's the first weird things about this issue of Playboy: there aren't that many ads. And I don't just mean ads I can pick to show you and ridicule, I mean the issue just doesn't have that many ads, period. Not even the usual number of cigarette ads, although I don't bother showing you cigarette ads anyway, cause as far as I'm concerned, they're all pretty silly. I mean, come on, it's an advertisement for something that's going to kill you. How can it not be ridiculous?

But here's why I think there aren't that many ads. I think this cigarette ad right here paid for all of them. And when you see the pictures, you'll figure out why:

This, my friends, is a four page pop-up ad. For Salem cigarettes.

I have to say: given that it's a cigarette ad, and given that all cigarette ads are pretty ridiculous, this ad is pretty cool. It's got palm trees, and a little hut, and a hammock with the beach in the background. And it's a pop-up! The kind that little kids get all squeaky-excited about from pop-up books!
I've never seen a pop-up ad before, and certainly never an ad of this intricate design for cigarettes. Who knows how much money they spent to put it in Playboy. Plus, part of the ad is an offer for a free pack of cigarettes. Wonder how much this all cost Salem. It was probably worth it, though...at least to them. They got a whole batch of new smokers to smoke their cigarettes.
Moving on!
The second interesting thing about this issue I found was somewhat hidden in the Mike Tyson interview. Now I know I usually stick with just commenting on the ads in these Playboy posts, but this one really struck me somehow. It's an exchange between Mike Tyson and the Playboy interviewer; the two of them really seemed to hit it off together:
"You know something," he [Mike Tyson] said, "I like to hurt women when I make love to them." He stopped, searching my face for a reaction. "I like to hear them scream with pain, to see them bleed," he said, putting his arm around me. "It gives me pleasure."
"Why?"
Mike shook his head. "Jose, I am that way and I don't know why."
"Well," I said, "did it ever occur to you that men who behave that way probably hate women, that deep-down, they simply don't like them?"
"You may be right. You're the first person to tell me that...You know, you may be fucking right. Holy fucking shit!"

Let's forget for a second this is Mike Tyson, circa 1989. Let's pretend this is two average Joes, talking today. Wouldn't you have rather seen the exchange go something like this?

"You know something...I like to hurt women when I make love to them." He stopped for second. Then he continued, "I like to hear them scream with pain, to see them bleed. It gives me pleasure."

"Why?"

He shook his head. "I am that way and I don't know why."

"Well," I said, "did it ever occur to you that there are other men like you everywhere, all around us, contributing to society, living normal lives, and yet finding women out there who like that kind of roughness? That you're inclinations are not as rare as you think? That there's a whole BDSM community full of men, and women, who like what you like? And other men and women who like to take it just as much as you like to give it?"

I don't know about you, but I would have liked to have seen a response like the second version, the one I presented, not the way the exchange originally happened. Now, one can't discount the fact that the person involved in this little conversation was Mike Tyson, and maybe (probably) that changed how the interviewer formulated his answer. Maybe he would have offered a different answer to someone else. I don't know.

I know Sadists like to hurt women, they like to hear them scream, but they do not, DO NOT, hate women, at least not the ones I know personally. They just get off on a different set of kinks. And what about women who like to be hurt, who like being forced to scream? Do they hate men? I don't think so...I don't see how anyone could say so. 

Is this how vanilla society sees BDSM/kink mentality? As an expression of hatred for the opposite sex?

Do you think the exchange would have been worded the same way today?

I hope not.

This wraps up this week's Playboy post. New one next week!

(Hopefully)