A commercial that promotes the worst of today

[Edward]

Ah, this commercial was done on a set constructed in a studio. Vary obvious from the camera angles.

Yes. Also plausible that the initial set isn't even actual vintage bathroom furniture in usable state.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Yes. Also plausible that the initial set isn't even actual vintage bathroom furniture in usable state.

The message of the advert still stands, regardless.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Use to work at a bathroom tile factory and that tile was not vintage. I could tell by the way the edges of the tile was angled.

 

[Edward]

The message of the advert still stands, regardless.

Oh, certainly. But that's a different critique than the accusation that they actually destroyed a vintage bathroom in making the ad. It'd be interesting to know how many truly vintage bathrooms do get smashed up over time. I suspect there are precious few genuinely pre-1959 around, given that bathrooms (like kitchens) are something that so many folks seem to routinely replace. I'd be willing to hazard a guess that most of them were ripped out long ago to be replaced by the sort of 1970s stylistic monstrosities which are what people are really ripping out nowadays. Still the same issue of destroying something perfectly serviceable, certainly, albeit that I suspect fewer would queue up to denounce it as indefensible. [huh]

 

[Edward]

Use to work at a bathroom tile factory and that tile was not vintage. I could tell by the way the edges of the tile was angled.

I'm pretty sure it was just a set dressed to look "old fashioned". Over here they'd have fitted it with a toilet and sink in a shade of avocado or dark chocolate - both popular in the 1970s.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Oh, certainly. But that's a different critique than the accusation that they actually destroyed a vintage bathroom in making the ad. It'd be interesting to know how many truly vintage bathrooms do get smashed up over time. I suspect there are precious few genuinely pre-1959 around, given that bathrooms (like kitchens) are something that so many folks seem to routinely replace. I'd be willing to hazard a guess that most of them were ripped out long ago to be replaced by the sort of 1970s stylistic monstrosities which are what people are really ripping out nowadays. Still the same issue of destroying something perfectly serviceable, certainly, albeit that I suspect fewer would queue up to denounce it as indefensible. [huh]

I actually happen to like Marigold, green and blue bathrooms that were fashionable through the 70s.

Sadly many homes are "updated" before going on the market. Little do many sellers know that in some instances those vintage fixtures and decor make their home more valuable to some buyers.

Anyway, again, I loathe the message that anything old is putrid, while new, now and on your credit card is the only reasonable option.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I'm pretty sure it was just a set dressed to look "old fashioned". Over here they'd have fitted it with a toilet and sink in a shade of avocado or dark chocolate - both popular in the 1970s.

I also love avocado green.

 

[ButteMT61]

Oh, certainly. But that's a different critique than the accusation that they actually destroyed a vintage bathroom in making the ad. It'd be interesting to know how many truly vintage bathrooms do get smashed up over time. I suspect there are precious few genuinely pre-1959 around, given that bathrooms (like kitchens) are something that so many folks seem to routinely replace. I'd be willing to hazard a guess that most of them were ripped out long ago to be replaced by the sort of 1970s stylistic monstrosities which are what people are really ripping out nowadays. Still the same issue of destroying something perfectly serviceable, certainly, albeit that I suspect fewer would queue up to denounce it as indefensible. [huh]

Answer: Tons. Sadly. We've been lucky in stopping a lot of it by creating landmark districts, but that doesn't normally include the insides. The good news is many folks pick out the insides and sell them to folks restoring old homes, so most does not get destroyed or thrown out...

 

[Flicka]

I also love avocado green.

I grew up in the '70s and my mother managed to bias me against avocado green very early on. When someone was vulgar or showy, my mother would say: "I'm sure she has an avocado toilet." I still get that gut reaction to it (but these days she says "I'm sure she likes shabby chic" or - which is the worst she can think of - "I bet she has 'Amor Vincit Omnia' written on the bedroom wall").

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I grew up in the '70s and my mother managed to bias me against avocado green very early on. When someone was vulgar or showy, my mother would say: "I'm sure she has an avocado toilet." I still get that gut reaction to it (but these days she says "I'm sure she likes shabby chic" or - which is the worst she can think of - "I bet she has 'Amor Vincit Omnia' written on the bedroom wall").

Do you agree with your mother?

 

[Flicka]

Do you agree with your mother?

About avocado green? I haven't thought about it, but I guess my knee jerk reaction still is negative, but I don't really think of it as a litmus test for taste. To be honest, I haven't seen avocado green porcelain in a long time so I haven't really had reason to examine it. But you guys talking about it made me remember how I was tutored very early on that Thou Shalt Have White Porcelain.

Randomly, my sister kept a bathroom in her house as it was when she moved in - gold foil wallpaper even in the ceiling and a cuckoo clock on the wall. She thinks it's hilarious, but that bathroom would actually have made sense to have in this commercial.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

About avocado green? I haven't thought about it, but I guess my knee jerk reaction still is negative, but I don't really think of it as a litmus test for taste. To be honest, I haven't seen avocado green porcelain in a long time so I haven't really had reason to examine it. But you guys talking about it made me remember how I was tutored very early on that Thou Shalt Have White Porcelain.

Randomly, my sister kept a bathroom in her house as it was when she moved in - gold foil wallpaper even in the ceiling and a cuckoo clock on the wall. She thinks it's hilarious, but that bathroom would actually have made sense to have in this commercial.

Funny because I hate that my bathroom has white porcelain!

 

[LizzieMaine]

My mother had a harvest-gold stove for a while and thought it was the best thing ever invented -- "it don't show the grease stains as much!"

I don't know how anyone could have wallpaper in a bathroom -- in mine, it's hard enough to keep paint on the walls with all the steam, let alone paper.

 

[Yeps]

Funny because I hate that my bathroom has white porcelain!

I can't imagine wanting much different. Other than absurdly bright colors (especially azure and orange in the same room), I really like the clean, simplicity of white. Then again, I also don't like decorating walls with anything, so I might be odd.

As to the commercial, I really didn't like the old bathroom, and rather did like the new one. I agree that the message of "old is bad" is flawed, but it wasn't that bad.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I can't imagine wanting much different. Other than absurdly bright colors (especially azure and orange in the same room), I really like the clean, simplicity of white. Then again, I also don't like decorating walls with anything, so I might be odd.

As to the commercial, I really didn't like the old bathroom, and rather did like the new one. I agree that the message of "old is bad" is flawed, but it wasn't that bad.

Clean and simple needn't be white. I'm sorry it's hard for you to imagine any other way. Lots of color schemes and tasteful options out there. I love decorating and color scheming!

 

[Undertow]

...Why can't people renovate to their tastes?...Consumerism is idiocy, you say. So many people on this thread just want to thrash those who buy something new. The term "consumerism" is getting thrown around in this thread to the point where using it as a criticism is simply vacuous. People do purchase things. Would you have this stop? Or is it only ok to buy antiques? By the way, so many of the vintage articles that people rave about were mass produced consumer goods in their day, whether it was a vintage car, victrola, etc. Why is it ok to purchase these things now, given that they were mass produced when they were made? That doesn't make any sense to me. Hardly anything is a one of a kind.

Two things:

1. Perhaps the argument is to simply not purchase anything at all; i.e. to make do and mend. Often, purchasing some thing is an end in and of itself. The anti-consumerism talk that is bandied about here often highlights this notion. Should we discontinue buying things? Perhaps. Why not?

2. The benefit of buying an antique over buying a new item is not always apparent, but depending on the manufacturer, the item and condition the item is in at the time of purchase, it is safe to say that many antiques are of far better quality - mass produced or not. I have a 1950's GE metal desk fan that is as solid as a M4 Sherman (I found it near a dumpster). Likewise, I have a 20" Holmes box fan I bought from Walmart in 2001. The GE is humming away nicely, still oscillates, still does a fantastic job of moving air. The Holmes...well, you knew where this was going.

 

[C-dot]

By the way, so many of the vintage articles that people rave about were mass produced consumer goods in their day, whether it was a vintage car, victrola, etc. Why is it ok to purchase these things now, given that they were mass produced when they were made?

Not only that, but what Lowe's is selling - DIY renovations for the latest in home decor - differs very little from commercials for the same thing in the 1950s. The postwar blues gave way for new styles, new colours, new equipment... and best of all, you could do it yourself! Who cared if your old bathroom still functioned perfectly well, you needed a shiny new one!

Personally, I prefer the decor of the 50s. However, style is literally the only difference between midcentury home improvement advertisements and those, like this one, of today.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Not only that, but what Lowe's is selling - DIY renovations for the latest in home decor - differs very little from commercials for the same thing in the 1950s. The postwar blues gave way for new styles, new colours, new equipment... and best of all, you could do it yourself! Who cared if your old bathroom still functioned perfectly well, you needed a shiny new one!

Personally, I prefer the decor of the 50s. However, style is literally the only difference between midcentury home improvement advertisements and those, like this one, of today.

I've never seen a similar commercial from the 1950s, but the big difference between then and now is that people did not buy with credit cards. They bought what they could afford. I wonder how many people "improving" their homes today are "underwater" or heavily in debt?

 

[Yeps]

Clean and simple needn't be white. I'm sorry it's hard for you to imagine any other way. Lots of color schemes and tasteful options out there. I love decorating and color scheming!

I know that there are plenty of options. I just really like white.

EDIT: I should probably add that the one room in my parents' house that I was involved in the painting/deciding other than as manual labor features a full wall mural of the Amazon rainforest, and the one time I was put entirely in charge of painting a room (an office at the company I was working at at the time), I chose orange, blue, and green for the walls and did the ceiling tiles (which I couldn't replace) in a checkerboard pattern. I do appreciate color and brightness. It might just be that, for my foreseeable future, I will be living in very small apartments which really do benefit from monastic simplicity and white walls to create the illusion of space.

 

[Flicka]

My mother had a harvest-gold stove for a while and thought it was the best thing ever invented -- "it don't show the grease stains as much!"

I don't know how anyone could have wallpaper in a bathroom -- in mine, it's hard enough to keep paint on the walls with all the steam, let alone paper.

They don't much use it to be honest. I think that stuff will be the devil to come off - it isn't paper really but foil. Like aluminium foil, only gold.

But that comment about your mother made me go 'aha!' Knowing my mother the idea of having anything in a bathroom that could potentially allow stains or - perish the thought - poor cleaning was probably a sign of moral corruptness to her. Personally, I have always had a thing for bathrooms that look like they belong in a hospital - white, stark and sparkling. Probably old Mum's doing that too!