Early Advertising Sold the Glamour and Safety of Aviation
Back in the days when most people still traveled by ocean liner or train, the public had to be convinced that air travel was safe, enjoyable and glamorous. For decades, Boeing and Douglas promoted products such as the Stratocruiser, DC-6 and 707 with ads in various business, consumer and travel magazines.
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This ad from the early 1930s promoted the Model 247. The all-metal, streamlined plane was hailed as the first modern airliner. The ad claimed that “Boeing has always built tomorrow’s airplanes today.”
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This ad from the late 1940s proclaimed that the Model 307 Stratoliner was the “heir to the supremacy of the Flying Fortress.” Copy explained that the “Four engines have proved their reliability in regularly scheduled transoceanic service. The Stratoliner is the world’s first commercial air transport in which normal low-altitude atmospheric conditions are automatically maintained in the cabin during upperlevel flight.”
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This ad for the 707 and 720 is from the late 1950s, the dawn of the jet age.
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This ad for the DC-6 touted “Douglas’ years of prior experience building 80 percent of all air transports.”
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Double-deck airliners were around long before the 747 debuted in the early 1970s. This Boeing ad from 1946 promoted the spacious layout of the new Model 377 Stratocruiser.
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“Make your next flight an experience in gracious living at jet speed,” proclaimed this late 1950s ad. “Make a date with DC-8. You’ll agree it’s the world’s most glamorous jetliner!"
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In the early 1950s, the Boeing Stratocruiser opened up exotic new vacation destinations for United and other airlines.
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This ad emphasized the fact that Boeing was the leading manufacturer of safe, reliable four-engine aircraft.
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"Aboard a Boeing Stratocruiser you’ll experience a new kind of ride - incomparably smoother than you've ever known in surface transportation of any kind - or in any other airplane," claimed this as from the late 1940s
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"You'll be delighted with the feeling of solid security you get from flight aboard this swift new skyliner,” read the copy of this ad from the early 1960s. “There is only luxurious comfort, and a sense of exhilaration from the almost magical ease and smoothness of 707 flight"