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The hilariously outdated Christmas adverts they would never get away with today – The US Sun

Author

Samuel Coleman

Published Sep 16, 2026

AS the world’s biggest brands continue to unveil their show-stopping festive adverts, we look back at some of the most outrageous Christmas ads which include everything from handguns to ironing boards.

This year’s heart-warming Christmas adverts have had many of us feeling sentimental, these vintage holiday ads from the mid twentieth century have quite the opposite effect.

A 1980s cigarette Christmas advert featuring a smoking Santa Claus. Many cigarette companies had used a smoking Santa to sell their products, but this advert is significant as it's one of the first to carry a warning from the surgeon general in America

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A 1980s cigarette Christmas advert featuring a smoking Santa Claus. Many cigarette companies had used a smoking Santa to sell their products, but this advert is significant as it's one of the first to carry a warning from the surgeon general in AmericaCredit: News Dog Media
A 1931 Christmas advert for a rifle

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A 1931 Christmas advert for a rifleCredit: News Dog Media
A 1950s Christmas advert for boot polish featuring a scantily clad woman on her knees holding a sign with her new year's resolution written on it

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A 1950s Christmas advert for boot polish featuring a scantily clad woman on her knees holding a sign with her new year's resolution written on itCredit: News Dog Media
A mid-20th century Christmas advert for that most common of gifts, a Tomahawk

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A mid-20th century Christmas advert for that most common of gifts, a TomahawkCredit: News Dog Media
A 1917 Christmas advert for a rifle company, encouraging consumers to buy the deadly weapon for their young son

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A 1917 Christmas advert for a rifle company, encouraging consumers to buy the deadly weapon for their young sonCredit: News Dog Media
An early 20th century Christmas advert for a washing machine encouraging men to 'be a real Santa Claus'

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An early 20th century Christmas advert for a washing machine encouraging men to 'be a real Santa Claus'Credit: News Dog Media
An early 20th-century Christmas advert encouraging men to buy a chest for the females in their lives

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An early 20th-century Christmas advert encouraging men to buy a chest for the females in their livesCredit: News Dog Media
A 1951 Christmas advert for a set of bathroom scales

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A 1951 Christmas advert for a set of bathroom scalesCredit: News Dog Media
A 1930s Christmas advert for a firearms company, selling their range of rifles and pistols, featuring a young woman holding their biggest gun

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A 1930s Christmas advert for a firearms company, selling their range of rifles and pistols, featuring a young woman holding their biggest gunCredit: News Dog Media
A 1950s Christmas advert for a dishwasher that wouldn't be acceptable in today's sensitive, politically correct climate as it plays on the stereotype that it is a wife's job to wash all the dishes referring to the woman as a 'kitchen exile'

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A 1950s Christmas advert for a dishwasher that wouldn't be acceptable in today's sensitive, politically correct climate as it plays on the stereotype that it is a wife's job to wash all the dishes referring to the woman as a 'kitchen exile'Credit: News Dog Media
A 1958 Christmas advert for lady shaving razors

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A 1958 Christmas advert for lady shaving razorsCredit: News Dog Media
An early 20th-century Christmas advert for underwear garments

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An early 20th-century Christmas advert for underwear garmentsCredit: News Dog Media
A wholesome mid 20th century Christmas advert for cigarettes. With strict rules around advertising cigarettes in the 21st century, an ad like this would be unacceptable

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A wholesome mid 20th century Christmas advert for cigarettes. With strict rules around advertising cigarettes in the 21st century, an ad like this would be unacceptableCredit: News Dog Media
A Christmas advert from the 1970s, featuring a man with a black eye smoking a cigarette with the tagline 'Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!'

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A Christmas advert from the 1970s, featuring a man with a black eye smoking a cigarette with the tagline 'Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!'Credit: News Dog Media
A 1925 Christmas advert showing a Santa Claus leaning over one of his family members having bought a jewellery piece for them. The family member is provocatively dressed, particularly for the 1920s

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A 1925 Christmas advert showing a Santa Claus leaning over one of his family members having bought a jewellery piece for them. The family member is provocatively dressed, particularly for the 1920sCredit: News Dog Media
A wholesome mid 20th century Christmas advert for cigarettes. With strict rules around advertising cigarettes in the 21st century, an ad like this would be unacceptable

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A wholesome mid 20th century Christmas advert for cigarettes. With strict rules around advertising cigarettes in the 21st century, an ad like this would be unacceptableCredit: News Dog Media
A 1958 Christmas advert for toothpaste. The theme is that the woman has bad breath and is happy to be with a snowman, rather than be alone

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A 1958 Christmas advert for toothpaste. The theme is that the woman has bad breath and is happy to be with a snowman, rather than be aloneCredit: News Dog Media
A very happy Mrs. Santa Claus features in this 1950s Christmas advert, as she has just received an ironing board

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A very happy Mrs. Santa Claus features in this 1950s Christmas advert, as she has just received an ironing boardCredit: News Dog Media
A late 20th-century Christmas advert showing a little girl asking Santa Claus to buy her mother a vacuum cleaner for Christmas

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A late 20th-century Christmas advert showing a little girl asking Santa Claus to buy her mother a vacuum cleaner for ChristmasCredit: News Dog Media
A 1974 Christmas advert for whiskey, implying that a woman doesn't need mistletoe for a kiss, rather a few glasses of whiskey

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A 1974 Christmas advert for whiskey, implying that a woman doesn't need mistletoe for a kiss, rather a few glasses of whiskeyCredit: News Dog Media
A 1951 Christmas advert for a set of bathroom scales

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A 1951 Christmas advert for a set of bathroom scalesCredit: News Dog Media
A 1947 Christmas advert, encouraging husbands to buy a vacuum cleaner for their wives

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A 1947 Christmas advert, encouraging husbands to buy a vacuum cleaner for their wivesCredit: News Dog Media
A dramatic early 20th century Christmas for advert for Pyrene, a fire extinguisher that was very common in the 1900s

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A dramatic early 20th century Christmas for advert for Pyrene, a fire extinguisher that was very common in the 1900sCredit: News Dog Media
A 1946 Christmas advert for a watch company. It asks the man one simple question 'Which of these watches will bring you the nicest kisses Christmas Morning?'

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A 1946 Christmas advert for a watch company. It asks the man one simple question 'Which of these watches will bring you the nicest kisses Christmas Morning?'Credit: News Dog Media
This Christmas advert from 1950 encourages fathers to teach their son how to shoot safely

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This Christmas advert from 1950 encourages fathers to teach their son how to shoot safelyCredit: News Dog Media

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