14. There Was a Time When Exxon Did Not Think It Was Evil to Brag About Melting Glaciers
If you go through advertisements from back in the day, you will often come across ads that prior generations saw as totally innocuous and non-controversial. Reading those ads in the present and knowing what we know now, it becomes clear that they did not age well. Due to social, political, or technological advances and changes, things that seemed like a good idea and that were perfectly acceptable in one era, can be seen today as silly, ridiculous, or outright evil and offensive.
Take for example a 1962 ad by Humble Oil & Refining Company – which eventually rebranded as Exxon – for its Enco brand gasoline. Today, global warming is taken seriously by most people and the overwhelming majority of scientists, both in America and around the world. It was not always so. In the 1960s, Humble Oil – contra its name – bragged about its size and technical efficiency by boasting that it could melt millions of tons of glaciers every single day of the year.
