1970s
Pig Poop Sniffer
If you think your job sucks, it could always be worse. You could be smelling pig excrement for $1 a day.
Cedar Rapids Gazette - Aug 25, 1978
Posted By: Alex - Sun Oct 13, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Jobs and Occupations, Excrement, 1970s
Underwear on head in restaurant
“How would you like to be eating a hamburger and turn around and see some dude wearing jockey shorts on his head?”
Indianapolis News - May 20, 1977
Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 12, 2019 -
Comments (3)
Category: Eccentrics, Headgear, Underwear, 1970s
Exploding Dog Food
This happened in 1973, but it seems that cans of dog food explode somewhat frequently (see here and here). So perhaps this is a 'no longer weird' phenomenon.
The Lompoc Record - Feb 9, 1973
Posted By: Alex - Sat Oct 05, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Explosives, 1970s
The family that threw away $100,000
This had to hurt. As far as I can tell, they never did find the lost money.I wonder if Doug faced any kind of punishment. Though arguably it's the mother's fault for storing such valuable financial documents in a laundry basket.
NY Daily News - July 3, 1970
Richmond Palladium Item - July 2, 1970
Posted By: Alex - Wed Sep 25, 2019 -
Comments (4)
Category: Money, 1970s
Scuffy Shew
Posted By: Paul - Fri Sep 06, 2019 -
Comments (3)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Music, 1970s, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
Cheese Whey Wine
cheese whey
source: cheesemaking.com
One possibility was to dehydrate it into a protein powder that could be fed to livestock, or bodybuilders. But in the mid-1970s, researchers at Oregon State University hit upon a potentially more lucrative use: making wine out of whey. They detailed their study in a pamphlet titled “Utilization of Cheese Whey for Wine Production.”
The reason this was possible is because the lactose in whey will ferment, if one uses the right microorganisms. The end result was a whey wine that, according to the researchers, "was acceptable to a great majority of tasters, who preferred it slightly sweet.” Which doesn't sound exactly like a glowing recommendation. Nevertheless, the researchers were enthusiastic about the potential of whey wine:
It doesn't seem that their dream of raking in the big bucks with whey wine ever panned out. The idea of whey-based alcohol products is still kicking around, however. Various gins and vodkas made from whey can be found, such as Bertha's Revenge Irish Milk Gin or Sheep Whey Gin. But I can't find any wines being made from whey.
There's more info about whey-based spirits at SevenFifty.com, and here's an article about an effort to make whey beer.
Posted By: Alex - Thu Sep 05, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Food, Inebriation and Intoxicants, 1970s, Alcohol
Black Samson
The Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Aug 28, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Antisocial Activities, Crime, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Movies, Exploitation and Grindhouse, 1970s
Every body needs milk
In 1969, the dairy industry launched an advertising campaign with the slogan, "Every body needs milk."In Oregon, the marketing team decided to conduct an experiment to find out whether showing more skin on a billboard would attract more attention. To do this, they created two different versions of an image. Both showed an attractive young woman lying down, feeding milk to a kitten. But in one version she was wearing slacks and a long-sleeved blouse. In the other, she was wearing a bikini.
It took me a lot of searching, and I wasn't able to find very good-quality copies, but I believe these are the two different billboard scenes:
Source: Flickr
Minneapolis Star - Feb 20, 1970
So, did one billboard attract more attention than the other? The marketers surveyed 231 teenagers and concluded that there was "no indication that the amount of clothing made any difference in the awareness."
Salem Capital Journal - May 6, 1970
That was their conclusion, but I'm not sure I believe them, because the rest of the marketing campaign focused heavily on bikini-clad models. Two examples below.
They even made it possible to buy the bikini-themed images as a poster and towel. Which suggests the bikini billboards did attract more attention.
Oakland Tribune - May 24, 1970
The Capital Journal - June 3, 1970
Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 22, 2019 -
Comments (4)
Category: Advertising, 1970s, Billboards
Crazy Cow Cereal
Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 22, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Food, Advertising, Corporate Mascots, Icons and Spokesbeings, 1970s
Youngster got high on hamburgers
A strange affliction to suffer from.
The Alexandria Town Talk - Jan 14, 1976
Posted By: Alex - Mon Aug 12, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: Food, Health, 1970s
| Who We Are |
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |