Your world, wrapped in Cellophane

When Cellophane was invented at the beginning of the 20th Century, it must have seemed like a miracle. Foods and products once wrapped in ratty old paper and sack could be kept fresh, clean and attractive under wrap.

After all, this was an era in which the discovery of germs had created intense hygienic anxiety (My paternal grandmother used to Lysol-bomb the bathroom several times a day; my maternal one was a bleach fanatic in the kitchen.) The new synthetic packaging was the perfect way to keep contagion out of your cheese:

Bacon:

Smokes:

 And... underpants?

But perhaps those plastic-age consumers were a little too enthusiastic...

These baby ads have been lampooned by Copyranter, among others. I can see what those naive old admen were up to, just using the old standard of using a cute baby to sell anything. But couldn't they at least have punched a few air holes?

Collection via Retronaut