Sex Sells #3: Camper Tramps

Only in the 1970s could it be possible for a standard camper brochure to become a smutty mess. The very thought that a camper ad could resemble a porno is impossible for my feeble 2009 mind to grasp. Understanding quantum mechanics is a cake walk compared to wrapping my brain around this concept.

Why should I bother trying to figure it out? Well, for one - as Chaka so eloquently (and humorously) pointed out: I am "to the 70's what Ken Burns is to documentaries." Thus, it is in my very nature to obsess about everything that came from that unique decade and grasp its inner grooviness.

[You can view the whole brochure at Retrocrush - the granddaddy of all retro sites. I should warn you though- there's pop-ups galore!]

Back to the analysis. I think the reason as to how this kind of world could exist hinges on two things:

1) Baby Boomers had taken over the world. They were everywhere and outnumbered both the geezers and the youngins by a wide margin. They could give a damn about a sexed up RV advertisement - they gave the middle finger to their parents "old fashioned" ideals, and they were WAY too self absorbed to worry about impressionable kids (if they'd bothered to have any yet).

2) The "free love" mentality was in full swing. Instead of just being a bunch of normal horny college kids, these Boomers turned their horniness into a transcendent philosophy. "Make love not war." If you can't be with the one you love, honey - love the one you're with. The 1970s were the result of the free love philosophy put into action, and the movies, TV shows, advertisements, etc. reflected that.

Source for the above ad: The awesome Paco Camino blog. And here's another one - this one from the amazingly comprehensive iiiDragon advert collection. The list of camper ads of a similar vein could go on and on and on. Of course, this was the 70's and even horse manure ads got sexed up. Viva la 70's!


  1. You have to see the full brochure at retrocrush! He was not exagerating. Nice post. I suddenly have the urge to go look at campers.

  2. I'll definitely have to check out that full brochure. I never thought about campers quite in that way. I guess anything could be sexed up. Plus if you were traveling around in one of those, you would find all sorts of people to sleep with. We had a camper when I was growing up, but I don't think any of us saw it as a sex machine.

  3. What Keith said. Who knew that family down the street were such swingers!

    And is that Joan van Ark on the couch in that last photo!?

  4. Yes, campers were love machines - but so were vans, muscle cars, lowriders, ... hell, everything on four wheels was a love machine in the 1970s!

  5. "If the trailer's rockin', don't come a-knockin' ".

  6. im spanish spoker, and ¨Viva la 70's¨
    dont have sense: is

    Vivan los 70`s.