Reddit Is In A Disarray Over An Old-School Aldi Ad

Advertising is very much about the moment. Many advertisements from the past not only wouldn't work today but might even be considered wildly offensive or dangerous. For example, one Reddit thread shows an ad they claim is from 1946 which declares "More Doctors Smoke Camels." Another Redditor found a product from Lloyd Manufacturing Co. that would help with toothaches. It claims to be an "Instantaneous Cure!" and costs just 15 cents. Of course, that product might be hard to find these days, because it's cocaine.

Aside from illegal narcotics and suggesting physicians use a product that the American Cancer Society says is known to cause cancer, advertisements from the past also show how much the world has changed. One user on Pinterest managed to track down an ad for instant coffee that made the claim, "Even a man can make perfect coffee." Then there's this Twitter picture that advertises a brand new 1982 Nissan Sentra for $4,949, which, given inflation, is about the price you'd pay for that exact same 1982 Nissan Sentra today.

To join in on all this retro goodness, one Redditor ran across an old Aldi newspaper advertisement, and it's causing many people to wax nostalgic about the good, or perhaps bad, old days of Aldi.

One Reddit user didn't say how they happened to have a nearly pristine newspaper from circa 1988 lying around, but when they started a thread with a picture of it, it ignited several strange discussions. The most vocal commenters seemed to be Aldi employees who noticed that the ad discussed payment methods. "Even in 1988, Aldi didn't accept checks," one person noted. They went on to explain that even though it seems Aldi hasn't allowed payment by check for more than thirty years, people are still trying to use them.

Another person says that Aldi wasn't always the beloved brand that it is now. "I remember shopping at Aldi in the 90s ... it was embarrassing to shop there," they said. They explained that because Aldi has always focused on low prices, shopping there "meant you were poor." But, "Now it's trendy to shop at Aldi," they concluded.

Naturally, the 30-year-old promotion had a lot of prices that were astoundingly cheaper than today, yet one person noticed that Aldi stores "haven't raised the prices on pork & beans in 3 decades." They then tipped their cap with a succinct, "Bravo."