I’ve seen worse. How about an easy contest to “win” a gold-plated brass ring (probably of the quality you used to get out of the small 10 cent capsule machines) except that along with your “prize” they send you packages of salve to sell? And they probably don’t even cure mange.
Yeah, more like six months to a year of said regimen, for a genetically non-gifted specimen to attain visible results.
I had one, too. IIRC, it was advertised as a “statue,” 
which I thought might be a cardboard stand-up thingie, which would have been cool. It had two glow-in-the-dark sticky circles to put on the eyes. For some reason, Frankenstein’s Monster fluttering in the breeze isn’t all that scary. 
His family probably owned a print shop.
I recently got some 1920s farm magazines at an estate sale, and one of them had an ad that said something like “KIDS! Send me your address, and I’ll send you a real Shetland pony!”
It was probably a picture of a pony, if they got anything at all.
GRIT is still published. It’s now a gardening and homesteading magazine. I do remember seeing the old-format ones in the beauty shop my mother and I went to when I was a kid.
I also got some 1960s issues of “Boy’s Life” at another estate sale, and THOSE “Sell Grit!” ads were for boys only, and the application form even said, “Are you a boy?”
I got that when I was a young kid. It was a big balloon on a string attached to a white plastic trash bag. The balloon had a spooky face on it. I was not impressed.
when i read comic books in the 80s various companies namely Olympic and a couple of knock offs tried to get kids selling greeting cards and wrapping and such for “prizes”
My brother was sent a “starter kit” but my grandma wouldn’t let us do it because of past experience when my dad and uncle did it … she said you did get the advertised prices. Still, you could never sell enough to get the cool video games that were like thousands of points because it averaged out to you had to sell something like 10 dollars to get a point … (it was even higher when we wanted to do it )
eventually, the federal government closed them all down under child labor laws
nods
American, or Burpee? I did American for several consecutive years. It did my shy introverted self some good, I think, and it’s not like I was a candidate for a better-paying gig.
Good question, but honestly I don’t remember. To me at the time they were just random packets with pictures of flowers or vegetables. Growing plants from seeds was something ‘old’ people did; the seeds were just product to move, so I could score some sweet Wacky Packs or bubblegum in a rope shape.
I sent off for Sea Monkeys. Yeah, the wait was excruciating. The product was better than I expected. The best part was the Johnson-Smith company catalog that came with the sea monkey kit.
I’ve seen them sold in museum gift shops, educational toy stores and other places where the “Sea Monkey” part is more nostalgic marketing but the sales angle is “Learn about biology via the miracle of brine shrimp”
Oh, I longed for the Pet Squirrel Monkey I saw advertised in Boy’s Life every month. But, my killjoy parents refused to front me the $14.95 plus S&H. Their reasoning was illogical. I mean, what household wouldn’t be better off with a monkey romping around in it?
So, I had to settle for those stupid sea monkeys. Sure, like all boys I lusted for naked Mama Monkey featured in the ad (and, she was “eager to please”)…but trust me, she don’t look so sexy in person.
That ad is full of shit in so many ways, but where they crossed the line was saying they could be “trained”. I guess the quotation marks makes it OK.
My God! What a massive fraud they pulled off.
For those who wanted the submarine:
Damn, I want that 2-person Orca sub! Don’t think my wife will go for the $90,000 price tag, though.
Maybe I start campaigning for a Porsche or Lambo as a late midlife crisis present to myself, and when she shoots that down, offer up the Orca sub as a consolation prize.
Yeah, quite a bit more than $6.95.
The 2-person sub is $90,000.00
The 5-person sub is $2,700,000.00
But if you sign up for their e-mail list, you can get $10.00 off!
What a bargain!
Check out some of the other offerings lower down in the “May we recommend” section of the Hammacher page. Flying hovercraft! Hot tub boat! World’s fastest amphibious car! If I ever win an 8-figure lottery payout, I know where I’m shopping.
My younger sister collected stamps. Being around 8 years old, she would just take whatever canceled stamps were on my parent’s mail. In the back of a magazine or comic book, there was an ad for collectible stamps. All you had to do was send in a quarter or maybe 50 cents and you would get a bunch of stamps (I don’t remember how many). I convinced my sister to order them. Well, she got an envelope full of stamps (there were some pretty interesting-looking ones) but she also got a bill for them. I wish I could remember how much it was, but it was enough that my parents weren’t too happy about it. I don’t recall if she got to keep them or if my mom sent them back.