Sex, patriotism and Donald Trump cologne: the US adverts that explain the 00s

The Guardian

10-04-2025

As the longtime editor of Taschen's All-American Ads book series, cultural historian Jim Heimann has helped chronicle the shifting landscape of commercial artistry through each decade of the 20th century. Now, with a final volume dedicated to the 2000s, Heimann has completed what he calls a 'swan song' – not just for the series, but for an entire era of advertising. It presents the last moment before social media and the decline of print media transformed the industry for ever.
The 2000s were fraught with social, political and cultural disruptions. Chief among them were the September 11 terrorist attacks, which sparked a dramatic wave of national trauma that simultaneously drove the advertising industry to embrace patriotism while seeking escapism. Brands such as Budweiser, with its iconic Clydesdale tribute – which sees a team of horses pulling a beer wagon to New York before bowing their heads towards the Manhattan skyline – channelled unity, while luxury brands offered distraction through aspirational messaging.
'It was a transitional period,' says Heimann. 'There were not these huge changes that you would see from the 30s to the 40s, and the 40s to the 50s, in terms of things like fashion and cars.' Instead the 2000s was notable for the prevalence of nostalgia, with many campaigns harking back to previous eras of American dominance.
The main innovations in the sector came from tech companies, who had an unparalleled ability to harness the tide of economic optimism and hire the best ad execs. Among the most influential campaigns of the era were Apple's silhouette iPod advertisements. With striking imagery of black shapes dancing against vibrant backgrounds, the campaign looked beyond traditional selling points – such as product features and price – to sell a new way of living. 'Their campaigns reflect that sophistication,' Heimann says. He compares this approach in the 2000s to Apple's famous 1984 campaign, which featured a flagship Ridley Scott-directed Super Bowl ad: 'From an advertising point of view, it wasn't so much print as much as the television and video. That's where it really struck its core.'
Despite technological evolution, certain advertising constants remained and arguably reached their apotheosis in the period. 'The one thing that never seems to change is sex,' Heimann observes. 'Sex sells, women sell and, in the last 40 years, exploiting women has been a consistent way to go.' The book features numerous examples of this, including controversial Calvin Klein campaigns and provocative alcohol advertisements such as the one for Skyy Blue vodka, where the viewer looks through a woman's legs at the product.
Celebrity endorsements also reached new heights, becoming central to marketing strategies. 'Look at who's endorsing fragrances,' Heimann says. 'David Beckham, Paris Hilton. You go down the line – everybody jumped on that bandwagon.' In this case, everybody includes a bronzed, smiling Donald Trump, pictured in the book posing with his new wife Melania in an ad for Donald Trump the fragrance. In many ways, the era's biggest campaigns prefigure the rise of influencer marketing. As traditional media fragmented, brands increasingly relied on familiar faces to cut through the noise, transforming celebrities from mere endorsers into brand architects whose personal mythology became inseparable from the products.
The rise of environmental consciousness also created intriguing contradictions in advertising. Innovations such as the Toyota Prius promised eco-friendly cars, while Hummer advertisements celebrated gas-guzzling excess. 'Those are the kind of contrasts you look for,' Heimann notes. 'In one section you have the environment being concerned, and then the next section you've got these giant gas-eating monsters.'
The true significance of the 2000s in advertising history may be its position at the precipice of fundamental change. 'Where is advertising going?' says Heimann. 'Well, we know where it's gone, and it's not print … with online and influencers, and now AI, who knows what advertising is going to be? You don't even need a human any more. You don't need advertising agencies. You don't even know whether it's real!'
As well as celebrated ads, the book features a number that missed their mark, including one perplexing ad for Axe Dry deodorant, which features the surely unprecedented scene of a model holding a glass of wine in one hand, while the other is wrapped around her partner, a stubby, mutated foot with a 'vaguely vaginal hairy armpit for a face'. 'You want to know who was in that meeting', says Heimann. 'Who gave the green light to go with some of this stuff!'
For Heimann, the book serves as both celebration and epitaph for an era when advertising retained its quality: 'It's depressing but the 2000s were the final time where real people made real campaigns. And for better and for worse, you know, it's in this book.'
All-American Ads 2000s, published by Taschen, is out now.
Omega, 2006James Bond has long been a staple of high-end advertising, with many campaigns employing a retrofuturist vision of the 60s. This ad appeared when Daniel Craig began playing the iconic spy and tied in with the film's return to a rugged, masculine aesthetic after the Pierce Brosnan era had leaned heavily on gadget wizardry.
Hummer, 2002This Hummer advertisement embodies the conflict between environmentalism and masculinity perfectly. The comically large SUVs, popularised in the US by Arnold Schwarzenegger, had become symbolic of an era where bigger meant better, a mentality that was beginning to face cultural scrutiny as the decade progressed.
Conservation International, 2008In the 2000s, NGOs and public bodies used advertising techniques to appeal for a less consumerist culture. Conservation International were criticised for their work with companies such as BP and Exxon, with Heimann remarking that it became important for the industry to rehabilitate its public image.
Evian, 2000The 'Evian mermaid' ad featured a very artistic concept that was highly unusual at the time for such a quotidian product. The ad was notable enough that it likely inspired a scene in the movie Zoolander (2001), in which the title character plays a 'merman' for a beauty campaign, to the chagrin of his friends and family.
SKYY vodka, 2002While sexually explicit imagery has long been a feature of advertising, the 2000s is particularly notable for evincing a sort of hypersexuality that frequently bordered on the comic. 'Flicking through the magazines you see sexuality being expressed in all kinds of weird situations,' says Heimann. 'I thought there was something zeitgeisty as well as graphically interesting about the stilettos being featured as prominently as the product.'
Earth Day 2009Earth Day, an annual environmental event, produced this image to promote its day of activism in 2009. It was chosen as the book's cover image to reflect the rise of environmentalism in the 2000s.