Iconic Meb Ribbed-Cardigan Poster: A Throwback to Playboy's August 1993 Issue
July 23, 2023 in Models & Actresses Photos by Charlotte Sinclair
Looking back at the pop culture of the past, it's fascinating to see how fashion, media, and advertising intertwined.
A prime example of this fusion can be found in the August 1993 issue of Playboy, which featured a quirky advertisement for the Meb Ribbed-Cardigan. The poster, now considered a nostalgic piece of advertising history, presented the cardigan priced at $32.50 and proudly wore by an unconventional endorser - Beldar Conehead.
Beldar Conehead is a beloved fictional character from the comedy franchise 'Coneheads,' which started as a series of sketches on Saturday Night Live before morphing into a full-length film released by Paramount Pictures. Beldar, hailed as the Underlord of Remulak and patriarch of the Conehead family, was soon to hit the big screens when this advertisement was published.
The ad, designed with a tongue-in-cheek approach, smartly leveraged the forthcoming 'Coneheads' movie, indicating its release date - 'At theaters everywhere July 23.' The offbeat choice of featuring a comedic alien character as a fashion model, flaunting the ribbed cardigan, was an unconventional advertising strategy that has since remained in public memory.
Looking back, this Meb Ribbed-Cardigan advertisement serves as a reminder of the daring and imaginative approaches taken by marketers in the 90s. It successfully merged fashion, cinema, and humor, resulting in a poster that not only sold cardigans but also made a lasting impression in pop culture.