At least, I will now.

This comes from a collection of posters advertising against Syphilis, collected at the  “The Passion of Former Days” blog, which are worth checking out if you have a moment and want to see some interesting posters. I just can’t get over the design decisions that led to this poster. Can you see a Don Draper-style meeting between a “creative” and his boss on this project?

BOSS: “Good news, Jimmy!”

JIMMY: “What’s that, boss?”

BOSS: “The eggheads and pointdexters over in R&D have finally come up with something useful. Seems as though Syphilis is now curable.”

JIMMY: “Criminy! Can’t wait to tell the wife! She’s been on my back about getting that checked out for ages.”

BOSS: “Don’t I know it. Anywho, we need a new campaign to let the world know. Something with some whiz-bang. A real socko poster that says ‘Hey, got Syph? Not for long!'”

JIMMY: “Hmm, maybe it’s the Syphilis talking, but what about dinosaurs?”

BOSS: “A sexually transmitted disease poster featuring an extinct animal. I don’t know if it’s my Syphilis talking, but I think that’s gangbusters. Can we set the whole thing in Neuland?”

JIMMY: “You bet your ass we can, boss.”

BOSS: “Jimmy, this is why you’re our best ad man. You really keep your finger on the pulse of things. Real cutting-edge thinking. That’s what’s gonna beat the Krauts, don’t cha know.”

JIMMY: “Now if only they’d find a way to get rid of my herpes!”

BOSS: “That’ll be the day, Jimmy. That’ll be the day.”

And oh good, now I have the “Syphilis” tag on my website. Let’s all hope that doesn’t come up much, or if it does it goes away quickly.

Thanks to @ryanqnorth, @dirtbagg (via @annakrentz) for all the linkage that brought this to my attention.