Flashback: Sex Sells (Stucco Shacks)

"Hubba hubba!" was probably what the kids, or at least their gross uncles, would have said back then.

Set the controls of the Earth-Toned Wayback Machine to 1975, a freer, more liberated time when the fancypants advertising Mauve Men (and clearly they were men) whose job it was to sell planned community townhomes nowhere near towns knew how to move some stucco and plywood units, baby!

Of course the rest of the ad talked about all the resort-like amenities Reston had to offer, including pools (LOL), golf (double LOL), and all the things "vacations are made of," all for the low starting price of $25,750. Surprisingly, they didn't mention Reston's Sexy Past, but they did include this bit of unintended humor:

It's almost as if amenities have intrinsic value that contribute to quality of life in a built environment that, in turn, makes said built environment better to live in, and therefore capable of commanding higher prices in the marketplace, as evidenced by the premise guiding the primary focus of this advertising. Almost!

But we digress. Zipping back to ought-minus-100-plus-75, Don Draper Deep Russet Brown even managed to "close" the ad copy by making a Modest Proposal: "Take the money you were going to spend on your vacation and use it for a down payment on a house in Reston."

Still not convinced? Take a look at that top image again, and then read further:

Everything?

Here's the full ad, in all its glory: