- The 1950s are often perceived as the family friendly, conservative generation. In reality, this generation was actually not as conservative as it seemed. Print ads in the 1950s started to become less conservative and more risqué. These ads were still much more censored than ads today, but their underlying motives were still the same. Sex sells and in the 1950s they began advertising this. The invention of Playboy magazine also proves that the 1950s were not as clean minded as they are perceived. The use of penicillin also began around this time and was curing STDs that were at the time deadly. Ads for this product were used to help stop the spread of STDs and in fact increased sexual behavior. The youth of the 1950s were in fact enticing, but in a subtle way.