A Ribena advertisement from 1965, one for Gardenia from 1984 and a SPIN detergent ad printed using scented ink are among the highlights of a unique exhibition, in which newspaper ads take centrestage.

Launched last Wednesday by Singapore Press Holdings and titled For The Love of Newspaper Advertisements - 50 Years of Newsprint Creativity, the exhibition at Paragon mall features iconic and nostalgic newspaper advertisements from the last half-century.

The advertisements are grouped by year, transporting visitors across five decades and showing them how newsprint creativity has changed over time.

Ads from 1965 to 1974 were mostly printed in black and white, while the 1975 to 1984 period saw the introduction of spot colour - in which only certain parts of the ads were coloured - as well as full colour.

A decade fuelled by pop culture from 1985 to 1994 brought with it highly innovative ads, including some that were printed with scented and luminous ink. The SPIN detergent ad, for example, let readers smell the scent of the detergent as they read the newspaper. This period also saw the rise of creative buys, which are ads that do not fit the standard newspaper page format, such as special newspaper wrappers.

The 1995 to 2004 period spawned ads that told stories, while those in the last decade sported eye-catching styles, and were enhanced with new-age technologies.

For The Love of Newspaper Advertisements - 50 Years of Newsprint Creativity is being held at Paragon until tomorrow, from 10am to 10pm daily. The exhibition is open to the public and admission is free.

Jasmine Osada