Bullies, Revenge & Getting The Girl

In the 1920’s comic book readers started to see an advertisement in the back of the book that would reach an iconic level of success.

A young man walking on a beach with an attractive young woman is ridiculed by a bully, has sand kicked in his face and is publically embarrassed. Later that night he’s so filled with anger he kicks over a chair, vows to make a change, and orders a product through the mail (the very product the comic book ad is selling). In a short time, the young man transforms from a skinny weakling to muscular youth who returns to the beach, knocks his former bully out, and gets the attention of women.

The ad was for the Dynamic Tension muscle building course developed by Charles Atlas.

The story is based on an actual story from Atlas’s youth. Atlas immigrated from Italy to Brooklyn at a young age. His small size and lack of English made him the victim of bullying, which sparked the beginning of a fitness journey that lead him to becoming one of the most recognizable bodybuilders of the era.

Over the years the long running ad underwent a few changes, but maintained a few key elements that propped up it’s success.

The first was an eye catching headline that attracted the attention of its core audience - young males. The ad takes the reader on a journey through comic cells of a ‘worst case scenario’ where he is dominated by a larger, stronger male and is embarrassed in front of women who then make fun of him. The ad of course hits on all the traditional pain points of an adolescent male.

The turning point is when the youth orders Atlas’s program. Shortly thereafter the youth undergoes a transformation. He not only turns the tables on the bully but walks off into the sunset with an attractive woman.

The story itself contains the call to action - to clip out a small order from from the ad and to mail it in for the free program.

Charles Atlas eventually became a millionaire by selling fitness courses. Versions of this ad still exist today in any men’s fitness magazine. It works because the private pain points and desires of young men are the same every generation. Magazines will often give away free workouts within the magazine with ads for supplements and gear. Often with the implicit message that buying their product will give readers a secret edge over men.

Charles Atlas Ltd survives the death of Atlas himself. The website continues to market the original Dynamic Tension program - however now it also sells select supplements and vintage memorabilia. Nearly a century later, the aesthetic of the vintage beach body continues to be iconic.

Not all ads live forever, but the underlying drives and motivations of the customers often don’t change. Once those are understood, the formula of grabbing the audience's attention and pulling those levers to make the prospective customer take action.