You cannot tell us these vintage group shower ads weren’t gay AF

“Why did we put our heads together? To save money!”

That was the tagline on an early 1960s magazine ad for Bradley Group Showers, a.k.a. Bradley Corporation, one of the bathroom industry’s leading manufacturers of commercial plumbing fixtures and washroom accessories.

The ad, which was designed to sell economical plumbing systems to colleges and sports teams, featured four musclebound young men, butt naked, and having way too much fun showering inches apart from one another.

“Handle large groups economically,” the ad reads.

Clearly, the totally-not-gay marketing strategy worked. Because a few years later, Bradley put out another ad, this time featuring not four but five hunky men all lathered up and sharing one fixture. (Look closely at those showerheads BTW. What do they remind you of?)

“Use this shower team and you’ll move people,” the ad says. “Lots of people, in and out of shower rooms. Fast!”

But it didn’t stop there.

Another ad from the early 1970s depicted not four, not five, but six guys lined up for their turn to get in on that fast Bradley shower action in a colorful locker room that looks not dissimilar to… a New York disco club?

Founded in 1917 by Harry Bradley, inventor of the washfountain, the Wisconsin-based Bradley Corporation is still around today, more than 100 years later. The company still makes group showers, too, available in several different prototypes. Although they’ve toned down their advertising.

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While you’re here, check out our slideshow of vintage male underwear ads…

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