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This image of people wearing swimsuits in a room with computer hardware popped up on Twitter recently.

a woman wearing a swimsuit operating a computer in front, a man and a woman wearing swimsuits reading in the background

Where was this advertisement published, and what computing product or service is it offering?

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  • 1
    Implying sysadmin that has ever seen inside of gym
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Jun 24, 2020 at 17:22
  • 6
    Not sure how the advert is 'sexist'when it features men and women!
    – code head
    Commented Jun 25, 2020 at 12:19
  • 6
    Especially when the man is showing more skin than any of the women.
    – pipe
    Commented Jun 25, 2020 at 15:58
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    @arBemo58, look at the footwear. The man is wearing comfortable slippers, while the woman is wearing "check out my legs" spike heels.
    – Mark
    Commented Jun 25, 2020 at 22:46
  • I Know It's Old,.... But Those Look Like Loafers To Me.
    – Wranorn
    Commented Dec 12, 2023 at 1:13

2 Answers 2

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It's advertising computer room air conditioning.

enter image description here

No doubt appeared in some late 1970's or early 1980's US-based computer magazine. But exactly which one I couldn't find based on a little bit of searching for phrases and keywords in the full advertisement.

JdeBP reports the ad appearing in 1982 and 1983 in "Computer Decisions" magazine. I could not find an on-line copy to confirm that but I did dig up a Google Books search that refers to the ad.

"Airflow" in Computer Decisions Volume 15

enter image description here

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    Telex and TWX but no Fax # is a clue to the timing - i.e., definitely no later than early 1980s.
    – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact
    Commented Jun 23, 2020 at 17:24
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    Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Vol. 1033, Number 5 ("Trademarks"; August 30, 1983), page "TM 642", says of the "DATAC" mark: "For Computer Room Air Conditioners (U.S. Cl. 34). <newline> First use Jul. 16, 1982; in commerce Jul. 16, 1982". So, that puts a lower bound on the date. That, combined with manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact's comment, leaves a pretty narrow time-range. :-)
    – ruakh
    Commented Jun 23, 2020 at 18:22
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    The publication is most likely a "trade rag" as indicated by the "Circle 102" at the bottom. At first I thought it might be from Datamation, but that seems to have used "Circle [num] on Reader Card" in the relevant time frame.
    – njuffa
    Commented Jun 23, 2020 at 19:02
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    @manassehkatz-Moving2Codidact You know what you have to do. Drive out there and find that old guy that's been with the company forever, show him (yes, it will be a him) the ad and he'll hopefully dig out the actual magazine.
    – pipe
    Commented Jun 24, 2020 at 8:17
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    Apparently they were. Further searching turns up volume 15 of Computer Decisions, Hayden Publishing, 1983; pages 77 and 163. Page 163 has "circle 92", though. For "circle 102" you want the same advertisement in volume 14 of Computer Decisions, also Hayden Publishing, 1982, page 179.
    – JdeBP
    Commented Jun 24, 2020 at 15:42
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I see DATAC on the advert. On googling I found the following:

Since 1977, the DTAC commitment to the customer, a quality heavy equipment air conditioning product and specialized service has helped us grow into a reputable manufacturer of heat/cool systems for heavy equipment. http://www.dtac.com/

This tells you an earliest date for the advert. Furthermore they are a US firm so the computer is probably an IBM.

Here's an IBM 360. You can see that the console is a teletype so this is an earlier model than the one in your picture which has monitors.

enter image description here

I'm sure a little googling would track down the actual model. I don't have time to do it right now.

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    I love the old tape drives and classic style. Makes me want to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade!
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Jun 24, 2020 at 17:24
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    I don't think we can see the actual computer in the photo. We can see a couple of vacuum-column tape drives in the background, which are definitely IBM style; they could be 3420s. The terminals in the foreground could easily be IBM 3270s.
    – Chromatix
    Commented Jun 24, 2020 at 23:32
  • For some reason that equipment in the original ad screamed "DEC" to me. Perhaps the shade of blue.
    – T.E.D.
    Commented Jun 25, 2020 at 13:49
  • @Chromatix The terminals are a pair of 3278s.
    – Eight-Bit Guru
    Commented Jun 25, 2020 at 13:56
  • @Eight-BitGuru I had the right series, then. I think the case shape is about the same, but the keyboard is different.
    – Chromatix
    Commented Jun 25, 2020 at 20:47

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