Photos: Advertising and showcasing Washington in another era

Color postcard with a map of the state of Washington highlights several scenes and vistas particular to the state, circa 1940. The postcard was published by EC Kropp. Color postcard with a map of the state of Washington highlights several scenes and vistas particular to the state, circa 1940. The postcard was published by EC Kropp. Photo: Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images Photo: Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images Image 1 of / 39 Caption Close Photos: Advertising and showcasing Washington in another era 1 / 39 Back to Gallery

From selling apples to offering food to sharing roadside attractions in hopes of drawing tourists, advertisers have taken all the routes.

In today's world, they sometimes seem a little less direct and a lot more obscure.

But when you look back at how people used to hawk their goods, the picture is sometimes confusing, funny or just plain blank.

A number of these pictures from the 1920s and 1930s are included in some new archival collections from Getty Images.

Apple companies in Washington tried them all, certainly. Some used Native Americans chomping big red apples, as if to say, 'If the natives like them, so shall you.'

Another pictured a girl throwing a snowball. It's not clear what that's supposed to say about the apples.

Postcards showed roadside motels along a state Route 99 that isn't recognizable to the highway we know today.

And then there are the ads for the region as a whole.

One is an obscure watercolor painting of a dirt road near golfers on a course, near a beach and backgrounded by mountains. They may have exaggerated just a bit there.

Click through the images above to see them all.