Not only coupons - VALUABLE coupons. When the economy collapses and we're back to barter, these will be as good as currency. The towels themselves are soft, fluffy, and gay. The handtowels are, of course, thirsty.

The meritricious tinny cheapness of the era's design can be found in the copy touting the Pine Cone DECORATED TRAYS - the "Rich design" of the pine boughs is set against a "wood grain effect background."

Wood-grained plastic, wood-grained metal - it would infect the culture for decades, the consumer-product equivalent of polyester pants. Ersatz, synthetic, cheap, a gimcrack substance that only served to remind you of the better thing it replaced.

On the other hand: Teflon! I haven't thought of Teflon for years, a testament to whatever replaced it in the mind of consumers.