Tuesday’s ad is for Stag Beer, whose original name was “Kaiser Beer” until 1907. In an effort to avoid growing anti-German sentiment, Star Brewing held a contest to pick a new name. A winner was chosen today in 1907, and the beer was renamed “Stag Beer.” It proved a very popular name. The ad below ran in a Pennsylvania newspaper in 1959. It features the popular UPA cartoon character Mr. Magoo.
Mr. Magoo debuted in 1949 and was voiced by Jim Backus, perhaps most well-known as Thurston Howell III on the television series Gilligan’s Island.
But being a cartoon, where Mr. Magoo really shined was in cartoon commercials for Stag.
You have to love the cartoon of an adult character who’s allowed to act like an adult. That would never happen nowadays.
Here’s an example of one of the Mr. Magoo ads for Stag Beer.
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Great ads for a run-of-the mill beer from way back (I tried it when I lived in the DC area in the 60′s-70′s). Mr. Magoo is one of my all-time favorite cartoons!