Monday’s ad is for is by the U.S. Brewers Association, from 1961. Beginning during World War II, the USBIF began a series of positive ads under the name “Morale is a Lot of Little Things” followed by an unnumbered series of illustrated ads that were a precursor to the numbered “Home Life in America,” the crown jewel of ads which ran from 1945 to 1956, also known as the Beer Belongs series. But they didn’t end there, and for a short time afterward, beginning in 1956, several more similar ads were created but without the numbering or the “Home Life in America” association. Shortly thereafter, the ads continued to use thematic elements from the earlier ads, but they became more conventional, using photographs instead of art.
In this ad, another one entitled “A Glass Of Beer Is Many Things,” the scene is a woman in line at the grocery store, but the ad copy is about the contributions of the brewing industry to the economy. But the other thing I noticed is there’s a small sign at the front of the carts that reads “No Tipping Please.” Was tipping at the grocery store something people did in the early 1960s?
I worked in a grocery store 1971-78, so a few comments & observations:
“No tipping” likely referred to:
1) Bag boys who put your haul into your car when you pulled up front (chain I worked for prohibited the unionized grunts from accepting them, but never enforced it – on a busy Fri nite, Sat afternoon, the guys doing so made a few extra bucks); or
2) Parents who would ride their kids on the bottom (the carts in the pic have no fold-out seat for a small kid; those came mid-60’s), then bounce them by tipping backward for a cheap thrill ride for the kid(s).
Other oddities/anomalies jumped out – telling me that the photographer who set that shot up was somewhat clueless about grocery stores – to wit:
1) No tape coming out of the cash register, even tho items are past the cashier & presumed rung up;
2) Cashier’s hand position is WRONG – thumb always should be on the bottom row of keys, not to mention that the long-sleeved white shirt-jacket is incongruous;
3) The “hole” at the front of the counter, which didn’t have a conveyor belt (unless it was out for repair); and
4) The weird stuff in the cart/on the counter – 12-pack cans of soda didn’t exist in the 60’s (soda came in bottles, mostly returnables), neither did multi-packs of canned goods.
So what the hell was in those boxes & what’s that flask-shaped item atop what looks to be a boxed pie?