As my Philadelphia theme comes to an end, as does my time at Philly Beer Week, Friday’s ad is for Gretz Beer, never a big force in Philadelphia market, but by 1957 were still hanging on as the smallest brewery left in Philly. You can read below what they were trying to do with their “small car series” of ads, but the exchange between the two men in the Fiat feels forced. It doesn’t feel like a natural conversation, it screams adspeak.
According to Rusty Cans:
The Gretz car series was issued starting in late 1957 by the Gretz Brewing Company in Philadelphia. The smallest of the last four breweries in Philadelphia, Gretz decided to make its small size a selling point by comparing its beer to a sports car. Small cars were better, they argued, and so was a beer from a small brewery! As part of the promotion Gretz bought 11 of the latest sport cars and painted them yellow and black to match the Gretz label colors, with a Gretz logo on the sides. The cars were introduced at the Army-Navy Game in Philadelphia at the end of November 1957 (Navy won 14-0).
And here’s another:
It’s for their bock using the iconic brewery character from 1951.
I love this image of the Gretz guy, and in fact have a t-shirt of it I got from Yesterbeer. I also say an original tray with the same image behind the bar at the Kite & Key last night.
The Gretz brewery is still standing. There’s a big smokestack with Gretz painted on it. The building’s a real shambles — but at least it’s still there.
Wasn’t there a mechanical sign somewhere in Philadelphia in the 1950’s? The big front wheel used to spin?
Hello Jay Brooks,
I’ve got a question, I’m Felix Gretz from Germany, last year i visited the gretz beer company and also the old brewery.
Now i want to build a private bar into my appartment.
I want to create a light shield with the blue gretz beer logo (blue background and yellow font.
Do you have this image in high resolution?
Please contact me
Felixgretz@aol.com
Thanks 🙂
Sorry, Felix. The image on my blog is the highest resolution I could find.