Thursday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1962. In this ad, part of series entitled “This calls for …,” in this case “The Neighbors?” Four men, presumably all neighbors, are drinking beer in one of their kitchens, and, apparently “swapping ideas.” I can’t figure out why one of the men there is holding two bottles behind his back, almost hidden from the other three people. He’s also the only one without a glass of beer in his hand. Maybe he just arrived, and pulled them out of the refrigerator, and grabbed two so he could catch up?
That ad’s incongruous for 1962, given that all 4 men are black, so it’s likely that it ran only in Ebony & other periodicals pitched to black audiences. For sure it wasn’t in Time, Life, Newsweek, SI, . Further, they’re so OVERDRESSED for a kitchen gathering (same would be true for any ethnicity).
That ad’s a retro OMG surprise for anyone attuned to history – the only honkies who may have seen it were those whose who were in academia/music/arts, or who lived in mixed ‘hoods.
Would be interesting to find out the story of that ad. – As for the guy w/2 bottles behind his back – the bottles are empty & he’s up one on his compadres & waiting for them to catch up 🙂