Monday’s ad is for Heineken, from the 1970s. In the later 1970s, Heineken embarked on a series of ads with the tagline “Heineken Refreshes the Parts Other Beers Cannot Reach.” Many of the ads were in a sequential panel, or comic strip, format and they were intended to be humorous.
In this ad, a three-panel format, the main protagonist from the television series “Dallas,” which aired from 1978-1991, J.R. Ewing. “The character was portrayed by Larry Hagman. As the show’s most famous character, J. R. has been central to many of the series’ biggest storylines. He is depicted as a covetous, egocentric, manipulative and amoral oil baron with psychopathic tendencies, who is constantly plotting subterfuges to plunder his foes’ wealth.” In the first panel, a grinning J.R. stares straight ahead, obviously up to no good. In the second, he’s now holding a mug of beer, which presumably he’s downed half of, though his devilish expression has not changed. But by the third, the beer has apparently kicked in and a halo has appeared above J.R.’s head. I guess beer turned the naturally evil Ewing good.
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