Friday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1908. In the first decade of the 20th century, Schlitz Brewing, then one of the largest breweries in the U.S. after the industry had shrunk from over 4,000 to around 1,500 in just 25 or so years, did a series of primarily text ads, with various themes. In this ad, entitled “healthful,” they took a theme they’ve talked about before and went just a little bit further with it, oddly. “Malt is a food, half digested. Hops are a tonic.” Half digested? What on earth do they mean by that?
