Tuesday’s ad is for Rheingold beer, features Miss Rheingold for 1956 — Hillie Merritt — holding a stuffed elephant and donkey for the election that year, which would have been held November 6, 1956. That was the year Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson. Oddly enough there’s no text whatsoever about the election or politics of any kind, and in fact if it weren’t for the plush political symbols it could be a completely generic beer ad. Happily, however, the stuffed animals are there. Look closely at them. Is it just me, or does the donkey look like he’s laughing while the elephant is wearing a somewhat maniacal expression?
