Wednesday’s ad is for “Hamm’s,” from 1949. This ad was made for Hamm’s Brewing, which was founded in 1865 by Theodore Hamm in St. Paul, Minnesota. At its peak, it was the 5th largest brewery in America, and operated facilities in five cities, including San Francisco, L.A., Baltimore and Houston, in addition to the original brewery in Minnesota. This one is part of a short series called “Here’s How,” in which a different skill is explained in each ad. In this one, they explain how “Hamm’s Beer Scores a Mellow Moment,” with the tagline: “Here’s how … with Hamm’s Beer Smooth and Mellow.” This is another odd one. It tells the story of Walt Brown (Class of ’27) who waits until the day of the big game to try to buy tickets for himself and three friends, even though he’d promised them it would be no problem. Well, lo and behold the game is sold out (because obviously a college education doesn’t make you smarter, just more educated) and now he’s in a pickle. Luckily, his friends smoked some weed beforehand and are totally mellow so they offer to go back to their place and watch the football game on their television set and have some munchies. So Walt picks up some beer and all is forgiven. Now that’s a mellow moment.
