Thursday’s ad is for Ballantine’s Ale, and is from the 1950s. It features the slogan “How American it is … to want something better!” It features a then-new train engine — one I’m sure my son Porter could identify by name if he wasn’t asleep — as a symbol of progress. It’s slightly curious only the bottle itself is in color while the rest is in black and white, which I imagine was design decision to make the bottle pop.
The “How American it is… to want something better!” was a World War II era series for Ballantine XXX Ale. Many of them (but, apparently not this one- can’t make out the text) mention life “after the war” and contain reminders to “Buy War Bonds”, etc.
Some of the illustrations were in color, some in B&W- not sure if the same image was done both ways, depending on magazine or not.
One of my favorites is two “Rosie the riveter” type factory workers (complete with hair in bandannas), checking their War Bond savings accounts at the pay window.
http://www.gono.com/beermagazineads/ballantine/ballen73.jpg
(That site http://gono.com/adart/new/adartcatlist.php?cat_id=6 also has a half dozen or so of the other ads in the series – click on “Ballantine Ale”).