Friday’s ad is another baseball-themed one for Ballantine Premium, from 1968. This one is “Go Phillies!” and shows the three broadcasters for the Philadelphia games. The only one I recognize is Ashburn, who also used to play for the Phils (but then I was an Orioles fan as a rebellious kid). This ad also features another generic illustration of baseball action. Just what the hell is that symbol on the uniform of the player sliding into home?
Thursday’s ad is for Ballantine Beer, from the 1950s. Using the tagline “… the crisp refresher,” the illustration is of a generic blue and red baseball team, and the copy states that Ballantine is presenting the “Yankees on TV and Radio.” Those are clearly not Yankees uniforms so I bet the ad was used in multiple markets and Ballantine sponsored several different teams, as well.
Wednesday’s ad is from the Brewer’s Society’s “Beer is Best” campaign, from 1938. It’s the July image from “A Calendar Of British Beer” for the year 1938. Showing a pair of Shire horses hooked up to a wagon of wooden beer kegs, the idea was that such a scene wasn’t too far removed from “the way [beer] has always been brewed.”
Tuesday’s ad is for Old Milwaukee, from 1981. This was an advertising poster that Old Milwaukee put out in the early eighties. I’m not sure if the seductive model is somebody I’m supposed to know, or was famous in that time. Either way, I think it could definitely get better than that. For starters, better beer would be nice.
Monday’s ad is for Ruppert’s Knickerbocker — The Beer That Satisfies — from 1914. The Jacob Ruppert Brewery in New York put out this priceless ad during the inevitable march to prohibition, six years before it was enacted. They were obviously still hoping to turn public opinion with this great copy. “For the good of the public health, it is highly desirable that all prejudice against beer should be removed. This prejudice is held exclusively by people who do not drink beer.” The ad continues by listing great reasons why beer is so awesome. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.
Sunday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1933. It’s a simple post-prohibition ad showing an older, respectable-looking man pouring himself a beer. He doesn’t immediately seem like the sort of person who smiles a lot, but pouring his Pabst, he does seem happy.
Saturday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1953. So what’s the going rate for a glass of beer? Why, a pair of pheasants, of course. And this as is a two-fer. There are not one, but two, magic bottles in the ad. Both full glasses shown have only half-empty bottles next to them, and in fact they look nearly full, with only a small amount just about reaching the top of the label gone.
Friday’s ad is for Dow Ale, from 1954. The Canadian brewery in 1954 had “a smart new look” and was “‘cool control’ brewed,” whatever that meant. But the man sure looks comfy in the hammock, while still wearing a tie and holding a fan.
Today, June 26, in 1997, the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was published in the United Kingdom. If that title looks wrong to you, that’s because in America it was titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone because the publisher “thought that a child would not want to read a book with the word ‘philosopher’ in the title.” They may have been right, but it’s still a little sad. At any rate, in the seven novels there was something called “Butterbeer,” described as a drink that “can be served either cold with a taste similar to cream soda or frozen as a slush with a butterscotch-like foam on top.” Basically, it’s fake beer for kids. More interestingly, a Los Angeles artist or designer by the name of Anita Brown did a series of imaginary labels for beers based on the titles of each the seven books.
And here’s each title in order:
A fun exercise, with some fairly clever names. I wonder if the beers she chose would pair with the individual stories themselves? I only read the first two books, but didn’t really care that much for them; they never really grabbed me the way they did a lot of people. Another, somewhat similar, series that was published around the same time, the Golden Compass and the His Dark Materials trilogy was, in my opinion, was far richer and more interesting, but Harry Potter certainly was a phenomenon and anything that gets more people reading is a great thing in my opinion. Happy Harry Potter Day.
Thursday’s ad is for Great Britain brewers’ “Beer is Best” campaign, from 1935. Part of the British brewers series of ad promoting beer generally, this one focuses on an after work drink as a positive, where a man can “put away the cares of the day; restores his toil-spent energy; revives his flagging spirit.” But what stood out for me was at the bottom of the ad there’s a simple list of beer’s four ingredients, which they list as “Malt · Hops · Sugar · Yeast.” What was that third one again?
