Friday’s ad is for Whitbread, from 1965. It seems to be a play on “what the butler saw, ” instead it’s “What the Duchess Saw,” through the keyhole, which is in fact the butler pouring himself a bottle of the Duke’s Whitbread beer. He sure looks happy, doesn’t he? Hopefully he’s off the clock.
Thursday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1967. I can’t be the only one who finds clowns creepy, and in fact I had a roommate in the late 1980s who was completely terrified of them. So I have to wonder about the logic of using them to sell beer. I guess some people actually like them, don’t they? But I especially like this confusing statement. “The beer that takes 1,174 careful steps.” I can’t wait to see their brewing manual. It must be a phone book. How on earth could they have that many specific procedures?
Wednesday’s ad is also for Budweiser, this one from 1967. I understand the logic to their game of checkers, but the way I see it, everybody loses.
Tuesday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1944. Showing an old railroad scene and the tagline. “When Buffaloes Stopped the Iron Horse … Travelers Were Patient.” In the upper righthand corner, there’s also a box that says. “Travel Only When Necessary,” because of restrictions on vacations to save resources for the war effort. But read the copy and it’s almost funny to hear them equate not complaining and being patient with being “a good soldier.”
Monday’s ad is another one for United States Brewers Foundation, from 1943. It’s another one of the “morale is a lot of little things” series, in support of the troops during World War II. This one tells an odd tale. A husband with “the glooms” is cured when his wife lets him listen to his favorite program on the radio, a quiz show. Why did people sit in front of their radios to listen to them, when you can hear perfectly well from any spot in a room? Anyway, the ads with this gem. “A refreshing glass of beer or ale — a moment of relaxation … in trying times like these they too help to keep morale up.”
Saturday’s ad is for United States Brewers Foundation, from 1944. It was part of their “morale is a lot of little things” series, that was in support of the troops. I love the last part of the copy. “A glass of beer or ale — not of crucial importance, surely … yet it is little things like this that help mean home to all of us, that do so much to build morale — ours and his.”
Saturday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1948. It’s one Schlitz’s three-panel ads that all used the same text about being curious, tasting the beer, and then understanding. It’s the Schlitz version of Kübler-Ross stages, not of death, but of beer tasting. All the people in the ad are dressed like cowboys, but they don’t look real, to me at least. With the adobe house in the background, they look like they’re in Arizona or New Mexico, among the cactuses, but dressed up like cowboys.
Friday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1942. The wartime ad is a curious one. It’s all about Vitamin D and other industries that Anheuser-Busch is involved with. As far as I can tell, the title of the ad, “Pinch-Hitting For Norway,” refers to A-B producing the vitamin from yeast, apparently important because it’s impossible to get the fish oil it’s usually made from due to World War 2. I also love the Viking imagery juxtaposed with the kids and their toy boat.
Thursday’s ad is for Goebel Beer, from 1948. Billing themselves as the “World’s largest selling beer in small bottles,” which they refer to as a “bantam” size bottle, of “Goebel Bantam.” Bantam is a small variety of chicken, and in fact the name comes from a town in Indonesia where they originated. But it still seems like a strange name for a beer bottle size.
Wednesday’s ad is for Ballantine Ale, from 1942. Showing a man studying, presumably in the evening, to better himself and perhaps get a degree or start a new career. Among the “better things” he’s working for is a better beer, in this case Ballantine Ale. It seems a bit of a stretch to link the two ideas, but what the hell, it was war time.
