Monday’s ad is for Dow Breweries, from — I assume — the 1950s, when bowling was king. Plus that was when ad copy was obsessed with the idea of modernity. Dow’s slogan, “The up-to-date ale for up-to-date people” is quite a mouthful, but it’s meant for modern people, since the beer is also “brewed to the modern taste,” whatever that means. How did they do that? Simple, it was “cool control” brewed, of course.
Friday’s ad is for Labatt’s India Pale Ale, from the 1950s, one of the few IPAs available at that time. ANd not only an IPA, but a “Full Strength I.P.A.” And I love this ad copy. “Labatt’s India Pale Ale has an honest, masculine directness.”
Thursday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1943. A bit of a play on words, it seems to equate Swallows, the birds, and swallowing beer, with the slogan “Happy Swallows! No bitterness.” A bit of a stretch?
Wednesday’s ad is for Miller High Life, from what looks to be the 1950s. It’s nice to see cheese and beer advertised together, especially long before the recent artisanal cheese revolution. Although given the all-American theme, isn’t that brie at the bottom left of the ad, flying the French tricolor?
Tuesday’s ad is for Grain Belt, from — I’m just guessing here — some time in the 1970s, based on the fashion, or lack thereof. I love the mock posing as each holds a different package, a regular bottle, a can and a stubbie.
Monday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1945. Apparently, one in four bottles of Schlitz brewed was sent overseas for the troops at this point in the war, which was the last year before it ended.
Friday’s ad is for Miss Rheingold for 1958, Madelyn Darrow, showing her in a boat on a lake, duck hunting. I’m not sure how her dog is going to be much help.
Thursday’s ad if for the German beer Hackerbrau, which is the Hacker in Hacker-Pschorr. The ad is from around 1920, long before they merged again in 1972. The ad was illustrated by Ludwig Hohlwein , who did a number of beer ads during the same period of time.
Wednesday’s ad makes quite some bold claims. It appears to be a 19th century ad for the newly modernized Notting Hill Brewery Co., which had just started a “revolution in English Bottled Beer Produced Entirely on a New System.” I especially love the twin banners, that don’t quite seem to work together: “No Deposit” and “No Sediment.”
This is an interesting design, generic beer cans, made to look as if they were essentially clear and showing the contents inside, albeit in an idealized way. They were created by Timur Salikhov, a designer from St. Petersburg, Russia.
He starts with the premise “Why hide what good beer looks like?”
And then he designed the cans to appear as if they were a freshly poured glass of beer. It’s fun concept and apparently he’d like to sell the idea to a brewery. I think the only unfortunate aspect of his design is that without additional branding on the package, it may look too generic. BUt it sure looks like a beer I’d like to open.
