Thursday’s ad features Miss Rheingold for 1959, Robbin Bain, holding a Dalmatian puppy, with an old-time firetruck in the background. That slogan, “Talk About Pleasant Traditions,” equates the loyalty to one’s beer with the traditions of local firemen.
Wednesday’s ad is for Falstaff, from the 1950s, I’m guessing. Showing a well-dressed couple visiting another well-dressed couple with the tagline “When Company Comes … Bring On The Falstaff.” Notice how the glass of beer is already full, but the bottle pouring from above it is also still full. Not sure what’s going to happen as that pour continues to spill?
Tuesday’s ad is for Anheuser-Busch Lager, from 1887. It’s an interesting bottle, not for the Budweiser brand name, but for St. Louis Lager Beer, on which it also extolls their gold medal wins in “Philadelphia 1876” and “Paris 1875.”
Monday’s ad is for the German brand, Kulmbacher Mönchshof Bräu, from 1935. It’s a beautifully simple ad, with just a nice illustration of a brewing monk, the name of the brewery and the year they started, 1349.
Friday’s ad is for the Japanese brand, Nippon Beer. I don’t know when the ad is from, but the spartan look makes me think 1960s. It’s a very simple ad, just a beautiful girl and a bottle of beer. What else do you need?
Thursday’s ad is for Schlitz, and it’s probably just the artwork from a larger ad, although the headline is intact, “Leisure’s Light Refresher.” The ad shows a couple relaxing on the carpet, watching television on a tiny TV, which probably offers a clue as to when the ad is from. I can’t quite tell if they’re watching a dance show or a baseball game, although I’m leaning toward the latter.
Wednesday’s ad is for Blatz Beer, from 1953. The ad shows a man sitting on lobster red riding mower, as his comely wife, in shorts and Italian tablecloth shirt, serves him a Blatz beer; a true lawnmower beer, apparently. I love that he’s wearing tasseled loafers and argyle socks to mow the lawn, because that’s what I always wear, too.
Tuesday’s ad is a generic beer ad, either by the industry or by a glass manufacturer and likely is from the transition period from returnables to throwaways. Throwaways were first introduced in the late 1930s, but didn’t become standard until at least the 1960s, so this ad may have been from sometime during that period, but it’s hard to tell with so little information in the ad. Doesn’t it look just a little bit like the Toronado’s logo?
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.”
