Tuesday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1931. While the best known Guinness ads were undoubtedly the ones created by John Gilroy, Guinness had other creative ads throughout the same period and afterward, too, which are often overlooked. This ad, one of many that used Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is titled “Battle Royal,” and features a boxing match (it is Boxing Day after all) between a unicorn and a lion. There’s fighting over the last remaining Guinness.
Monday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1959. While the best known Guinness ads were undoubtedly the ones created by John Gilroy, Guinness had other creative ads throughout the same period and afterward, too, which are often overlooked. This ad, which is the cover of the “Guinness Harp” from the issue for Christmas 1959. “The Guinness Harp” was the “Journal of the Home of Guinness, St. James’s Gate, Dublin.” On the cover, Santa is leaving the brewery will a full sack and four bottles tucked into his pockets. No idea what’s in the sack, but it would be interesting to find out.
Here’s an interesting, and odd, bit of history. One of the earliest temoperance socities, the Order of Temperance, was founded on Christmas Day, December 25, 1600. It was established by Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, or Hesse-Cassel, was a state in the Holy Roman Empire.
Here’s a short history of the Order, from “The Gentlemen’s Magzine, published in 1836:
They were trying to put an end to the custom of “pledging healths,” which in that time period meant drinking to the health of everyone and everything; or toasting. So the Order of Temperance had its members pledge “to never become intoxicated.” Which is all well and good, except for one tiny little detail. The order had strict rules on alcoholic consumption and they were allowed no more than seven alcoholic drinks per meal, and only two meals per day; essentially they were restricted to only fourteen glasses or wine or beer per day. That was their idea of temperance. That doesn’t actually sound too bad, now does it? I think most of us could have taken that pledge.
Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
Sunday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1934. While the best known Guinness ads were undoubtedly the ones created by John Gilroy, Guinness had other creative ads throughout the same period and afterward, too, which are often overlooked. This ad, with the tagline “Christmas Is Coming … Guinness For Strength” shows Santa carrying a large tree as if weighs nothing after having had a bottle of Guinness. Merry Christmas.
Saturday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1960. While the best known Guinness ads were undoubtedly the ones created by John Gilroy, Guinness had other creative ads throughout the same period and afterward, too, which are often overlooked. This ad, one of many that used Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and is a parody of the poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” which was originally in Through the Looking-Glass. In this parody, the Guinness-themed poem begins “If seven men give seven wives,” and is about seven Santas giving Guinness as Christmas presents to their wives, and having one themselves, too. It’s actually the cover of the December 1960 issue of “Guinness Time,” the employee magazine for Guinness.
Friday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1952. While the best known Guinness ads were undoubtedly the ones created by John Gilroy, Guinness had other creative ads throughout the same period and afterward, too, which are often overlooked. This ad, one of many that used Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and is a parody of the poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” which was originally in Through the Looking-Glass. In this parody, the Guinness-themed poem begins “If seven men … sailed seven ships,” and is about some odd looking ships and their captains trying to find Guinness “from China to Peru.”
Thursday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1952. While the best known Guinness ads were undoubtedly the ones created by John Gilroy, Guinness had other creative ads throughout the same period and afterward, too, which are often overlooked. This ad, one of many that used Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and is a parody of the poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” which was originally in Through the Looking-Glass. In this parody, the Guinness-themed poem begins “If seven men … with seven wives,” and is about some couples at the zoo and how seeing the animals is reminding them of Guinness.
Wednesday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1931. While the best known Guinness ads were undoubtedly the ones created by John Gilroy, Guinness had other creative ads throughout the same period and afterward, too, which are often overlooked. This ad, one of many that used Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and is a parody of the poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” which was originally in Through the Looking-Glass. In this parody, the Guinness-themed poem begins “If seven men with seven tongues …,” and then goes on about how good Guinness is.
Tuesday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1933. While the best known Guinness ads were undoubtedly the ones created by John Gilroy, Guinness had other creative ads throughout the same period and afterward, too, which are often overlooked. This ad, one of many that used Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and is page 16 of a booklet they produced about Alice and Guinness. This page is titled “A Head Without A Guinness,” and features Alice talking to the Cheshire Cat, comparing his ability to disappear to the froth on a glass of Guinness.
Monday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1933. While the best known Guinness ads were undoubtedly the ones created by John Gilroy, Guinness had other creative ads throughout the same period and afterward, too, which are often overlooked. This ad, one of many that used Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is titled “Catch As Catch Can’t,” and although it has Alice in the mix, it takes place in the Guinness Zoo, with the lion chasing the zookeeper around a tree (in a scene reminiscent of “The Story of Little Black Sambo”) trying to catch him to get the bottle and glass of Guinness he’s carrying.
