Saturday’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 begins “‘Tis The Choice of the Gourmet,” and features a Carroll-esque poem about how good beer, and especially Guinness, goes with a variety of gourmet foods.
Friday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1948. 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 entitled “Alice in Snowmansland,” and features a short story about a glass of Guinness, Alice, the Mad Hatter and a snowman, but has a different illustration from one I shared a few days ago from the 1950s.
Thursday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1951. 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 entitled “Guinness In Festival Land,” which is the same title as a different ad with a giant clock from the same year, 1951. That’s because the Festival of Britain took place in several locations, although the main area was South Bank Exhibition, which included the Dome of Discovery, which is alluded to in the ad. There’s also more about the festival at the blog A London Inheritance. The poster was done by British illustrator Eric Fraser.
Wednesday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1954. 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 entitled “Bottle and Jug,” and the Mad Hatter is apparently a Guinness thief, or will be in the future. The Carroll-esque story is eerily similar to the Philip K. Dick story “Minority Report,” which was about stopping future crime, or precrime, before it happened. But the Guinness ad ran two years before Dick’s story was published in 1956. Maybe this was his inspiration for the story?
Tuesday’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 is entitled “Alice In Posterland,” and Alice is perched above a large aviary cage full of birds while the Guinness zookeeper is being chased around it while he holds a bottle of Guinness and a full glass. The illustration was done by Antony Groves-Raines.
Monday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1951. 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 entitled “Guinness In Festival Land,” and shows an odd clock of sorts and features a poem in the style of Lewis Carroll. The poem is about Guinness, of course, but it’s even more about the Festival of Britain, and specifically the Pleasure Gardens at Battersea, which was held in 1951.
The festival ran for several months during 1951 and appears to have been quite large. There were three beer gardens and a large area known as the parade. Along the parade, they actually built the Guinness Festival Clock from the ad. There’s a great story about the festival from the blog A London Inheritance.
Sunday’s ad is for Guinness, from the early 1950s. 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 entitled “Alice in Snowmansland,” and features a short story about a glass of Guinness, Alice, the Mad Hatter and a snowman.
Saturday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1968. 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. In the late-1960s, Guinness hired well-known English portrait artist, landscape painter and illustrator John Stanton Ward to do a series of paintings of famous pubs and bars around the world. In this ad, No. 8 in the series, the painting is of the Observation Bar of The Queen Mary.
Friday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1967. 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. In the late-1960s, Guinness hired well-known English portrait artist, landscape painter and illustrator John Stanton Ward to do a series of paintings of famous pubs and bars around the world. In this ad, No. 6 in the series, the painting is of the Cafe Royal, on Princes Street in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Thursday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1967. 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. In the late-1960s, Guinness hired well-known English portrait artist, landscape painter and illustrator John Stanton Ward to do a series of paintings of famous pubs and bars around the world. In this ad, No. 5 in the series, the painting is of the Long Hall Bar, on George’s Street in Dublin, Ireland.
