Wednesday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1952. The ad is certainly a bit sexist to modern eyes, showing what is a presumably new bride having burned dinner, while her husband tries to reassure her by pointing out that at least there was nothing wrong with the Schlitz. I wonder why they’re sitting on a plate?
Tuesday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1933. The ad is celebrating the end of prohibition, which is what they’re referring to when they say America is back, saying both “liberty” and “Budweiser” have returned. But I love the tagline toward the bottom where they refer to Budweiser as “Something More Than Beer.” More how, I wonder?
Monday’s ad is yet another one for Pabst, again from 1897. The ad shows the Boston Tea Party, with cartons of tea leaves being dumped into the harbor. Another patriotic moment, another reminder how healthful Pabst Malt Extract can be, especially how it can cure so many spring ills. There’s even a list of what it can cure: enervation, fatigue, thin blood, anaemia, exhaustion, lack of vitality, weakness, nervousness, sleeplessness and slow recovery from a winter’s sickness.
Sunday’s ad is still another one for Pabst, also from 1897. The ad shows what is purported to be the “First Inauguration” — it looks like George Washington — yet I’m always amazed that we tend to simply ignore the ten presidents of Congress who preceded Washington under the Articles of Confederation, not to mention the fourteen people who served as president of the continental congress before that. In our collective image of American history, we seemingly just leap from 1776 to Washington’s inauguration thirteen years later, on April 30, 1789, as if that previous decade didn’t even exist. Climbing down off my soapbox, with Pabst Malt Extract, apparently, you won’t have to worry about dyspepsia or indigestion.
Saturday’s ad is another one for Pabst, also from 1897. The ad shows Commodore Perry, the other one — the Hero of Lake Erie — standing in a small rowboat at the end of the battle, and I can only assume he said something like “take up the slack.” I’m not quite sure what “Perry’s Victory” has to do with Pabst Malt Extract, but it’s another in a series of patriotic ads using incidents throughout American history to sell Pabst.
Friday’s ad is another one for Pabst, again from 1897. The ad shows the Old North Church, in Boston, Massachusetts, the one that had as many as two lamps hanging from its steeple, “one if by land, and two if by sea” depending on where the British were coming from, according to the story of Paul Revere. Apparently Pabst Malt Extract, “the best tonic,” will put anyone to sleep, even with those annoying lights streaming through the curtain windows.
Thursday’s ad is another one for Pabst, again from 1897. The ad shows the Mayflower — Happy Thanksgiving — and is using that, I think, to suggest that since Europeans arrived in America, that now, 400+ years later, brewing perfection has been achieved through Pabst Malt Extract. Let’s just say I’m skeptical.
Wednesday’s ad is for Pabst, from 1897. The ad tells the tale, sort of, between a brave Native American warrior and the famed Pocahontas. Apparently he’d been sick, but no more, thanks to Pabst Malt Extract, “The ‘Best’ Tonic.”
Tuesday’s ad is for Budweiser, also from 1943. Another World War 2 ad, it’s again a very patriotic ad showing the Anheuser-Busch eagle soaring with wartime airplanes, or more specifically gliders, which were apparently helped along by A-B’s refrigeration division making parts for them to help with the war effort.
Monday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1943. A World War 2 ad, it’s a play on the poplar song “praise the lord and pass the ammunition,” written the year before. It’s also a very patriotic ad, and mostly soft sell, just celebrating the technology of the navy during the war, and then finishing with an offhand suggestion that Anheuser-Busch similarly uses cutting edge technology, too, to make their beer.
