Thursday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1951. A suitor holds a ball of yarn on the sofa as his best girl as he eyes the tray of bottles of Schlitz on the end table. There’s also two glasses and an opener on the tray. But she’s watching his expression pretty carefully, too. This is a test.
Wednesday’s ad is for Ballantine beer, from 1964. I confess I’ve gotten caught up in baseball’s playoffs this year, despite the fact that the Giants didn’t make them. I don’t really care that much who gets to, and wins, the World Series (though I have a soft spot for my namesake Jays) but I’ve still enjoyed the games, and the various stories behind each team’s history. So this ad features former Yankee catcher, and later Mets’ coach, Yogi Berra. What might he say on Back to the Future Day? “The future ain’t what it used to be.”
Tuesday’s ad is for Natural Light, from 1980. Today is the birthday of baseball legend Mickey Mantle. In the mid-1970s, Mantle did some commercials, along with fellow Yankees teammate Whitey Ford, for Miller Lite. So when he did this ad for rival Natural Light, they played up his being a switch hitter “who switched to Natural Light.”
Monday’s ad is for O’Keefe’s, from 1949. The ad copy begins: “The seven-league boots of today …,” which I confess made no sense to me. Apparently seven-league boots “are an element in European folklore. The boots allow the person wearing them to take strides of seven leagues per step, resulting in great speed. The boots are often presented by a magical character to the protagonist to aid in the completion of a significant task.” In this case, it’s uniting Canada, by “shrinking time and distance … bringing our peoples closer together … that’s the role of Canadian aviation.” The Rockwell-like illustration was created by a Clare Shragge. It’s an emotionally charged painting, brimming with optimism … and beer.
Sunday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1914. The pre-prohibition ad is their attempt to sway people against supporting prohibition. The series used the tagline “Budweiser spells Temperance.” This one features the obscure (at least to me) Leipzig Monument, which was dedicated today, October 18, 1913, commemorating the “Battle of Nations,” also known as the Battle of Leipzig, which took place 100 years earlier in 1813. It was fought in Leipzig, in Saxony against Napoleon.
The coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Sweden, led by Tsar Alexander I of Russia and Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, decisively defeated the French army of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. Napoleon’s army also contained Polish and Italian troops, as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine. The battle was the culmination of the 1813 German campaign and involved nearly 600,000 soldiers, making it the largest battle in Europe prior to World War I.
Being decisively defeated for the first time in battle, Napoleon was compelled to return to France while the Coalition hurried to keep their momentum, invading France early the next year. Napoleon was forced to abdicate and was exiled to Elba in May 1814.
Proposals to build a monument commemorating the battle began a year after the battle took place, in 1814, and an architect, Friedrich Weinbrenner, designed a version of the monument that was never used. Fifty years later, a foundation stone was placed at the site, but no memorial was built. It would be another 50 years before it was finally completed, financed primarily by the city of Leipzig, it was dedicated in 1913, on October 18, for the 100th anniversary of the battle, at a cost of 6 million Goldmark ($3,484,966 U.S.).
The monument commemorates Napoleon’s defeat at Leipzig, a crucial step towards the end of hostilities in the War of the Sixth Coalition, which was seen[by whom?] as a victory for the German people, although Germany as we know it did not begin to exist until 1870. There were German speakers fighting on both sides, as Napoleon’s troops also included conscripted Germans from the French-occupied left bank of the Rhine as well as from the Confederation of the Rhine.
The structure is 91 metres (299 ft) tall. It contains over 500 steps to a viewing platform at the top, from which there are spectacular views across the city and environs. The structure makes extensive use of concrete, although the facings are of granite. The monument is widely regarded as one of the best examples of Wilhelmine architecture. It is said to stand on the spot of some of the bloodiest fighting, from where Napoleon ordered the retreat of his army.
So that was the monument that Anheuser-Busch decided would help sell their beer.
So I’m watching the Mets beating the Cubs in game 2 of the NLCS and happened to look up as the commercials came on between innings, as I heard something in the voiceover that I wasn’t expecting: Anderson Valley Brewing Company. People in the Bay Area know that PG&E has a P.R. problem after a pipe blew up in a San Bruno neighborhood (on the peninsula north of Silicon Valley and south of San Francisco). The blast registered 1.1 on the Richter scale when a segment of pipe 28 feet long blew out onto the street, thrown about 100 feet and creating a crater 167 feet long and 26 feet wide, killing eight people in the process. They stonewalled after the incident, but eventually the “Public Utilities Commission fined PG&E $1.6 billion,” and there was civil litigation by many of the people directly effected by the explosion.
So for the last few years there’s been a lot of TV commercials portraying PG&E as a company that cares. A lot. A lot of ads, I mean. I don’t know if it’s been a successful campaign or not, certainly I’m not buying it and the fact that they’re still creating new ones and running them frequently suggests that not everyone has been convinced, either. Anyway, the ad I just saw during the baseball game featured Rod DeWitt, who’s the Director of Plant Engineering & Process Control for Anderson Valley Brewing, the drummer for Rolling Boil Blues Band, and an old friend. Here’s the commercial:
This is Rod giving me a tour of the brewery back in 2006
This is the scene shown on every Anderson Valley beer label.
Saturday’s ad is for Blatz Beer, from 1944. Having finally managed to grow some tomatoes on our back deck this year, this ad called to me, especially the copy “nothing can describe the thrilling good taste of red-ripe tomato fresh from your own Victory Garden!” I concur, though I’m not sure how it compares to a beer. Not even one that’s “Never sharp … never bitter … always mellow.”
Friday’s ad is for Labatt’s ’50’ Ale, from 1956. This is another example of my theory that beer in the Fifties was much more “friendly” than today. I keep finding examples of beer companies at that time describing their beer as “friendly” in advertising, but this is the first Canadian example I’ve come across. I do love the backyard party scene, such a happy-looking gathering. How friendly, just like the beer.
Thursday’s ad is for Falstaff, from 1956. Now matter how you feel about the issue of guns and gun control, it doesn’t seem to me that it’s a great idea to mix a romantic evening by the fireplace with a couple of beers and a shotgun. Don’t worry honey, it will be fun. I’ll clean my gun and we’ll drink a few Falstaffs. What could go wrong? But look how happy they look.
Wednesday’s ad is for Carling’s Black Label, from 1955. By “those moments,” an example might be it starting to rain just as you finished washing your car. That would drive anyone to drink, I suppose. But not just any beer, according to the ad copy, will do. You need the “most satisfying beer of all,” a.k.a. “the beer with the heart of gold.”
