Saturday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1960. It’s an interesting approach. The ad is trying to persuade people to leave their homes and drink beer in a bar or tavern, and using horse racing as the carrot. So either way Schlitz wins, since they’re the ones sponsoring the big three horse races.
Friday’s ad is yet another one for Miller High Life, also from 1960. It’s also part of the “Put The Finest Label … On Your Table” series, this one in either a homey restaurant or a cold, sterile home with a stove and a plate of cheese in the background.
Thursday’s ad is another one for Miller High Life, this time from 1947. It’s a detailed illustration of a man fishing from the back of a boat, while at the same time eating a sandwich with a bottle of beer. He’s wearing kind of a goofy grin, maybe that’s what happens if you’re on a boat too long?
Wednesday’s ad is for Miller High Life, from 1960. Ah, the end of the 1950s. The two men have a beer and a smoke while the little woman shells peas and prepares the meal for them. There are only two bottles on that table. If she has to do all the work, the least they could do is offer her a beer.
Tuesday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1913. Showing a woman almost completely covered by a head scarf, and wearing what looks to be a raincoat or overcoat, the tagline “Only When It’s Pabst” seems inscrutable. What does that even mean? She’s also wearing leather gloves holding her glass of beer. My guess is that it was meant to represent a driving outfit for one of those new fangled horseless carriages.
Monday’s ad is for Kirin Lager, from the early 1990s, probably 1994. I’m guessing 1994, because Ford also did a television commercial for Kirin that year. Featuring actor Harrison Ford, whose birthday is today, the poster is advertising Kirin Lager. According to one account, here is a translation of the poster, which was seen in a convenience store window:
Harrison Ford endorsing Kirin beer, Fukushima 福島
“Kono aji ga, biiru.” = “This taste, beer.”
“Kire aji, daigo aji” = “cutting edge taste, the epitome of taste”
“Kirin ragaa.” = “Kirin lager.”
And apparently the small letters at the bottom here translate as: “You have to be 20 years old for beer and recycle the empty cans.”
Sunday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1950. Featuring actor William Bendix, who did mostly character roles but also played the Babe in The Babe Ruth Story, it shows him relaxing in his den, pipe in one hand and a mug of beer in the other. Pabst must have been a sponsor of his radio show at the time, “The Life of Riley.” Bendix tended to play everyday guys, blue collar toughs with street smarts, masculine men, so that may be what Pabst was trying to associate themselves with, especially in that setting with its leather chair, and other manly accouterments.
Saturday’s ad is for Labatt’s, from 1956. “Confused by a crazy canvas?” Yes, modern art is tough to understand, isn’t that hilarious. Of course, in the 1950s, there was a lot of modern art that challenged notions of what it meant to be art, so it was a pretty easy target for the beer drinking demographic, I would imagine.
Friday’s ad is for two Moosehead beers, Moosehead Pale Ale and Alpine Lager Beer, from 1956. The minimalist ad has a netting for the background then two cartoon text balloons with the two beers’ names. That’s it part from the tagline preceding the beer brands. “When In The Maritimes Ask For.” I wonder if this ad was effective?
Today in 2012, US Patent 8215040 B2 was issued, an invention of Charles Pascarelli and David Furman, for his “Method of Advertising in a Restroom.” Here’s the Abstract:
A method for advertising in a restroom is shown and described. The method includes the use of a three-dimensional advertisement article which may attach to a wall above a urinal and at least partly cover the urinal. The advertisement article may resemble a container, perhaps a bottle or can, for a product, which may be beer or a soft drink, being advertised.
This has to be one of the oddest patents I’ve come across. Who thought it was a good idea to urinate into a bottle or can of beer, especially beer that already has been compared to the color of urine already. This seems to drive home the point that you don’t buy beer, you just rent it.
