Our 88th Guinness shows the sun beating down on a smiling pint of Guinness. With the long slogan, “When the sun says “Morning gone” Guinness Time will spur you on.” Makes me thirsty, just looking at it.
Beer In Ads #450: Pick A Pair
Friday’s ad is from 1963, and is for Budweiser cans, specifically six-packs of cans. You gotta love the sixties fashion and that hairdo. Doesn’t she look happy picking up two six-packs?
Beer In Ads #449: Say O’K For O’Keefe’s
Thursday’s ad is again from 1955, and is for another Canadian beer, this time O’Keefe’s Extra Old Stock Ale. The ad seems a little bit busy to me, with too much going on. Besides the sepia tone-like maple syrup farm background, there’s the floating label, below the “A Canadian Favourite” tagline, and the cartoon syrup farmer in the bottom right-hand corner. Then the bottom slogan, “Say O’K for O’Keefe’s.”
Beer In Ads #448: Victory Isn’t Always To The Strong
Wednesday’s ad is also from 1955, and is for the Canadian beer, Molson Golden Ale. Their anthropomorphized mascot, — “Goldie” — a man with the head of a lion, says modestly that “Victory isn’t always to the strong.” Based on his expression, and the happy-looking woman next to him, I’d say he’s getting beat pretty bad at bowling.
Beer In Ads #447: World’s Most Famous Taste In Beer
Tuesday’s ad is from 1955, years before the Blue Man Group. It’s for Schlitz, and shows a blue skinned server holding a tray containing two full pilsner glasses of beer and a half-empty bottle of Schlitz. Is it just me, or does that math not quite work? The tagline is the “World’s Most Famous Taste In Beer.”
Beer In Ads #446: 33 Fine Beers Blended Into One Great Beer
Monday’s ad is for Pabst, possibly from the later 1940s or 50s, and is a busy, colorful cartoon. It’s set in a fishing boat by a pier, where we learn that Pabst blends their beer, from 33 different beers no less, to make it “like finest champagne.” And it’s not just blended, but specially blended.
Guinness Ad #87: A Guinness A Day
Our 87th Guinness is pretty simple, showing seven pints of smiling Guinness, with the slogan “A Guinness a day.” That’s one for each day of the week, with the final tagline “Guinness is good for you.”
Guinness Ad #86: Guinness Time On The S.S. Skylark
Our 86th Guinness is from 1952, though it’s not strictly an ad. It was the cover for Guinness’ internal newsletter, Guinness Time. Apparently the man dressed like a butler or private driver had a bottle of Guinness — the one on the fence — and was able to just carry the large family, boat and all, the ocean for some recreational fun.
Beer In Ads #445: Bottom’s Up
Friday’s ad is from 1971 and is for the malt liquor Colt 45. Introduced in 1963 by National Brewing of Baltimore, Maryland, today the brand is under the umbrella of Pabst. In the bright, primary colors of the 1970s, it’s a simple ad, with a blue background showing the beer glass upside down and the common toast, “Bottom’s Up” as a tagline, also upside down.
Beer In Ads #444: Of The 332 Brands Of Beer In 1968
Thursday’s ad is from 1968 and is for Budweiser. The ad copy claims that there were 332 beer brands being sold in 1968. Now that’s “brands,” not breweries, because there weren’t nearly that many different breweries in operation then. According to USBA figures, there were 197 U.S. breweries in 1965, but only 154 in 1970, just five years later. So the number in 1968 would have been somewhere in between that period of time when 43 breweries closed. The ad itself shows quite a number of Budweiser’s competitors at the time, claiming — naturally — that only their beer was “beechwood aged.” I recognize many of the labels shown, though a few — like Dawson and Van Dyke — I’ve never heard of before. Still, you’ve got to be pretty confident in your market share to show your competitors’ labels in your own ad.
