Our 57th Guinness poster by John Gilroy shows four of the zoo animals — the seal, kangaroo, toucan and pelican — frolicking on a sunny beach. The seal has a pint of Guinness balancing on top of the beach ball he’s balancing on his nose and the ad’s slogan is “Guinness — the ideal summer resort.”
Friday’s ad is from 1954 and is for the UK brand Double Diamond. With the slogan “A Double Diamond works wonders,” it’s part of their “Inn-Sign Rhymes” series. This ad’s sign is for “George & the Dragon.”
I’m a huge fan of Dave Stevens and especially his story of The Rocketeer, which was a fabulous comic book before it was a 1991 film with Bill Campbell, Jennifer Connelly and Alan Arkin.
What’s not to love about an adventure story with a jet pack at the heart of it? I was captivated by jet packs after I first saw one in the James Bond movie Thunderball. So what does another of my singular obsessions have to do with beer? Glad you asked. I stumbled upon this 1976 ad for Pabst Blue Ribbon earlier today and it features — yeah, you guessed it — a jet pack. Although they call it a “rocketbelt” in the ad, it’s a jet pack all the same. The original video was uploaded to YouTube by the very cool sounding Rocket Belt Society.
Thursday’s ad is from 1956 and is for Rheingold Beer. Miss Rheingold for that year was Millie Merritt and in this June ad she’s gone bowling, an activity far more popular in 1956 than today. I spent many happy hours bowling in my youth, though all of it without the benefit if beer, sad to say.
Wednesday’s ad is for Carling Black Label, one of a series of ads with the slogan “People try it … and they like it.” Each ad I’ve seen seems to feature a different unique beer glass. The one in this ad had an etched stem, and tapers up from a wide base to even wider open mouth rim. That’s not a glass I see much these days. Does anybody know if it has a specific name?
Tuesday’s ad is from 1941 and is for Ballantine Ale. The “Early American Sign” is the three-ring Ballantine logo that George Washington is pointing to on the tavern’s sign. Happy birthday George.
Monday’s ad is from 1951 and ran in Newsweek. It was produced by the U.S. Brewers Foundation, one of a series of historical ads showing the positive side of beer in a post-Prohibition America, a world, like today, in which the neo-prohibitionists continued nipping at their heels despite Prohibition’s massive, unmitigated failure. The ad answers the question “What Great Americans Favored Beer As A Beverage Of Moderation?” with “Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Patrick Henry—to name just a few.” Since today is Presidents Day, and their list includes three early American presidents, it seemed a good way to celebrate by remembering there was a time when beer wasn’t under constant attack and our most popular politicians openly supported it. Happy Presidents Day.
Our 56th Guinness poster by John Gilroy shows the iconic pint of Guinness with a face being very tired, much like myself, and needing to rest on a red comfy chair. The slogan is “Have a Guinness when you’re tired.”
If you say my last post, Beer In Ads #314: Brown Derby’s For Good Living, now you know why I chose a Brown Derby ad. I also came across this promotional film from the same year as the ad, 1937, which was called “For Good Living,” and sponsored at the time by Safeway Stores. It’s a silent promotional film, but after some cheesy introductions shows the brewery where Brown Derby is made. Really, there’s a lot of early brewery porn. Obviously the basic process of making and packaging beer hasn’t changed all that much in the 70+ years since this video was made, but the machinery sure has. At just under twenty minutes, it’s a pretty thorough virtual tour, and includes both bottles and cans being produced. After the tour, the final minutes show the planned “For Good Living” advertising campaign. It’s quite a time capsule. I think every brewer should watch it. I’d love to hear some of their thoughts on then vs. now.
Friday’s ad is from 1937 and is for Brown Derby beer, a beer often found in, as the ad even states (which is, I believe, illegal today) Safeway grocery stores. The text of the ad features the plans of the Leavitt family, their “plan of Good Living.” Here’s how beer fits in:
“We want to enjoy all the good things of life our income permits,” says Mrs. Leavitt. “We always keep plenty of Brown Derby Beer on hand. Because we’ve found it equals imported Pilsner, but costs less.
It’s interesting that only three years after Prohibition ended, beer advertising was targeting imported pilsners for comparison, not other American beers.
