Monday’s ad is for Ballantine Ale from 1947. The whale may not be white, but it sure seems to play on the story of Moby Dick. Ballantine did a series of diorama ads that featured different stories, some from literature and some from history. I don’t know how many they did, I’ve collected at least a dozen of them, but I’d love to know more definitively what subjects they covered.
Our 43rd Guinness poster depicts a man leaning against an ancient Greek column and accidentally knocking it down, just because he’s recently enjoyed a pint of Guinness. That’s, as the slogan suggests, “Guinness for Strength.”
And here’s another version of the ad with a lot more text than usually seen in Guinness advertising at that time.
Friday’s ad is for Carlsberg from 1925. It features an odd painting of a man with a beer stein holding some vegetable like turnips. I don’t know if Carlsberg adapted a known work of art for this advertisement or if it was commissioned for it.
Thursday’s ad is for Schlitz Famo, from around 1918. Famo was their non-alcohol beer during Prohibition, or as they referred to it, “a pure non-intoxicating beverage.” I’m not sure what the tie-in was with the man in uniform, though it was during World War I, and since today is Veteran’s Day — originally Armistice Day for that war’s end.
Most of the beer companies scrambled to come up with a N/A brand in the years just before Prohibition as they finally started to see the writing on the wall. For an interesting overview of the names they came up with, check out Prohibition and Near-Beer Names.
During the early part of Prohibition, brewers at the time were emphasizing cleanliness by saying that “Schlitz Famo goes through a pulp filter–then through a sterilized pipe line to glass-lined tanks in a cool cellar for aging. A sterilized line carries it to automatic filling machines containing sterilized bottles, thence to Pasteurization” They further stressed the nutritional values of their products. The company boasted that Schlitz Famo is more than a drink. It is a food. Every time you take a glass of Schlitz Famo you are taking something to eat. Every compound essential to the human body is present in Schlitz Famo–protein, carbohydrates, mineral matter and water–the only factor absent being fats, and they are formed in the body from the carbohydrates. These elements repair and build up broken-down tissues and impart to the body heat and muscular energy. That’s why we say Schlitz Famo is a worth-while cereal beverage. It is non-intoxicating. It is healthful, refreshing and satisfying. It has the wonderful hop aroma.
Wednesday’s ad is for Budweiser from 1948. It depicts a very colorful, surreal circus scene with the slogan “You Have To See It To Believe It.”
Tuesday’s ad is for Budweiser from 1958. It’s from the “Where There’s Life … There’s Bud” series and features a couple at the beach. The man is pouring beer from a can to overflowing — tilt the glass, dude! — while the woman tries to sip it up before it spills over the side, while holding a partially-eaten sandwich. Is it just me, or is there something vaguely odd about the ad?
Monday’s ad is for Schlitz, from — I’m guessing — the swinging, sophisticated sixties with a play on their famous slogan “when you’re out of Schlitz you’re out of beer” being rendered more proper, as “When One Is Out Of Schlitz, One Is Out Of Beer.”
Our 42nd Guinness poster by John Gilroy features carrying the biggest bale of hay, having presumably just finished off a pint of Guinness. The glass in the bottom right is empty, after all. That’s what gave him “Guinness for Strength” to be able to carry such a big load. It also looks a bit like a giant blond afro.
Friday’s ad is for Ballantine Ale and features everybody’s favorite humorist and cowboy, Will Rogers, who once said “he never met a man he didn’t like.” Perhaps the ad is trying to suggest he’d never met a beer he didn’t like either. I’m not sure when the ad is from, but Rogers passed away in 1935.
Thursday’s ad is for Narragansett Lager Beer from 1960. I love the simplicity of just the bottle and an near-empty glass along with the slogan “Hi, Neighbor — Have Another ‘Gansett.”
