Thursday’s ad is from 1951 and is for Goebel Beer, a brewery in Detroit, Michigan from 1873 to 1964. Through the mergermania of the latter half of the 20th century it ended up being owned by Stroh’s. They did a series of ads featuring beautiful landscapes with a glass of Goebel’s in the foreground. My favorite part of the text is “Goebel Beer — It’s Mello-ized.”
Wednesday’s ad is from the 1960 and is for Schlitz, featuring the slogan “Know the real joy good living … move up to Schlitz!” Some of the good living go-togethers include pretzels, popcorn, crackers and burgers.
Tuesday’s ad is from the 1950s and is for Schlitz, featuring a beautiful natural vista with a man holding up a glass of beer against it as backdrop. And the slogan, “Move up to quality — move up to Schlitz,” is kind of a hoot. But I certainly want to be in that spot with a beer, if indeed it’s even a real place.
Monday’s ad is from 1959 and is for a brewery I’d not heard of before, Hampden Brewery of Willimansett, Massachusetts. The guy at the sparse desk is Karl H. Bissell, Sr., chairman of the board for the brewery, though at that time it was known as Hampden-Harvard Brewing. Eventually Piels bought it but the brewery was shut down in 1975. Curiously, it’s been restarted as a craft brewery earlier this year as Hampden Brewing Co.
Frankly, Bissell looks more like James Carville and I’m not quite sure how this guy with his cueball noggin sitting behind a big, empty desk was meant to inspire brand loyalty or switching brands. And the slogan “New England’s Finest Beer At New England’s Fairest Price” is not exactly Shakespeare, either.
They appear to have brewed ales and lagers.
Our 27th Guinness poster by John Gilroy features a simple message bearing the slogan “A Guinness A Day” and seven pints of Guinness laid out for the week, followed by the tagline “Guinness is good for you.” Nice and simple.
Friday’s ad ends Bud week early and is a bit of a departure for what’s usually featured here. I try not to use overtly male-oriented ads but today is an exception. We all have celebrities, male and female, that we’re more attracted to than others. For me, one of my most enduring starstruck crushes has been on Phoebe Cates, most famous for Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Gremlins. But many actors also did ads in Japan, which during the 1980s was quite lucrative so many who wouldn’t do ads in the U.S. just couldn’t turn down doing them in Japan, and Phoebe Cates was no exception. She did a series of ads, usually in a bikini, for Asahi Breweries sometime during the 80s. Also, I should point out that the reason for all this is today is Phoebe Cates’ 47th birthday.
The campaign also included television spots, like this one on YouTube. Since it was for their Asahi Draft Beer, they used the slogan “Live Beer” in the TV spots and on branded beer glasses in the print ads, such as the ones below.
Sometimes in a big floppy hat, sometimes not.
Most of the ads I’ve seen have been cropped and don’t show the full ad, sad to say.
Thursday’s ad continues Bud week and is from 1937 and uses an odd bit of logic, equating an oak tree’s management of its seeds — or acorns — with the growing barley for making beer. I’m all for the idea that quality ingredients are necessary to brew a quality beer, but the analogy seems stretched a bit. There’s also an impassioned thank you from Adolphus Busch III for supporting American barley farmers and hop growers through buying Budweiser, the nation having just come out of the Great Depression. Finally, I love the reference to Shakespeare in the tagline at the bottom; “As You Like It .. In Bottles … In Cans.”
Wednesday’s ad is from 1950 and features another couple, similar to Monday’s couple, this time playing at archery. The woman is the clear winner as her two fingers indicates the number of bullseyes she’s gotten. It also uses the same slogan, “There’s nothing like it … absolutely nothing.”
This week is shaping up to be a Budweiser sort of week, and Tuesday’s ad is from 1951 and features a couple opening their wedding gifts. Presumably, neither are happy about the statue she’s just unwrapped, but the tray of Bud he bringing in, now that’s the “mark of good taste.”
Monday’s ad is for Budweiser from most likely the 1950s, or possibly post-war forties. Fishing is the theme and the tagline is “There’s nothing like it … absolutely nothing.” She looks like she’s ready for fishing, even with the bamboo rod. The dude, on the other hand, looks like he’s dressed for a nightclub, or bowling maybe.
