Monday’s ad is either an old ad, or one made to look that way. I can’t be sure. My money’s on old, but who knows. It’s for Artois and is crowing about their new glass designed to keep the beer colder. The glass also has the slogan “Pass On Something Good” across it.
A provocative question to be sure, but not one I’ll even try to answer. Instead, take a look at how that question was answered 70 years ago by the the United Breweries Industrial Foundation in an ad they ran in the January 15, 1940 issue of Life Magazine. On page 69 of Life, they answer the question “what is beer?” eleven different ways.
At the bottom right, there’s also an address where you can send away for a booklet with the “facts.” I’d love to see a copy of that booklet. It’s interesting what they were probably trying to accomplish with the ad, shining a light on all of the positive aspects of beer and distancing themselves from the negative, no doubt with many people at that time still remembering the prohibition era criminal elements. That’s why they argue that brewers want “to clean-up or close-up the small minority of law-violating places which abuse the license to sell beer. The brewers want to protect your right to buy beer in decent, respectable surroundings.” It makes sense, of course, that the new post-prohibition brewing industry wants to get off on the right foot, reminding people what good there is in their continuing to be in business, especially while the prohibitionist organizations were still hard at work, despite being dealt the near-death blow of prohibition being over-turned less than a decade before.
Below are close-ups of the eleven answers proffered to the question “what is beer?”
I just love the fact that “Poet” is included. It makes me want to write more poetry. And how many of you know a brewer who looks, or dresses, like this one? But most of these are just hilarious, though undoubtedly true, they’re statements you rarely see stated in ads nowadays. Still, I’d really like to see more pro-beer ads today. I think we need them now more than ever.
Our ninteenth Guinness poster by John Gilroy is another of zoo scene, this one of a lion chasing a zookeeper to get his Guinness. It’s in the “My Goodness, My Guinness” series.
Friday’s ad is an old one, for Budweiser, from either 1904 or 1906. It’s a “modern” interpretation of the Greek myth of Ganymede. It shows Ganymede instead of introducing mead, as the legend goes, to the gods, instead introducing them to Budweiser. It was apparently published in Theater Magazine.
Thursday’s ad is for a defunct Pennsylvania brewery, from Allentown. Neuweiler’s Premium Ale; it’s “Premium brewed to please you.” I love all the Pennsylvania Dutch imagery, especially the Distelfink and the hex signs.
Wednesday’s ad is for Rolling Rock, because it was today four years ago, in 2006, that Anheuser-Busch agreed to buy the brand from InBev. The Rolling Rock as from the 1960s, and it actually resembles a Coors ad from the same period of time, especially with its emphasis on “pure mountain spring water.”
Tuesday’s ad is for Budweiser, who on this day opened not one, but two new plants. They opened a new brewery in Tampa, Florida on this day in 1959 and in Houston, Texas in 1966. I’m not sure of the date of the ad, but judging by the look of the cans, and the “Tab Top” text around the bottom of each can, I’d guess the early 1960s. But I do like the simplicity of the ad and the playful pun.
Monday’s ad is for Heineken. It’s not particularly old, but I chose it because today in 1867 the cornerstone was laid for the Heineken brewery in Amsterdam. The campaign’s theme, done by the ad agency JWT, was “Made to Entertain.” As much as I don’t care for the taste of Heineken, they are masters of marketing.
The first is a stack of pizza boxes, made to resemble a Heineken keg.
The second is a stack of compact discs.
Our eighteenth Guinness poster by John Gilroy is another of zoo seals using the “Lovely day for a Guinness” tagline. While looking on at two zookeepers taking a break and pouring themselves a Guinness, one of the seals is whispering something, presumably the tagline, into the ear of the other seal.
Friday’s ad is for Schlitz. I don’t exactly when it was from, but given that the copy begins “after the war is over …” it seems a safe bet it was before September of 1945. Taking on a Sci-Fi theme with its futuristic airplane, it predicts giant planes will “girdle the globe” in mere days. But the beer of tomorrow? According to the ad’s pithy copy “The beer of Tomorrow is here Today.” I’m not even sure what that means, but I like it.
