The second Guinness poster on our John Gilroy odyssey is also one of my favorites. The tagline is “There’s Nothing Like A Guinness” and features the personified pint of Guinness opening its mouth for the last drop from the bottle.
And here’s another version, a square one, of the same basic artwork.
Friday’s ad is for Brauerei Münchner Kindl, a German brewer. As far as I can tell, Vivator was a brand of beer sold by the brewery. There’s a small signature block in the lower right corner that appears to be where the artist’s signature would be, but I can’t find a large enough version of the ad to read it. I love how exuberant the man is, stein in hand, singing in what looks like it could be snow, with the Munich skyline behind him.
Thursday’s ad is for a Swiss brewer, Braustube Hurlimann in Zurich. It was created by Hugo Laubi, a Swiss illustrator who lived from 1888-1959.
Wednesday’s ad is for the Scottish beer, McEwan’s, which until recently was owned by Scottish & Newcastle, but in 2007 it was split up and bought by both Heineken USA and Carlsberg, who each picked over its bones and took bits of it for themselves. Heineken got the McEwan’s brand.Who knows what its ultimate fate will be, though Heineken’s track record isn’t exactly geared toward preservation.
I don’t know when this ad was produced, but given the burning cigarette dangling above the McEwan’s man — taken from the Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals — in the ashtray. it certainly must be when smoking still didn’t carry the stigma is does nowadays. I love the tartan background and just the simplicity of the drawing.
Tuesday’s ad is by an artist named G. Foure, and that’s about as much as I know about him. The poster, Biere Titan, is for Grandes Brasserie Jarney and Uckange, a French brewery that was created in 1926 when
Brasseries de Pagny sur Moselle merged with Brasseries de Jarny. That means this ad was done some time after 1926. The Biere Titan certainly has a jolly amber giant look to him. I also love the feathery wisps of cloud-like head. Who’s thirsty now?
Monday’s ad is somewhat unusual in that it’s for a non-alcoholic beer. This one’s called Malti and is from Italy. I’m not quite sure why they chose a flute player for the logo, but as stained glass I think it’s pretty cool looking. I’m guessing it’s from the sixties or possibly early seventies. Anybody know anything different? The tagline translates to essentially “good beer without alcohol.”
The first poster John Gilroy did for Guinness is believed to be of a seal balancing a pint of beer. Gilroy apparently got the idea while visiting the circus. The UK Independent related the story last year, when Guinness was celebrating their 250th anniversary, and simultaneously their 80th anniversary of advertising.
The artist was reputedly visiting the circus one day when he was impressed by the sight of a sea lion balancing a ball on his nose. Gilroy, deploying the strange thought processes of great advertising creatives down the decades, conjured the image of a sea lion balancing a bottle of the black stuff and made it the subject of an iconic Guinness poster ad. From there followed a menagerie: an ostrich, a tortoise and then the famous toucan, the best-known Guinness animal.
That would have been in 1930, the year after Guinness began advertising. Gilroy continued to work on this Guinness campaign for the next 35 years.
Friday’s ad is another old art poster from France. I don’t know the artist, the brewery or even the year is was created, though it was most likely in the first few decades of the last century. “Le Bon Bock” I presume is “the good beer” and Atlantique may be the brewery, or it may simply refer to beer along the Atlantic coast of France.
Thursday’s ad is from Japan, and is for Sapporo beer. The ad is from 1934 and pictures a woman sitting and enjoying a beer, presumably at a dance watching the other couples cut a rug. One oddity; is it just me or does that glass in her hand look pretty small? Or is she perhaps a giant? Either way, it seems a little out of proportion. It’s also interesting that apart from the kanji writing and the woman’s obvious ethnicity, it could be any western ad for beer.
Wednesday’s ad is from Canada, and was published in 1955. After opening their Toronto brewery the same year, Molson debuted their first lager beer, Crown and Anchor. This ad, featuring dancing sailors, was one of the first ads for the new beer. I wonder what “sparkling light” is?
If you can’t read the text, either click on the ad for a larger view or read the transcription below.
If you want a gay and cheery
brew that looks brighter, tastes
lighter … and leaves a fresh
clean taste upon the tongue …
try Crown & Anchor Lager Beer.
Chances are you’ll agree,
“This light beer is the right beer for me.”