Our 50th Guinness poster by John Gilroy was most likely from World War 2, and shows a Spitfire airplane “eying” and speeding toward a bottle of Guinness as a mechanic on the ground races to grab his beer first. It’s slogan is the familiar “My Goodness, My Guinness.”
Our 49th Guinness poster by John Gilroy depicts a clock with a face at 12:50, or “10 to 1,” as in the tagline “Ten to one It’s Guinness Time.” It was vaguely 11 and it’s now 2011. I can’t help it, that’s just the way my addled mind work.
And here’s another version as a tin sign.
Our 48th Guinness poster by John Gilroy features Santa Claus decorating the Christmas tree with Guinness bottles, with a little help from all of his zoo animals. Now that’s “Guinness Time” … er Christmas Time.
Our 47th Guinness poster wasn’t strictly done by John Gilroy, but it does feature his smiling, anthropomorphized glasses looking up at a clock somehow meant to signify Christmas time. The only text is “Christmas — That’s Guinness Time.”
Our 46th Guinness poster by John Gilroy features our intrepid zookeeper waking up Christmas morning to find a bottle of Guinness in his stocking, hung on his bedpost. The slogan is again “My Goodness, My Christmas Guinness.” Hoppy Christmas.
Our 45th Guinness poster by John Gilroy features Santa’s sleigh being pulled by a pair of seals balancing a Guinness bottle and pint glass on their respective noses as Santa chases them in hot pursuit. The slogan is “My Goodness, My Christmas Guinness.” Personally I don’t think the jolly fat man is going to get his Guinness back.
In the similar painting below, used as a postcard, there’s only one seal pulling the sled along with many of the famous Guinness advertising icon animals. Santa Claus is driving the sleigh and they’re transporting a case of Guinness.
Our 44th Guinness poster by John Gilroy features Santa Claus hauling the biggest Christmas tree you ever saw and over by the reindeer there’s a bottle of Guinness, which is why the slogan for the ad is “Guinness for Strength.” But the main tagline of the ad is “Christmas Is Coming,” and through the end of the year, all of the ads spotlighted will be holidays ones.
Our 43rd Guinness poster by John Gilroy features a man lifting up a very large boat in order to paint the underside. The boat has “GIGFY” on it’s bow, which I assume stands for “Guinness is good for you” although the slogan for the ad is “Guinness for Strength.”
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.
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.
