Friday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1960. The ad shows a couple playing the boardgame Monopoly, and drinking Schlitz, of course. My kids have gotten into Monopoly lately, but I can’t ever remember playing it with just two people. It’s not nearly as much fun that way, so maybe that’s why they need the beer.
Thursday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1946. The ad shows a happy bride cutting her wedding cake, and is “Beyond Words.” This, despite there being words all over the ad. I especially like the ones at the bottom of the ad. “Every sip tell you what words can’t.”
Wednesday’s ad is for Miller High Life, from 1957. The ad is from their minimalist period, with a few props suggesting a maritime setting; a picnic down by the docks, perhaps? For some reason, I’m not buying it. They’re all too neat and tidy.
Tuesday’s ad is for Schlitz Beer, from 1943. That makes it a wartime ad, but it shows a fancy dress dance party, which seems a bit incongruous. But presumably they’re dancing a waltz, which makes the tagline — “As Smooth as a Waltz” — work.
Monday’s ad is for Rheingold Beer, from 1955, and features Miss Rheingold from that year, Nancy Woodruff. She’s cozying up to a bunch of blue flowers, which she’s holding against her face, with an urban flower-seller and his outdoor shop in the background. That’s quite a wide smile she’s beaming at us in her all-pink outfit, more than five years before Jackie Kennedy made pink chic.
Friday’s ad is for Michelob, from 1968. Using the double entendre tagline “Sometimes I Wonder If You Like Me For Myself … Or Just My Shape.” Are those false eyelashes on the bottle meant to make it look more female? And is that a tear dripping down its side, or merely a bead of liquid?
Thursday’s ad is for Genesee Beer, from 1968. The ad is a product of its time, when the ecology movement, as it was known back then, was just starting to spread awareness of such concepts as recycling. But I have to admit, that beautiful stream definitely looks better in its pristine state, without beer cans littering that idyllic natural setting. And can that wire trashcan really be out there by the stream? Keep American Beautiful, indeed.
Wednesday’s ad is for Ballantine, from 1968. I just watched the James Bond film “Thunderball” with my son this weekend, and this dark drawing of the scuba diver reminds me a bit of it, as if they’re invoking the idea or romance of James Bond to sell Ballantine. Thunderball came out in 1965, and was the most popular Bond film to date, so it’s possible, I suppose. But that tagline, “Stronger Bolder Taste Really Means Business!,” it seems to be mixing too many ideas, and just doesn’t roll off the tongue. And then there’s that other tagline at the bottom of the ad. “Ballantine Ale XXX has a taste you can feel.” Hmm, taste you can feel?
Tuesday’s ad is for the Barley and Malt Institute, from 1959. This is the fourth ad I have from the now defunct trade group for barley growers. In this one a feminine hand is adding beer to a fondue pot, while a man is stirring it and holding up the “OK” sign, presumably to indicate there’s enough beer in the mix. And that tagline, “Fun-Flavors your creative cookery;” I’m not even sure that quite makes sense. But cheese and beer? Now those are some fun flavors.
Monday’s ad is for Rheingold Beer, from 1958, and features Miss Rheingold from that year, Madelyn Darrow. It looks like she’s attending the most civilized tailgate party in the history of mankind.
