From Modernism to Shirt-Sleevism
Advertisements of the Thirties, by Steven Heller. Excerpt from the book 'All-American Ads of the 30s', edited by Jim Heimann
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The Jantzen ad was actually more artful than most in its genre. Conversely, the artless Chipso ad (p. 284) for a curiously named laundry detergent was a more common sort. Here a color photograph showing a children's tea party with a freshly coifed homemaker and three happy lassies in clean party clothes sits above the lengthy title: "Our clothes look new for more than one season's wear... thanks to Chipso," says the mother of happy little girls. It is a typically unimaginative testimonial type of ad. The grammatically challenged tagline "Chipso makes clothes wear - longer" (under a photo of mom in her apron at the slop sink with a box of the magical flakes) further reinforces the idea that happiness is cleanliness and cleanliness comes in a box.
Chipso may have been at the lower rung of the creative ladder but it was nonetheless influenced by better-known, more solidly financed national campaigns, like the one for Coca-Cola that left nothing to the imagination. "Home... to the pause that refreshes" (p. 586) is laden with layers of text and visual effluvia. A headline featuring Coca-Cola's venerable tagline sits atop a stylized painting of two happy, sugar-crazed pre-teen siblings (although the face of the girl perhaps intentionally looks much older and wiser than her body would suggest). Mom has just returned home from a shopping spree with arms full of packages (wishful thinking during the Depression) to receive the joyful greeting of her youngest child (presumably already sated by Coca-Cola and cookies). As if the painting doesn't offer enough narrative, two ancillary photographs show a "real life" mom buying and serving the dark, sweet elixir. And if all this is not enough reinforcement, think again. The text block, "When you shop you get something you don't bargain for. You get tired... and thirsty," knocks the reader over the head and brands the famous logo "Drink Coca-Cola" onto the cerebral cortex.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6
The Jantzen ad was actually more artful than most in its genre. Conversely, the artless Chipso ad (p. 284) for a curiously named laundry detergent was a more common sort. Here a color photograph showing a children's tea party with a freshly coifed homemaker and three happy lassies in clean party clothes sits above the lengthy title: "Our clothes look new for more than one season's wear... thanks to Chipso," says the mother of happy little girls. It is a typically unimaginative testimonial type of ad. The grammatically challenged tagline "Chipso makes clothes wear - longer" (under a photo of mom in her apron at the slop sink with a box of the magical flakes) further reinforces the idea that happiness is cleanliness and cleanliness comes in a box.
Chipso may have been at the lower rung of the creative ladder but it was nonetheless influenced by better-known, more solidly financed national campaigns, like the one for Coca-Cola that left nothing to the imagination. "Home... to the pause that refreshes" (p. 586) is laden with layers of text and visual effluvia. A headline featuring Coca-Cola's venerable tagline sits atop a stylized painting of two happy, sugar-crazed pre-teen siblings (although the face of the girl perhaps intentionally looks much older and wiser than her body would suggest). Mom has just returned home from a shopping spree with arms full of packages (wishful thinking during the Depression) to receive the joyful greeting of her youngest child (presumably already sated by Coca-Cola and cookies). As if the painting doesn't offer enough narrative, two ancillary photographs show a "real life" mom buying and serving the dark, sweet elixir. And if all this is not enough reinforcement, think again. The text block, "When you shop you get something you don't bargain for. You get tired... and thirsty," knocks the reader over the head and brands the famous logo "Drink Coca-Cola" onto the cerebral cortex.
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