Magazine ad for Shaefer Paper’s camouflaged toilet paper found in Fins and Feathers, Hunting ’88 Special Issue #2
The dude in this ad was definitely not a “leave no trace” guy, but Kathleen Meyer’s “How to Shit in the Woods” wasn’t published until 1989.
$3.99 in 1988 would be around $10.61 these days (Oct. 2024), which seems a bit spendy for a pocket-sized roll of toilet paper.
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Dr Pepper ad found in The 86th Tournament of Roses Official Parade Souvenir Program (1975)
In 1986, Dr Pepper had a 4.6% market share.
In June 2024, Dr Pepper passed Pepsi as the second biggest soda brand.
In 2009, Pibb Xtra (Mr. Pibb) had a 0.7% market share, a 0.1% increase from 2000.
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Found in the October 1969 issue of Golf Digest.
A Brief History of the Talon Zipper Company
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Found on the back cover of Forest and Stream magazine, March 1921.
The Story of Evinrude Outboard Motors
Hey, do you remember the name of the dragonfly in Disney’s The Rescuers?
I consider myself lucky for having had two formative and cool jobs before careening into the advertising agency world. One was at a record store — Budget Tapes and Records (’86-’89) — followed by Kinko’s Copies (’89-’95).
(I’m ignoring the horrifying month of selling Sears maintenance agreements over the phone in between those two gigs.)
I remember wearing the blue Kinko’s apron with the deep pockets that would fill with office products during my shifts, and I occasionally look to see if any survivors ever show up on eBay/Etsy/etc. Not yet.
Last week, I was on the Wikipedia page for FedEx Office, and read the following…
Kinko’s played a significant role in the development of American counterculture in the 1980s and 1990s. In her study of the role of xerography in urban cultures in this period, the anthropologist Kate Eichhorn recounts:
“At its height of popularity between the late 1980s and mid-1990s, Kinko’s outlets in urban centres across North America were catch basins for writers, artists, anarchists, punks, insomniacs, graduate students, DIY bookmakers, zinesters, obsessive compulsive hobbyists, scam artists, people living on the street, and people just living on the edge. Whether you were promoting a new band or publishing a pamphlet on DIY gynaecology or making a fake ID for an underage friend, Kinko’s was the place to be.”
She’s not wrong.
After checking out the footnote reference, then looking for the journal the article was in and finding out it would cost $$$ to read it on an academic site, I contacted the author so see if she still had a copy of the article and she let me know that article became part of one of her books. She is a very excellent person.
So I bought the book. It ain’t no apron, but it’s part of my past before the Internet kicked in, and books are pretty neat too.
From 1942 or so. Found on the back of a newspaper clipping.
So what exactly was in Carter’s Little Liver Pills? A laxative.
I guess not having calomel was a good thing since it often caused mercury poisoning.
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I know the retail world is rather volatile these days, but I’d still like to see the creative brief/strategy that led to Kohl’s new tagline.
I was so focused on this 1966 telephone newspaper ad this weekend that I didn’t notice it was next to Walt Disney’s obituary until today.
Continue readingSome business trade writers are objective and let the readers form their own opinions from the provided information, and then there was Truman A. De Weese.
Excerpted from an article in System – The Magazine of Business, July 1907.
“Blazingly bright and stunning, digital technology is revolutionizing the billboard experience.”
