Welcome to my blog, where I take pleasure in words and pictures, be they my own or those of others. I'm a creative individual, and the crafty side I explore on my 'other blog', Picking Up The Threads, which I hope you'll visit too. I'm sure you understand that I have sole copyright of my original work and any of my contributions, so please ask if you want to use them. A polite request is rarely refused. So, as they used to say on the BBC's 'Listen With Mother' radio programme, many years ago: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin."

Friday 23 January 2015

Bowled Over


The adverts in this week’s post all come from my souvenir programme of a cricket match held at RAF College Cranwell in 1971, where several famous people were playing. I wrote about it here and put the whole thing in a Flickr album, where you can see even more adverts, and pictures, and read stories and anecdotes.

I like the whimsical humour and the dreadful punning style of the first image, even if it is a little laboured. The others in my selection are all on a cricket theme, where the advertiser chose to capitalise on the event (Haig Whisky missed a trick). They are interesting from a historical perspective too. The National Coal Board was later privatised and many mines closed over the subsequent years.

























These days we would expect more details in the advert about the product and where to purchase it. I’m assuming that Australia Farm is some kind of co-operative, but the ad relies on the reader already having some knowledge of its services. I remember that in the 1950s my great-uncle in Victoria sent Christmas parcels of Australian dried fruits. After the war these products were scarce and expensive, and the parcel contained ingredients to make a Christmas cake.

At least SBS, the building supply company had the sense to include contact details.

This week Sepia Saturday has an advert from 1882 as the prompt. Join other Sepians there to see what they’re advertising this week.

19 comments:

  1. I like the ads. The plain illustrations with a straight forward message. I remember ovaltine ads on tv when I was a kid.

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  2. I suppose there is a different style for advertising in a sports program than there wood be in housekeeping magazine.

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  3. Several of you Sepians chose to share advertisements from one particular published source . . . some from magazines, but yours is rather unique, coming from a sports programme. Nice going & interesting ads.

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  4. Still effective.

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  5. Love the cricketing theme ! But I haven't a clue what Kangaroo Butter is.. Sounds horrible.

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  6. Well, from the Camperdown Chronicle of Sept 5th 1935 it seems that I'm not the only one put off by the name of Kangaroo Butter !


    KANGAROO BUTTER

    OFFICIAL DEFENDS USE OF BRAND.

    i "The fact that Australian butter is branded Kangaroo does not affect I the London market in the least." the supervisor of dairy products at the Commerce Department (Mr. Carroll) said on Wednesday. He was referring to a letter from England in which it was stated that the use of the brand was repugnant and was hampering sales of Austra liin butter in England. "The brand signifies the highest quality of Australian butter, to which it Is applied only," said Mr. Carroll. "The reason for the selection of the brand was because the kangaroo is an exclusive Australian animal and it was Drought appropriate that Aus tralian products should carry a na tional brand. "One may a s well denounce the manufacturers of other foodstuffs which bear the names of animals or birds. The whole thin? is la\i?*!i able." The suggestion that some English people thought the butter was made from kangaroo's milk was ridiculous, he added. A leading dealer, however, favoured a change of brand, suggesting a name that would embody the reputation Australia had for aunny pastures. It would give the idea that the butter was full of vitamins, he said.

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    1. Sorry wrong date. Feb 2nd 1935

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  7. Hello,

    Well, advertising does seem to have progressed along way since this publication. As you say, amazing that even the scantiest of contact details or retail outlets did not have a mention. Very different from the science of pad retiring which seems to be the order of the day these days.

    Ovaltine....how we hated the stuff. But, night after night this was produced. Now we cannot bear even the slightest whiff from the jar! Memories come flooding back...

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  8. I remember drinking Ovaltine and belonging to the Olvalteenies club (may have the name wrong there). In Australia I think we drank Milo more than Ovaltine.

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  9. How times change. Now the advertising is against Coal based power. What will be next?

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  10. I noticed the letter by Prince Philip at your Flickr page. I've just read that his wife is now the oldest reigning monarch in the World, and she has nearly (September 9 will be the day) broken Queen Victoria's record (who was queen for an astounding 63 years and 216 days).

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  11. How nice of your uncle to send over the ingredients for a Christmas cake, I’m sure that made someone very happy. I seem to remember the cakes my mum made in the 50s were very short on fruit - what a shame we didn’t know your uncle :-)
    I enjoyed all the adverts, thanks for sharing them.

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  12. A very interesting "take" on this week's theme. I was particularly struck by the powerful Coal Board advert - how times have changed!

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  13. I like the sparse ads better than todays crowded variety.

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  14. As a child I used to love Milo, either spooning it straight from the tin, or just slightly moistened on top of a glass of cold milk. A great after school snack. I think it's good when companies make the effort to tailor their ads to suit a particular publication, as per your amusing examples.

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  15. Very amusing ads. Cricket wit will never be understood in America though. I will have to see if "kangaroo butter" is available at our local gourmet markets. Churned in the pouch by all that hopping!

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  16. I suppose, the ads in this program were of appeal to the people of the time and place. Perhaps they didn't need contact details, especially for the Coal Board. Or for Ovaltine. But even so, in today's ads we nearly always see a link for a website.

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  17. That was a kind of transitional stage between the older types of adverts of the early twentieth century and the slicker but cruder stuff of the late century. They are not so "in your face" and they are less "hard-sell". Of course these days you would expect to see a barcode or QR code to whisk you off to a website. Times change. (perhaps we should have a Sepia Saturday QR code)

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  18. I've been thinking about famous old adverts lately, and I do think that they had a particular style to them that makes them memorable - like someone coming up and talking to you directly, without the oily approach of modern ads which seem to assume you're absolutely bound to be aspirational and desperate to pamper yourself! :D

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