Your Gel, It Smell
Product: Royal Gelatin
Date: 1933
Do you ever stop to think what gelatin is made from? Many people think horse’s hooves. It’s a common misconception, but no, gelatin cannot be made from hooves. What it does contain is not actually any more palatable: cattle and pork bones, pig skins, and cattle hides.
These days, of course, gelatin’s image is carefully groomed. There is nothing in the product or the packaging that even remotely hints at its gruesome ingredient list.
But back in the ’30s, consumers weren’t quite so lucky. It seems that some brands of gelatin gave off a rather, er, noxious smell. This ad for Royal Gelatin repeatedly describes their competitors’ aroma as “gluey.” The smell must have been quite pronounced and quite unpleasant for Royal to play up their fruity aromas as a key point of difference.
I wonder if they used the word “gluey” to tap into the public’s misconception that horse’s hooves were an ingredient in “inferior” brands of gelatin, since in the early 20th century, horse hooves and bones were often used as a source of glue.
Bon appetit?
Click to enlarge.
Technorati Tags: vintage advertising, antique ad, Royal Gelatin, animal by-products
Ice — It’s the Coolest
Product: Ice
Date: 1928
In our ultra-modern hyper-technological age, it’s hard to imagine a time when refrigeration was a novelty. And yet it wasn’t all that long ago, as this December 1928 ad for ice blocks attests.
Only 80 years ago, ice had copywriters gushing:
- Ice was “the life of the party”.
- Ice clinked merrily in time to music.
- Ice sparkled brightly.
- Ice added flavour and appeal to food and drink.
- Ice made out-of-season foods available all year round!
- Ice was good health insurance, keeping food pure and untainted.
- Ice was efficient and inexpensive.
You could even send away for a free booklet called Ice - the Life of the Party. Inside you would learn “modern ways of enjoying ice, including proper uses of ice in table settings.”
Cool.
Click to enlarge
Technorati Tags: antique advertising, vintage advertisement, Baby New Year, ice, refrigeration
Baby Wanna Bottle?
Product: 7-Up
Date: 1950
It’s 1950. It’s Middle America. Here we have Mom (in her high heels and pearls), Dad, Freddie, Kay, and little brother on a swell outing to the zoo. Look at the polar bears! Look at the balloons!
Now let’s turn our attention to little brother, the cute baby in the stroller. How old is he? Eighteen months? Maybe two, tops? He’s having a good time at the zoo, as well. What’s that he’s drinking? A bottle of nourishing mama’s milk? A cup of apple juice?
No, sir! It’s cheerful, clean-tasting 7-Up. Just because you’re still in diapers doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your very own glass bottle of fizzy sugar water. In fact, it’s good for you. It’s practically medicine. The ad says so.
Seven-Up is so pure — so good — so completely wholesome that even the very youngest can “fresh up” just as often as they want…and with as much as they want.
God bless America.
Click to enlarge.
Technorati Tags: vintage advertising, 7-Up, soda ad, Middle America, post-war prosperity, nuclear family, polar bear
