Tastes Like Sunshine

Packaging used to be so elegant.  Even a utilitarian object such as a rough wooden crate used to transport produce was ornamented with a colorful label to further entice the buyer to try the delicious contents.  For example – the orange.  Once a rare treat in ye olde England, it became much more widely available by the 1940s in America – though not quite to the excess we enjoy today.  If you happened to be one of the few folks in the 40s who had not yet tried an orange, this fanciful label may have made you halt in your tracks at the fruit market and say to yourself, “Wow!  That looks exciting – I must have one!”  And, a few juicy mouthfuls later, you would be daydreaming of pyramids and polychromed temples shimmering in the hot desert sun.

…Look Out Stomach, Here it Comes

“Do you eat?” queries this early 20th century ad for Pabst Malt Extract.  Yeah – I don’t know what this is/was either.  Being of an older vintage than today’s advertising, the answer is phrased more elegantly than “Duh”.  Apparently, not satisfied with making beer, or perhaps ridding themselves of excess ingredients, the Pabst brewing company offered the public a nourishing tonic that stimulated appetites and braced constitutions everywhere.  Or at least to those brave enough to try it.  Dubious marketing tactics aside, the graphics are particularly artistic and rendered in the classical style popular during that time period.

Breakfast of Champions

Keep the Wheaties.  Pass me the Kamut Krisp, please!  Yum.  (Well, maybe not – this box is ten years old).  Full of fiber and other things that are good for me, plus a neat graphic of King Tut on the box.  Watch me conquer the day after eating breakfast the Egyptian way!

Goes Great With Chicken

It’s a paperweight…..it’s an ad premium…..no wait, it’s an emergency food reserve!  Uncle Ben’s branding + acrylic pyramid + uncooked rice = priceless kitsch.  Every desk should have one.

Thanks, Claud Hatcher

RC Cola – love it or hate it – is almost as old as the Egyptian pyramids.  (You can read the full history here).  I have a few items in my collection that represent several decades of this product.  The bottle, copyright 1936, is emblazoned with a jazzy red and yellow logo that for some reason depicts four pyramids.  A teenage Shirley Temple promotes RC from an advertising fan, c. 1944 – this may be the same time frame for the coupon.  Paramount star Wanda Hendrix assures us that RC is ‘best by taste-test’ on a calendar from 1950.  And last is a photograph of RC being bottled at the factory – I included a detail shot of the bottles.  Enjoy!