The Jordan Motor Car Company's legendary Somewhere West of Laramie advertisement.
I started this post during the Christmas season (and resumed it following the advertising laden Super Bowl), when particularly odd examples of this literary and cinematic genre crop up, particularly in the perfume industry. Perfume and cologne are products marketed pretty much on the basis of image anyhow, so advertisements that are all image are not surprising, but this segment of the market offers a selection that's particularly odd. None is more odd, this year, than the perfume and cologne campaign by Dolce and Gabanna. This campaign features a nearly naked man who dives into the seas of some warm water somewhere to sneak up on a barely clad young woman who looks like an Auschwitz victim, as she's so thin. Perhaps its my age, but what she looks like she needs isn't perfume, but a gift certificate to a local restaurant. Any restaurant, particularly one that offers seconds on desert. In the print version of the ad she has a pained look on her face, as if she's about to hurl. Advertising folks must not have children, as they have obviously mistaken the appearance of estacy with the appearance of "drank expired milk." In that advertisement the swimming male sports the most recent facial hair affectation among the trendy, stubble. If Nixon debated Kennedy today, all the commentary would be on how "hot" he looked, with stubble.
What, a person might ask, does any that have to do with the advertisement set out above for Jordan automobiles? Well, everything really.
The 1923 advertisement set out above is legendary in advertising circles, as its regarded as the first advertisement to attempt to sell based solely on image and style. The car can't really be seen, we get none of the details about the car. We don't know what engine it has, or even what type of car it is really. All we know is that "Somewhere west of Laramie, there's a broncho-busting, steer -roping girl" who apparently knows what the advertising copy writer it talking about. If so, she's the only one, as the advertisement is purposely highly enigmatic. Basically, we're left with the suggestion that we want to know the broncho-busting girl west of Laramie, and perhaps we want a Jordan automobile also. It's an advertising masterpiece.
Not enough of one, however, to save the Jordan company during the Great Depression. The car wasn't all that hot of a vehicle and it was really a components car, a fairly common way of making cars at the time. That is, the Jordan Motor Car Company bought a lot of components to make it, rather than make it themselves. When money became tight, broncho busting girls and their admirers were apparently short of cash, and the Jordan Motor Car Company disappeared.
Edward S. Jordan, the founder of the company, had been an advertising man prior to founding the car company, and that's where he talents undoubtedly lay. Advertising has never been the same since Jordan penned the copy and thought of the stylized ad, which ran first in a June 1923 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. And it worked too. Sales of the Jordan leaped up. A new advertising age was born. The car might not have lasted, by the impact on advertising was permanent.
Prior to June 1923, not all advertisements were detail oriented by any means. And some were based on image. But none were so vague as to the product itself. Stylized advertisements were common, but they often depicted a romantic allegorical view of their product if they were, such as this one below for Waterman Pens:
This imagine, already in a prior thread here, wanted to remind the reader that, following the horror of World War One, that the pen was mightier than the sword, telling us that the "portable "Ideal" pen by Waterman was "the arm of the peace,", also suggesting that it was used in executing the recent treaty of peace, upon which we see the Goddess of Peace sitting, in 1919. Extremely allegorical, we also see the sun rising up on the year 1919 and a horn of plenty flowing out from below the bench upon which Peace is sitting. But we do see the pen too and get a really good idea of what the Waterman "Ideal" looked like.
This example might be one of the most pronounced taking this approach, but it wasn't the only one, and a fair number of companies used allegorical advertisements up through the 1920s, with some of the allegories being so overdone that the advertisements are more than a little odd to the modern eye. The style continued on into the 1940s, however, although it was beginning to pass away by that time. World War Two gave it a boost, as the situation lent itself to that sort of advertising, as had World War One before it.
Allegorical ads are fairly rare, now, if they feature true allegories, but they occasionally do show up. The best one in recent decades was a Super Bowl advertisement in which an athletic young woman, representing Apple Computers, rushed into a room of blandly clad men looking at a bland image on a huge screen, and hurls a sledge hammer into it, signifying Apple's intent to crush IBM. Apple did basically that shortly thereafter.
Others advertisements from the turn of the prior century, before the girl from Laramie used simple art images, such as Coca Cola which famously used a series depicting well turned out and stylized young women, drinking their product.
What, a person might ask, does any that have to do with the advertisement set out above for Jordan automobiles? Well, everything really.
The 1923 advertisement set out above is legendary in advertising circles, as its regarded as the first advertisement to attempt to sell based solely on image and style. The car can't really be seen, we get none of the details about the car. We don't know what engine it has, or even what type of car it is really. All we know is that "Somewhere west of Laramie, there's a broncho-busting, steer -roping girl" who apparently knows what the advertising copy writer it talking about. If so, she's the only one, as the advertisement is purposely highly enigmatic. Basically, we're left with the suggestion that we want to know the broncho-busting girl west of Laramie, and perhaps we want a Jordan automobile also. It's an advertising masterpiece.
Not enough of one, however, to save the Jordan company during the Great Depression. The car wasn't all that hot of a vehicle and it was really a components car, a fairly common way of making cars at the time. That is, the Jordan Motor Car Company bought a lot of components to make it, rather than make it themselves. When money became tight, broncho busting girls and their admirers were apparently short of cash, and the Jordan Motor Car Company disappeared.
Edward S. Jordan, the founder of the company, had been an advertising man prior to founding the car company, and that's where he talents undoubtedly lay. Advertising has never been the same since Jordan penned the copy and thought of the stylized ad, which ran first in a June 1923 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. And it worked too. Sales of the Jordan leaped up. A new advertising age was born. The car might not have lasted, by the impact on advertising was permanent.
Prior to June 1923, not all advertisements were detail oriented by any means. And some were based on image. But none were so vague as to the product itself. Stylized advertisements were common, but they often depicted a romantic allegorical view of their product if they were, such as this one below for Waterman Pens:
This imagine, already in a prior thread here, wanted to remind the reader that, following the horror of World War One, that the pen was mightier than the sword, telling us that the "portable "Ideal" pen by Waterman was "the arm of the peace,", also suggesting that it was used in executing the recent treaty of peace, upon which we see the Goddess of Peace sitting, in 1919. Extremely allegorical, we also see the sun rising up on the year 1919 and a horn of plenty flowing out from below the bench upon which Peace is sitting. But we do see the pen too and get a really good idea of what the Waterman "Ideal" looked like.
This example might be one of the most pronounced taking this approach, but it wasn't the only one, and a fair number of companies used allegorical advertisements up through the 1920s, with some of the allegories being so overdone that the advertisements are more than a little odd to the modern eye. The style continued on into the 1940s, however, although it was beginning to pass away by that time. World War Two gave it a boost, as the situation lent itself to that sort of advertising, as had World War One before it.
Boy Scout backed World War One vintage advertisement for Liberty Bonds.
Allegorical ads are fairly rare, now, if they feature true allegories, but they occasionally do show up. The best one in recent decades was a Super Bowl advertisement in which an athletic young woman, representing Apple Computers, rushed into a room of blandly clad men looking at a bland image on a huge screen, and hurls a sledge hammer into it, signifying Apple's intent to crush IBM. Apple did basically that shortly thereafter.
Others advertisements from the turn of the prior century, before the girl from Laramie used simple art images, such as Coca Cola which famously used a series depicting well turned out and stylized young women, drinking their product.
Coca Cola advertisement from 1891. Coke used this type of advertisement for at least two decades.
It wasn't just soft drink companies that used ads of the type set out above. Brewers did do, with Budweiser notably having depictions of women which were quite similar to Coca Cola's, suggesting perhaps that Coke was the entry beverage to beer. Brewers were also early users of other themes, however, such as cowboys, outdoors men, and outdoor imagines..
All this isn't to say that 1923 brought a complete change in advertising, that wouldn't be true at all. Even today, ads like the ones immediately above can be found, including during the Christmas Season and the during the Super Bowl. But 1923 did see the introduction of the odd enigmatic ad, which would be a minority type, to be sure.
In recent years the ones that seem to have really predominated in this category are perfume ads, which is perhaps because, as the end of they day, they're pretty much about nothing. The Dolce and Gabanna advertisement may be the very best example around, in both its print and film versions. It's about nothing at all, and it is all style. Style wise, moreover, it's truly weird. It's a bizarre thing to think that the same two months that saw the U.S. Department of Defense decide that women could serve in combat would also see a product hawked to them marketed with the theme that some guy dives off of a cliff to rescue/abduct a waif who appears to badly be in need of a good square meal and who has a look which vaguely suggests that she's about to be violently ill. Hopefully, if women are to serve in combat, she won't be one of them, as I have doubts about her ability to pick up a pencil, let alone a rifle. The Coca Cola girl immediately above looks like a better bet, defense wise. Anyhow, the advertisement doesn't actually tell us anything about the product. We don't know if its uniquely pleasing, odor wise, or stenchy, or if the advertisement is meant to suggest to us the smell of sweaty people at the beach. All very confusing.
Alcohol advertisements in recent years have also really taken this on in spades. The best example are the Dos Equis advertisements, which feature the Worlds Most Interesting Man. They're really a hoot. They have nothing at all do do with the well known Mexican beer, or even with Mexico or beer. Rather, viewers are treated to the improbable adventures of the unnamed "Most Interesting Man," which are presented sort of pseudo documentary style. Amongst other things we've learned, for example, is that the Most Interesting Man "speaks Russian, in French," and that he keeps a mountain lion for a pet. Great stuff.
Also very enigmatic. Taking a page from that, Dewars Scotch whiskey has been using a very odd advertisement in which an actress with an extremely thick Scotch brogue addresses the camera, which is supposed to be a man named Angus. That is, we're the silent voyeurs of an address between the glamorous Scotch lady and Angus, who seems to be her husband. Angus is getting a lecture on taking life "seriously," and we're lead to believe that taking life "seriously" will result in "serious benefits." We're not told what the benefits are, but it isn't too hard to guess. Anyhow, we're also lead to believe that taking "life seriously" involves drinking Scotch, which is very unfortunate for me personally, as I can't stand Scotch. We're never actually informed that we should drink Scotch, let alone that we should drink Dewars, but the lady is swilling a serious glass of Scotch. This all means, I suppose that serious people, or at least serious Scotsmen named Angus, ought to be drinking Dewars. Fortunately, I guess, I'm not Scottish, nor am I named Angus, as I can't begin to figure the advertisement out, and if taking "life seriously" means I must drink Scotch, I'm not going to, even if it means I have to forgo "serious benefits."
Regarding the advertisement, Soctch and benefits, at the end of it a voice over, done in the fashion of an old scratchy broadcast, declares, again in a brogue "All hail the drinking man!" It's brilliant touch as now not only is the viewer left wondering what the heck the ad is about, but where the voice recording originated. I have no idea. It sounds like a toast from some far off distant day, but probably isn't. And how odd. All hail the drinking man? What the heck does that that mean? Why are we hailing the drinking man? Bizarre, but effective, advertising.
Odd booze ads, however, have followed this trend for a long time. One of the most famous advertisement of the 1970s featured a man in a white suit, with a white fedora, declaring "Accountancy was my life until I discovered Smirnoff". Smirnoff, of course, is a brand of vodka. We're lead to believe that the man in the white suit lead a boring life until Smirnoff delivered him from it, and now he's off on constant exciting adventures. Again, this is unfortunate for me, as I can't stand vodka either. Indeed, I'm pretty convinced that the difference between the best vodka and the worst vodka is the price, and nothing else. But I would think that, as I don't like any of them. This may mean that I could have been well suited for a life of accountancy, but that seems pretty serious, and my dislike of Scotch already disqualifies me from that.
Not that all advertisements for alcohol are of the "girl from Laramie" variety. Stella Artois, the Belgian beer, was advertised for awhile with a series of extremely clever story advertisements, all of which revolved around the quality of their beer. One great early one had a the Germans coming into a tavern in search of a downed World War One British aviator, with the threat being that they would do away with the tavern's supply of Stella if the aviator was not turned over. Another one involved a second WWI theme in which one soldier rescued another. The the rescued hero takes the rescuer home to meet his father, a tavern keeper, who gives his son a glass of Stella, but who steps on the supply line and pretends it is broken rather than poor a second glass of beer for free. A third involved bicyclists stopping in the mountains for a beer during ar arduous race, meaning that they'll now loose it, only to find that their ancestors had done the same. All very well done.
This sort of historical theme was recently taken up by Barbisol, the shaving cream company, which has added a nice sarcastic spin to it. In that series of advertisements, men address their distant descendants with contempt, advising them that if they can't act like men, they ought to at least shave like them. It's really pretty effective, and it taps into a general feeling right now that a lot of men really don't measure up to their ancestors. In one, a man driving a wagon on the Oregon trail, in "what will become Wyoming" gets after his descendant for a "juice purge" and calls him with contempt, "juice box." The well shaved pioneer concludes by telling "juice box" that he ought to at least "shave like a man." In an even better one, brilliantly filmed, a World War Two infantryman hits the deck behind some rubble while combat rages behind him. We can see the fighting going on. It's so well done I thought it was, at first, a scene from Saving Private Ryan. The infantryman calls his great-grandson "buddy" but then goes on to address him with contempt, while in comparison he's "fighting a little thing called World War Two." He specifically gets after his descendant for criticising celebrities on Twitter and for using the tag line "LOL," while coolly taking time out to throw a German hand grenade back over the rubble. He too advises his modern descendant to "shave like a man."
Another type of advertisement that's been around for a very long time is the one that intends to pull at your emotions. That can only be done in certain circumstances, however, so an advertiser has to be careful at it. I'd guess that at no single point in history have these really been any more or less common than they are right now. Probably only during wartime do these get to be a bit more common.
Advertisement for Widemann's Beer.
All this isn't to say that 1923 brought a complete change in advertising, that wouldn't be true at all. Even today, ads like the ones immediately above can be found, including during the Christmas Season and the during the Super Bowl. But 1923 did see the introduction of the odd enigmatic ad, which would be a minority type, to be sure.
In recent years the ones that seem to have really predominated in this category are perfume ads, which is perhaps because, as the end of they day, they're pretty much about nothing. The Dolce and Gabanna advertisement may be the very best example around, in both its print and film versions. It's about nothing at all, and it is all style. Style wise, moreover, it's truly weird. It's a bizarre thing to think that the same two months that saw the U.S. Department of Defense decide that women could serve in combat would also see a product hawked to them marketed with the theme that some guy dives off of a cliff to rescue/abduct a waif who appears to badly be in need of a good square meal and who has a look which vaguely suggests that she's about to be violently ill. Hopefully, if women are to serve in combat, she won't be one of them, as I have doubts about her ability to pick up a pencil, let alone a rifle. The Coca Cola girl immediately above looks like a better bet, defense wise. Anyhow, the advertisement doesn't actually tell us anything about the product. We don't know if its uniquely pleasing, odor wise, or stenchy, or if the advertisement is meant to suggest to us the smell of sweaty people at the beach. All very confusing.
Alcohol advertisements in recent years have also really taken this on in spades. The best example are the Dos Equis advertisements, which feature the Worlds Most Interesting Man. They're really a hoot. They have nothing at all do do with the well known Mexican beer, or even with Mexico or beer. Rather, viewers are treated to the improbable adventures of the unnamed "Most Interesting Man," which are presented sort of pseudo documentary style. Amongst other things we've learned, for example, is that the Most Interesting Man "speaks Russian, in French," and that he keeps a mountain lion for a pet. Great stuff.
Also very enigmatic. Taking a page from that, Dewars Scotch whiskey has been using a very odd advertisement in which an actress with an extremely thick Scotch brogue addresses the camera, which is supposed to be a man named Angus. That is, we're the silent voyeurs of an address between the glamorous Scotch lady and Angus, who seems to be her husband. Angus is getting a lecture on taking life "seriously," and we're lead to believe that taking life "seriously" will result in "serious benefits." We're not told what the benefits are, but it isn't too hard to guess. Anyhow, we're also lead to believe that taking "life seriously" involves drinking Scotch, which is very unfortunate for me personally, as I can't stand Scotch. We're never actually informed that we should drink Scotch, let alone that we should drink Dewars, but the lady is swilling a serious glass of Scotch. This all means, I suppose that serious people, or at least serious Scotsmen named Angus, ought to be drinking Dewars. Fortunately, I guess, I'm not Scottish, nor am I named Angus, as I can't begin to figure the advertisement out, and if taking "life seriously" means I must drink Scotch, I'm not going to, even if it means I have to forgo "serious benefits."
Regarding the advertisement, Soctch and benefits, at the end of it a voice over, done in the fashion of an old scratchy broadcast, declares, again in a brogue "All hail the drinking man!" It's brilliant touch as now not only is the viewer left wondering what the heck the ad is about, but where the voice recording originated. I have no idea. It sounds like a toast from some far off distant day, but probably isn't. And how odd. All hail the drinking man? What the heck does that that mean? Why are we hailing the drinking man? Bizarre, but effective, advertising.
Odd booze ads, however, have followed this trend for a long time. One of the most famous advertisement of the 1970s featured a man in a white suit, with a white fedora, declaring "Accountancy was my life until I discovered Smirnoff". Smirnoff, of course, is a brand of vodka. We're lead to believe that the man in the white suit lead a boring life until Smirnoff delivered him from it, and now he's off on constant exciting adventures. Again, this is unfortunate for me, as I can't stand vodka either. Indeed, I'm pretty convinced that the difference between the best vodka and the worst vodka is the price, and nothing else. But I would think that, as I don't like any of them. This may mean that I could have been well suited for a life of accountancy, but that seems pretty serious, and my dislike of Scotch already disqualifies me from that.
Not that all advertisements for alcohol are of the "girl from Laramie" variety. Stella Artois, the Belgian beer, was advertised for awhile with a series of extremely clever story advertisements, all of which revolved around the quality of their beer. One great early one had a the Germans coming into a tavern in search of a downed World War One British aviator, with the threat being that they would do away with the tavern's supply of Stella if the aviator was not turned over. Another one involved a second WWI theme in which one soldier rescued another. The the rescued hero takes the rescuer home to meet his father, a tavern keeper, who gives his son a glass of Stella, but who steps on the supply line and pretends it is broken rather than poor a second glass of beer for free. A third involved bicyclists stopping in the mountains for a beer during ar arduous race, meaning that they'll now loose it, only to find that their ancestors had done the same. All very well done.
This sort of historical theme was recently taken up by Barbisol, the shaving cream company, which has added a nice sarcastic spin to it. In that series of advertisements, men address their distant descendants with contempt, advising them that if they can't act like men, they ought to at least shave like them. It's really pretty effective, and it taps into a general feeling right now that a lot of men really don't measure up to their ancestors. In one, a man driving a wagon on the Oregon trail, in "what will become Wyoming" gets after his descendant for a "juice purge" and calls him with contempt, "juice box." The well shaved pioneer concludes by telling "juice box" that he ought to at least "shave like a man." In an even better one, brilliantly filmed, a World War Two infantryman hits the deck behind some rubble while combat rages behind him. We can see the fighting going on. It's so well done I thought it was, at first, a scene from Saving Private Ryan. The infantryman calls his great-grandson "buddy" but then goes on to address him with contempt, while in comparison he's "fighting a little thing called World War Two." He specifically gets after his descendant for criticising celebrities on Twitter and for using the tag line "LOL," while coolly taking time out to throw a German hand grenade back over the rubble. He too advises his modern descendant to "shave like a man."
Another type of advertisement that's been around for a very long time is the one that intends to pull at your emotions. That can only be done in certain circumstances, however, so an advertiser has to be careful at it. I'd guess that at no single point in history have these really been any more or less common than they are right now. Probably only during wartime do these get to be a bit more common.
World War One vintage recruiting advertisement for the Irish Canadian Rangers. This advertisement is partially emotional, but partially allegorical, in that "mother" here may be taken to mean Ireland or the British Empire. Apparently the draw wasn't strong, as the unit was undersubscribed at the time it shipped out for Europe.
A really excellent example of this type of advertisement appeared during the recent Super Bowl, with an old recording of Paul Harvey extolling the virtue of farmers voicing over scenes of farmers and ranchers, and Dodge trucks. Extremely well done. Another example of this, from the same event, featured soldiers and Jeeps.
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