Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Beer and Guns



Beer and guns. You don't see too many ads like this any more. This gem is from 1957, when the chance of finding a woman in a marsh, with a side-by-side shotgun, drinking Rheingold Extra Dry, was about as likely as finding a herd of free-range zebra in Central Park.

This is a classic example of an advertising man thinking: "Men drink beer, and they like guns and love women, so let's put all that together, and see if anyone will salute it."

Apparently, not enough did, as the company went out of business in the mid-1970s -- a victim of national brewery dominance.

In recent years, the label has come back, however, but instead of wholesome women with shotguns, Rheingold women are now pierced and tattoo'ed. Hmmmm. Let's see if that works for them. And who knows? It might!

1 comment:

JL said...

Almost reminds me of my high school rifle team days! Half the team was burnouts, the other half (my half) was geeks. The burnouts were ethical, though. They asked to shoot first at rifle meets (typically 2-3 people from each team shot at one time, based on range size, and 10 from each team shot), and the geeks never protested. Only after they had completed their target did they go outside and get stoned on the drug of their choice.

I sent an email to my old coach sometime in the early 2000s, and the team continued even after Columbine and the other school shootings.

This was a Pittsburgh surburb, but not one of the rabid hunting towns where the first day of deer season is a school holiday.

Yes, kiddies, we had guns in school, and the school supplied them!