What In The Hell Were They Thinking? Oh Wait, They Were Drinking.
What could possibly go wrong?
One of the fun parts of cruising ebay is you find funky old stuff that must have made sense back in the day, but now? Now, I will admit, back then, maybe drinking and driving, cars and boats wasn’t thought of as bad. Up until the 1980’s with MAD and other awareness campaigns. Which I did work on at previous ad agencies. It was a major deal. Breaking the image of drinking and driving.
Lets get lit!
But for advertisers to push the idea just seems rather un responsible. I can say this now in hindsight. I get it, warm day on the water, and a crew enjoying anything cold. But the driver like in the two Falls City ads? There is no way in hell, doing ads like this today would be approved by corporate, or the PC police of social media. But certainly fun story fodder
Oh boy. Life jacket? Spotter?
Maybe flying is okay?
Nice hat! look closer, you will see it.
I will have what that Guy is having
Jet boating and a swig of the good stuff
is a Burger okay? Grease and ketchup on the steering wheel?
Actually a very fun campaign!
Cool hat
Okay, we ALL want to be this guy one day. Bologna sandwich and all. Frenches mustard and Wonder bread. Thats one happy guy.
And of course this is the best! All part of the fun from a fellow Classic boat nut!
Having just spent two weeks in west Florida hanging in the Tiki bars and on the beaches that video makes me want to return.
Love the long neck bottle with the hat driving the boat, it says so much about the times.
Here’s a question; with the legalization of weed becoming ever closer to reality, think it will be long before these sort of ads start extolling the virtues of partaking while enjoying outdoor activities?
I sincerely hope that doesn’t happen. Like the cigarette ads of long ago, this sort of marketing campaign speaks volumes.
The FAA definitely frowns upon drinking and flying. They have a very low BAC limit and no flying for 8 hours after even a sip of alcohol.
The Russians on the other hand, built planes with a vodka flask holder for the pilot.
That may change the photo of my dream retirement.
Good one Matt. Like the way over sized sandwich.
all part of the fun!
My parents drank a lot of Falls City while boating on the Ohio near Louisville in the fifty’s. Miller’s was regarded, at the time, as an “elitist” beer. Now its one of the cheapest in the cooler–I like it. Ertle’s and Fehr’s were also popular Louisville beers.
In my hometown, Genesee was the heavily advertised local beer and they had a selection of product but growing up, it was considered your father’s beer and not popular with the 18+ drinking crowd. Through re-branding, a newly renovated brew house and new marketing, they changed that. I still don’t like their product much but they brew a nice scotch ale.
Genesee advertising back in the day.
More advertising, cuz everyone needs a 100 gallon barrel of beer on board.
You gotta love Genny Cream Ale. A better laxative than Exlax could ever dream of being, and packaged as a beer instead of a piece of candy.
Agree on the Scotch Ale. Try Lake Placid UBU ALE available at Wegmans.
Replied to wrong post. See below.
I don’t drink but I loved the video….loads of fun….Troy may miss Florida…but if it was one of his usual adventures…hell, Florida misses him. We all will miss him in Florida….rethink that man? It’s not too late somewhere…..
John in Va
My dad always had a long neck Stroh’s beer in his hand.
Heck, it was till I was 13 or so that I realize his left hand did not have a brown bottle growing out of it!
Dad would pull me skiing all over the lake with that Stroh’s in his hand!
Me? Never could drink beer, even till this day. But I could drink Jack N Cokes all day and still back in my 16-foot wide boat into the slip without touching a piling. Heck, even better than sober, lol.
Today, Coconut RUM is the drink of choice, but even this old Captain has backed off taking a sip while driving the boat.
Yes, the times, they are a changin…
I think most people’s drinking habits were different then. All of our habits were different. More people did everything in moderation. We now live in a society where everything is done to extremes. Drinking not just to feel a little better or for the taste of the concoction, but instead, drinking just to get drunk. Binge watching of TV shows. Extreme politics rule the day, opposed to middle Americans being honestly represented.
The other part of it is blaming advertisements for CAUSING people to make poor decisions. The guy having one beer with his sandwich is not likely to be impaired when fishing resumes, but people drinking an entire six-pack while operating their boat blame that ad when they hurt themselves or someone else. Joe Camel did NOT cause kids to take up smoking, but lack of direction from their parents might have. The parents then blamed the ad. The responsibility is up to the consumer, folks!
The seagulls would not be flying away, however… 😉
This was supposed to have posted under Matt’s oversize sandwich…
Nobody ever knew that I drank until they saw me sober one day… CQ
Carling Black Label ! That was the beer of choice for my parents and their friends. They drank a lot on shore, but there was a no drinking in the boat policy. They all lived to old age without any accidents.
And now there’s controversy over alcohol sponsored car and boat racing. You see what its done to the “Winston Cup” NASCAR being a factor for them pulling out. Bernie Little and Budweiser sponsored Unlimited Hydroplane racing for years. Here’s a “here, hold my beer moment”. Yes, the driver survived.
NASCAR has its roots in moonshine and running from the cops. I don’t think they cared too much about cigarettes. The bigger issue was probably that the under 50 crowd associated the name Winston more with car racing than cigarettes which isn’t a good use of marketing dollars. It simply wasn’t an effective partnership.
And no one commented on the Cutty Sark girl. Sad to let a pretty lady go unnoticed because of the beer. Priorities I guess.
I didn’t even notice that there was a girl in that ad. I was too busy looking at the hat!
High heels on a ladder!! Gotta love it.
My friend Jim Staib has a thing about Schlitz beer. Just ask him some day…
Matt,
Do you have the Canadian Club ad enlarged so it can be framed? I hope to be able to see you new line of WB posters for sale in Tavares!