A Century in Advertising - Part 4

A Century in Advertising - Part 4

My look at some of the advertisements and products of yesteryear. Some weird and whacky, some surprisingly still around today. Here are their stories.



1910 - Tomato Ketchup

First introduced in 1876, Heinz Tomato Ketchup remains the best selling brand of ketchup. From 1906 it was produced without preservatives.

In 1907, Heinz started producing 13 million bottles of ketchup per year, exporting ketchup all over the world, including India, Australia, South America, Japan, Indonesia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

The "57" mark arises from an advertising statement that Heinz made "57 Varieties" of products. When Henry J. Heinz introduced the "57 Varieties" slogan, however, the company already made at least 60 products. The number is simply the combination of numbers Heinz and his wife considered "lucky".



1911- Refrigerators

Most iceboxes looked like plain wooden cabinets in the early 1900s. Without electric refrigeration, they were fitted inside with a space for ice, which had to be topped up regularly to keep food cool and fresh.

The White Frost Refrigerator was the only cylinder-shaped icebox. A block of ice sat in a compartment under the lid and chilled air was vented into the food storage space below. The makers said their distinctive model was:

• More hygienic – easy-clean curved enamelled steel, food always in perfect condition
• More scientific – better design, better insulated, economical with ice, revolving shelves
• Desirable yet affordable – stylish, special, above-average price payable in instalments

Of course the advertisers wanted to appeal to women, but they also needed to persuade men. An ad in Popular Mechanics showed “Bob” and his wife in icebox-inspired closeness.

Revolving refrigerators definitely need to make a comeback.




1912 -Titanic

This was the advertising placard for the Titanic.

There are many Titanic stories, but here is one recent one.

In 2015, a silver-and-bronze plaque from the iconic sunken ship was identified in the Spanish city of Granada after more than a century adrift.

The plaque, which measured in at 11 by 14.5 inches and weighs 4lbs,was inscribed with the grand ship's name, directly below the moniker 'Queen of the Ocean'. It also carried the date of the Titanic's doomed departure from Southampton to New York: April 10, 1912.

Its discovery can be traced back 12 years, when a British man in need of cash sold it to an art dealer in Barcelona, according to the Spanish Titanic Foundation, which now possesses the plaque.

It's thought that the commemorative plaque was handed to Lord William James Pirrie, chairman of the shipbuilder which built Titanic, by the head of the Royal Mail Steamship Union the day before the ship's departure.

Lord Pirrie had held it in his office, but nothing is known about where the plaque was between then - in 1912 - and its redisovery in 2003.