1972 Advertising angle

I realize the picture is not the greatest, but this is a bourbon advertisement from 1972. The paragraph on the sides discusses a Perryville re-enactment from October 1964 showing men pretending to be in the battle of October 1862.

The point of the writing is for Barton Distilling Country to promote their current batch of bourbon (from 1972 when the advertisement ran, in Life magazine) having been aged since that re-enactment. They apparently were proud of their 8-year aging process and used this advertising to promote their product.

Of course, the more interesting part of the ad was the language at the very top of the page. First of all, the first reading of it makes it seem as if they had been aging their bourbon for over a century. Then comes their choice to claim "the South trounced the North in the Civil War."

Where they got that from  is a mystery. When I started reading the smaller print about the re-enactment I thought they might use a Confederate "victory" in the staged battle to tie to the large print above but they did not do so.

Apparently, this advertisement was meant to appeal to a certain audience, i.e. those who favored the Southern cause. Barton, or its advertising consultants must have thought that this wording would catch attention and (hopefully) the dollars of southern supporters. Almost forty years later, it certainly caught my attention.

I do note that the term "Confederacy" does not appear in the ad; the only symbol of the Confederacy is a partial view of the Confederate national flag, with no sign of the battle flag. They did use the term "Johnny Reb" in the bottom paragraphs, but no mention of "Confederate" is made - just the term "the South" at the top and "Reb" at the bottom.

I suppose this was just a case of using wording to appeal to a certain group of people, but I am still a bit surprised to see something as blatant as "The year the South trounced the North in the Civil War" given that this phrase was so far from any sort of historical accuracy and that this ad ran in a national magazine.

Using War Phrasing to Advertise

I found this advertisement in the July 12, 1862 Covington Journal. I've been surprised not to find more people and business using words and imagery about war to sell their products. I realize this is not a "war" post, but finding stuff like this while reading period newspapers has been one of the interesting parts of my blogging experience.

I'll transcribe the top part of it here, with the words that drew my interest (hey, isn't that what advertising is supposed to do? I guess this worked, even 150 years later). I tried to do a screen shot of the ad, but it takes up an entire newspaper page column, and would be much too small to read if I tried to add it here.
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The Bugle Calls! The War  has Begun!

A War of Extermination against Bad Teeth, Bad Breath, Diseases Gums, Toothache, Earache and Neuralgia.

Our Artillery is

Dr. Wm. B. Hurd's 

DENTAL TREASURY!!
A Complete Set of Remedies for
Preserving the Teeth
Purifying the Breath and Mouth
and
Curing Toothache and Neuralgia

For Sale or Exchange

I have found a couple of interesting articles/editorials in the April 6, 1861 edition of the Covington Journal and am working on turning those into blog entries for next week, but I found one classified ad unlike any I had seen before.

FOR SALE OR EXCHANGE
I wish to sell or exchange for negroes  SIX HUNDRED ACRES OF LAND, at Richwood Station, Boone county, Ky. This property is in a high state of cultivation, with good-improvements, four hundred acres cleared and the balance in timber; lays 2 1/2 miles from the Lexington Pike and 17 miles from Cincinnati.


Feb 23-lm   A.K. GAINES


Paris Flag, Frankfort Commonwealth, Maysville Eagle and Cincinnati Enquirer copy 4 times weekly and send bill to this office.

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I believe "A.K. Gaines" is the Archibald Kinkead Gaines mentioned in this story that involves the famous escape and capture of a slave named Margaret Garner, who then killed her young daughter instead of letting her being taken back into slavery. An opera was written about this story in the past few years

Here's another link to the Margaret Garner story, with a mention of Richwood Station.  Plenty of other links tell the story of Margaret Garner and her attempted escape. It is a case in which the Fugitive Slave Law did what it was supposed to, but with the unintended consequence of a mother killing her own child.

Additonally, this link shows Archibald's grave and includes some more information about him and his genealogy, while  another link  offers evidence that Mary Garner,  the child that Margaret Garner killed, was fathered by Archibald.

Yet, even after that much trouble with slaves in his recent past, Mr, Gaines apparently was interested in acquiring more human property even as his nation was on the brink of  Civil War, a war many believe came about primarily due to this "peculiar institution."

Manhood: How Lost, How Restored, 1861 advertisement

I'm sure my friend Jim Schmidt has seen ads like this when researching his Civil War Medicine columns and blog entries,  but it's the first I've seen like this. It is a bit strange to see something like this printed publicly during the Victorian age (though it apparently is just a lecture, not an actual medicine. I guess it's not quite the Viagra of it's time.)

It is from the Covington Journal of February 9, 1861. (And it is interesting that the doctor admitted to learning this from "his own experience.")


Manhood,
How Lost, How Restored
Just published in a sealed envelope

On the NATURE, TREATMENT and radical cure of SPERMATORRHEA, or Seminal Weakness, Sexual Debility, Nervousness and Involuntary Emissions, inducing Impotency, and Mental and Physical Incapacity,
by ROB. J. CULVERWELL, M.D.
author of the Green Book,&c.

The world-renowned author, in this admirable Lecture, clearly proves from his own experience that the awful consequences of Self-abuse may be effectually removed without medicine and without dangerous surgical operations, bougies, instruments, rings or cordials, pointing out a mode of cure at once certain and effectual, by which every sufferer, no matter what his condition may be, may cure himself cheaply, privately and radically. This lecture will prove a boon to thousands and thousands.

Sent under seal to any address, post paid, on the receipt of two postage stamps, by addressing DR. CH  J.C. KLINE, 127 Bowroy, New York, Post Box 4,586

(Here's a definition of a "bougie" - use your imagination what use it would have had for these conditions.) 

Here is an image of the ad. Sorry it's a bit blurry, but it was difficult to convert it from .pdf format and I'm still new with manipulating images, so this will have to do.

To Die in a Bad Cause or to Dye in a Good Cause, that is the question

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all who read this blog, and best wishes and good luck to those who will brave the stores on Black Friday, especially to any in the expected frigid weather in the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati area.

As I was looking over some old editions of the Cincinnati Daily Enquirer (now just the Cincinnati Enquirer) an advertisement jumped out to me, due to a clever word play. I have to admit it did make me chuckle a bit. I'll print the text here as closely as I can to look like the ad itself.

  
To Die in a Bad Cause,
As those who fall in the rebel ranks, undoubtedly do, is foolish. but, on the other hand,
Dyeing for a Good Cause,
As those who are wise and prudent enough to remedy the defects of nature with
CRISTADORO'S HAIR DYE,
Are doing every day, in every city of the Union, is eminently praiseworthy. This peaceful revolution is going on throughout the whole land, and thus beauty and harmony supplant homeliness and incongruity. Manufactured by J. CRISTADORO, No. 6 Astor House, New York. Sold by Druggists. Applied by all Hair-dressers.


Here's a link to a copy of one of this company's ads.

Tidbits from Harper's Weekly, February 28, 1863

Here are a couple of interesting items I found in this old newspaper, a copy of which I'm fortunate enough to have.

The first two come from the "Humors of the Day" column and offer advice and suggestions for men to remember in their dealings with the fairer sex.

A sentimental young man thus feelingly expresses him-self: "Even as Nature benevolently guards the rose with thorns, so does she endow young women with pins."

Never quarrel with a lady. If you are troubled with her, retreat; if she abuses you, be silent; if she tears your cloak, give her your coat; if she boxes your ear, bow to her in return; if she tears your eyes out, feel your way to the door, and - fly!

The next item is an advertisement on page 144. It caught my attention quickly, but was probably very common in newspapers throughout the war years.

     Metallic Legs

(Patented Jan. 6th, 1863) by the
UNIVERSAL JOINT AND ARTIFICIAL LIMB COMPANY
    Weighs only 4 pounds

Soldiers, price $59; civilians $75; silver-plated $100. They will lengthen and shorten and are self-adjusting.

Send for circular to:
J.W. Weston,
No. 491 Broadway, New York

I admit I don't understand why anyone would want an artificial leg to be "silver-plated" but at least Mr. Weston did offer a price discount on the more basic version to the soldiers who sadly found themselves in need of this new technology.

Dr. Sweet's Infallible Liniment

From The New England Almanac, and Farmer's Friend, for the Year of Our Lord Christ 1863, I found this charming old advertisement, which I especially like due to the product's immodest self-description of "Infallible.".

Here is the text of this wonderful old document. 

DR. SWEET'S INFALLIBLE LINIMENT,

THE GREAT

EXTERNAL REMEMDY,

for the speedy and permanent cure of

RHEUMATISM,

Sprains, bruises, burns and scalds, neuralgia, stiffness of the joints, lumbago, headache, toothache, quinsy, sore throat, wounds, sores, piles and all

Rheumatic and Nervous Disorders.

This Liniment is prepared from the recipe of

DR. STEPHEN SWEET, of Connecticut.

THE GREAT NATURAL BONE SETTER,

whose name and fame have been as familiar as household words throughout the United States for nearly forty years, during which time, though never having changed his residence, his professional practice has embraced TWENTY-THREE STATES, and is believed to have comprised a larger experience in the treatment of external injuries than that of any other man living. This Liniment, now for the first time made public, is the result of his wide experience and practical skill: and having been thoroughly tested for twenty years, is fully guaratneed to perform all it promises, and is justly entitled to the term INFALLIBLE. It is truly a FRIEND IN NEED, which no Family, Hotel, Manufactory, Steamboat, Vessel, or Railroad, should be without; and the moderate price at which it is offered, places it within the reach of all. As a UNIVERSAL EXTERNAL REMEDY, for the IMMEDIATE RELIEF OF PAIN, it is unrivalled by any preparation before the public, of which the most skeptical may be convinced by a single trial.

Full Directions accompany each Bottle, Price 25 and 50 cts.

Richardson & Co., Proprietors, Norwich Ct.

or sale by Druggists Everywhere on the Continent