Deconstructing Old Ads with Bill Sonnett
Lou Eppinger's Original Ad
I started to subscribe to Outdoor Life and Sports Afield in 1956 and have seen many ads over the years for Lou Eppinger's Daredevle. Almost all the ads and company literature credit Lou Eppinger with the invention of that most famous of spoons.
Today's ad is from the June 1920 issue of Outer's Recreation Magazine. There were actually several layouts of this ad that ran at that time. A careful reading of the ad will show that (at least in this ad) Lou Eppinger was not claiming that he invented the Daredevle, but rather that one of his customers at his popular Detroit sporting goods store had invented it and that he (Lou Eppinger) merely "arranged with the inventor to put it on the market twelve months ago." The lesson for the day is be careful what you put in print, it may come back to haunt you.
-- Bill Sonnett
No comments:
Post a Comment