The Fishing Advertisement

Since we are in a period of record low temps here in the Ohio Valley, I thought a nice ice fishing advertisement would warm me up a bit today. So here’s a 1960 Coca-Cola advert which is notable only for its simplicity. It’s a classic ad with the classic Coke bottle … on a classic frozen lake.



— Dr. Todd

The Fishing Advertisement

This 1956 Miller High Life advertisement depicts a neat fishing scene. Above all other beer companies, Miller always sought to portray the "High Life" as integrally connected to the outdoors. Trolling for fish and having a beer ... life is good.



-- Dr. Todd

The Fishing Advertisement: The New York Herald (1934)

The following ad for the New York Herald Tribune ran in 1934 and had the most wonderful opening line: As a rule, men who enjoy fishing are kindly disposed to their fellowmen ...
It was men like this, the copy said, who read the Herald Tribune, which was for some years New York's second paper behind the Gray Lady. Considered the classic suburban paper, it is no wonder they sought out the middle class angler -- and created this memorable ad.



-- Dr. Todd

The Fishing Advertisement: Chemists (1940)

Chemists go fishing, too ... at least the chemists at The Atlas Family of chemical companies did, according to this 1940 ad. Founded in 1912 by four men from DuPont, it became a massive munitions maker during both wars, and expanded into a number of other fields in the interwar period. After numerous mergers and name changes, it is still in business today as AstraZeneca PLC which has annual sales of $25 billion and 50,000 employees. Not too bad for a company full of fishermen ...



-- Dr. Todd

The Fishing Advertisement: Ted Williams for Lucky Strike (1954)

Ah, the good old days, when a ballplayer could go 6 for 9 with two homers and five RBI in a double header starting at one o'clock, all while smoking a pack of cigarettes between innings.

Yes, there was a time when major sports stars like Joe Dimaggio and Ted Williams not only endorsed cigarettes, they endorsed cigarettes because they smoked like chimneys. Here we see the Splendid Splinter -- perhaps the finest right handed hitter to ever live and a mean hand with a fishing rod -- endorsing Lucky Strikes. Earlier he had endorsed Chesterfields, but as Krusty the Klown once quipped, "They drove a dump truck full of money up to my house!"

So there you have it -- a 1954 ad of a fishing Ted Williams and L.S.M.F.T. (which I'm sure meant Lucky Strike Means Financial Triumph).



-- Dr. Todd

The Fishing Advertisement: Lucky Strike (1951)

"Hey There, Crazy Eyes .. "

The Kool Penguin may be the most sheik, but nothing beats Lucky Strike for crazy-eyed women anglers. This 1951 advertisement for Lucky Strike has our heroine declare, "When fishing I just trust to luck, It seem to work for me, perhaps because I also trust L.S./M.F.T."

The theme is classic; Daisy Mae with her cane pole and can of worms has out fished the city slicker with the fly rod and creel. She's just too happy about it. Something's up. Was there something in the tobacco? Maybe Daisy Mae's been growing something else besides carrots in the ol' pea patch.



-- Dr. Todd

The Fishing Themed Advertisement: Kellogg's Corn Flakes (1942)

This is one of the most complicated fishing ads I've seen. A three-panel ad is rare, but especially one that features big game charter boat fishing. It's for Kellogg's Corn Flakes and ran in a number of magazines in the summer of 1942.



-- Dr. Todd

The Fishing Themed Advertisement: Paul Jones Whiskey (1954)

This episode of the Fishing Themed Advertisement is posted in honor of Jim Schottenham, doyen of all-things sidemount. It's a 1954 Paul Jones blended whiskey ad featuring a sidemount birdcage reel. It's the only ad I recall seeing that has such a reel in it, and it certainly looks like a Billinghurst Follett. Whomever did the ad certainly had access to some awesome tackle, as I'm sure Jim would agree!



-- Dr. Todd

The Fishing Themed Advertisement: Johnson Motors (1955)

This is a nice outdoor painting from an outboard engine icon -- Johnson motors. They were prolific advertisers and I would guess half their ads featured fishing of some kind (many, it must be admitted, featured that enemy of fishermen everywhere--the water skier).

-- Dr. Todd

The Fishing Themed Advertisement: Cutler Motors (1937)

This 1937 full page advertisement for Cutler Motors is a great example of how an industrial company would use fishing to promote their products. What does fishing have to do with an electric control apparatus? Nothing, of course, which is the point. An ad like this would draw in a reader, and give them information about their industrial product. A win-win situation that was replicated over and over throughout the years.



-- Dr. Todd

The Fishing Themed Advertisement: Miller Beer (1964)

Last week we featured a 1951 Miller High Life ad with a lovely selection of tackle; this week we feature a later 1964 ad showing the company still loved fishing themed ads. It's very similar to a number of magazine cover paintings from a previous generation.



-- Dr. Todd

The Fishing Themed Advertisement: Miller High Life (1951)

This May 1951 advertisement for Miller High Life features a really nice image of a full set of fishing reels, including a baitcaster, a spinning reel, a fly reel, a musky reel, and a saltwater reel. It’s a really cool advertisement from a company that spent a lot of time courting the angler over the years.



-- Dr. Todd

The Fishing Themed Advertisement: Shredded Wheat (1916)

This week in The Fishing Themed Advertisement we get a nifty full page ad run in the August 14, 1916 issue of The Independent, a major literary and news magazine of the day. It features the famous Shredded Wheat -- the substance of which was used to make Triscuit crackers -- as a backdrop to a fishing trip. "When you take to the woods you will want to take with you an out-door food that is easily and quickly prepared…" the advertisement declared, showing an angler putting his fly rod together on a wooden crate marked "Shredded Wheat Biscuit."

One wonders why two men would need so much Shredded Wheat for one fishing trip -- how much fiber do two men actually need? -- but since even today it is still a delicious breakfast, we'll cut the artist (it's unsigned) some slack and just enjoy a nice idyllic fishing picture, without thinking about the aftermath of eating 48 pounds of Shredded Wheat while camping in the woods.



-- Dr. Todd

The Fishing Themed Advertisement: Part II

This week in the Fishing Themed Advertisement we get a really neat ad from the Dominion Atlantic Railway, which served Nova Scotia. An early proponent of Atlantic Salmon fishing, this line ran from Boston to Prince Edward Island and brought a lot of Eastern sports to some of the great fishing in North America.



-- Dr. Todd