The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1952-09-26
Just Among Ourselves
Passing Comment considsred or ineonsidarste

The era In which we live has many names. some
Of them boastful, most of them satiric and uncom-
pmentary and a few of them Indifferent. Among
the indifferent titles to which times may lay
just claim is "The Advertising Age" All the mater
ial necessaries land accessories of human existence
are ballyhooed by advertisers, from items of pre-
natal to the casket with waterproof Vault in
which lie down at last and the marble marker
that stakes final earthly claim.
Advertising assails the eye and ear at every
waking moment of our lives It's agencies are many.
The billboard, the magazine the newspaper, the
radio, teleyisIon, dodgers delivered by hand cit
erature" sent through the mails. samples" handed
out talks and demonstrations by statesmen. II is
because of the many modern voices of the adver-
tlser, and the exaggeraton OF claims which grows
naturally out of the clamor and competition that
our times are called the Age of Advertising Ad-
vertsing itself is old the first deal" made
on earth the first possession put UP for barter The
first man who had something to trade made the
fact known; he advertised.
Modern advertising from which there is no re
spite escape, has to employ continually new ap-
proaches and appeals; il has TO change constantly.
Yet it is surprising to find that few of the adver
tisements hold unchanged decade after decade.
Even among these public notices which, more than
most things, must be strictly current and up-tothe-
minute, there are some enduring old timers.
For example there is the Bakers Chocolate ad.
For more than fifty years,-perhaps for great
many more than fifty,--the little woman in neat
apron and cap has paced sedatey into the upper left
corner Of this ad bearing the delicious product of
the Baker Company in oustretched hands Time
cannot wther her nor custom stale her inflexble
uniformity, She is as ehangeless as Orphan Annie
with the eyes.
And there is the ancient Prudential ad with its
view of the Pillars of Hercules Tor one section Of
them) rising in massive solidy and emblazoned
with the strange yet familiar device, THE Pru-
dental Has the Strength of Gibraltar" Also there
is the little notice about MothersilPs remedy land
prophylactic) for seasickness it has been with us
from The days of sail And Lydia f. Pinkham's Veg.
etable Compound And Father Johns Medicine
II must be Just about half a century since the adj.
Vertiser made America conscious of prepared break
fast foods,- that is, the cold variety. Cream OF
Wheat has had its genial colored man smiling at
us for lot longer than that And Quaker's Oats
was boiled for many breakfast before there was
any thought talk about pressed and processed
cereals exploded grains which require prep
araton beyond pouring from the box. But it was
arounu 1900 that first heard of corn flakes and
of the trade names Vita" and Force and Shred
ded Wheat" and Grape Nuts"
II was around 1900 too,-giye or take few
years-that trade names Of foods began to be coy
or cute Mr. Dooley parodied brand still popular
y
biscuit" What could be cutter than to turn the
phrase you need a" into single word with capital
u? And take the first two three letters OF each of
the words National Biscuit Company and see what
you get Clever, what?
Is Pears's Soap still advertised Its billing was
up for long time. A British product, likely, for
Kipling pat ii into his verse about Sleary, that
Scamp. and also into Slearys mouth where its suds
served as froth for fakedup fit And what OF the
has been floating since before the War with Spain,
although il was probably somewhat more recently
that spread the banner for its 9944q. and still
later when it notified of its ability to build
complexion and give look"
We have soaps to spare in loday's advertising,
heaven knows. And dentrifices too But do you
member when a certain dental cream "came out
ribbon" and LAY flat the brush?" The tooth
brush manufacturers spoiled the business of rib
bon-eream for they did not long permit the brush
10 stay flat Ribbon-cream was of no benefit when
the brush had concave or convex form, or
Sported little high tuft al the end, lii a Confed
crate generals g0atee And speaking of dentrifices
do you recall SoZoDont? So you don't
Among the ads that have silently slipped away
are those for weli-nigh forgotten makes of motor
car Who thinks to-day of the splendid claims made
in the advertising columns for Appersons Roada
plane? II must have been quite car. And there
were many others whose golden advertising prom
Use seems to have gone with the wind Peerless
Wiz ton, Cleyeland here were names to coniure with
And later, Chalmers Maxwell Essex. Where are
the of yesteryear where are all the wonders
they embodied Of which the ads missed no glowing
detail?
Where is the magnificent Stutz? Where
the air-cooled Franklin? Where the steamers,
the White, the Stanley? They lacked no adverts-
ing, but alas they one with Nineveh and Troy,
Before long, perhaps. the names familiar to-day
will vanish from page and screen and fall silent on
the radio. cars will all be jetpropelled or atom
activated, and will need new brand-names Likely,
passenger cars will dwindle in number and in kind,
as ambitious America takes to the air What great
names we may look for in planes and helicoptersl
The memory of one old ad I cherish, not for
the produce advertised, since ! never used II and
do not even know what its specific purpose was. 1t is
dear for the mysterious name of the product not
unmusical name name full Of ghostly suggestions
to imaginative childhood. The product itself was
prosaic enough; it was pills But the names the
thing, and the name was "Ripan's Tabules"