page_title: National Benzole
section_title: Mr Mercury
hierarchical_section_title: National Benzole / Mr Mercury
caption_attribution_description: English: National Benzole sign on the side of Latimer House (669759), Friskney, Lincolnshire
context_page_description: National Benzole was a petroleum brand used in the United Kingdom from 1919 to the 1960s. In 1957 the National Benzole Co. became wholly owned by Shell-Mex and B.P. Ltd but continued its separate trading identity. In the early 1960s National Benzole was re-branded as National and continued trading as a UK retailer of petroleum products until the early 1990s, when the brand was phased out by parent company BP.
context_section_description: The now famous 50/50 blend became a resounding success. To sustain the success, an imaginative advertising campaign was developed, and in 1928, Mr Mercury – startlingly naked – leapt for the first time from the pages of the national newspapers.
  Mr Mercury, in National Benzole's black and chrome gold corporate colours, became one of the most powerful marketing images of this age. Almost every service station in the 1930s had a National Benzole pump, for single-brand sites were unknown in those days. Eventually Mr Mercury's head was used as the brand's logo. At the outbreak of the Second World War, all petrol brands gave way to pool petrol.
  Mr Mercury returned in 1953, now more modestly attired in the advertisements, though he retained his winged helmet, and National Benzole quickly re-established itself as a market leader.
caption: Mr Mercury sign of a former National petrol station at Friskney, Lincolnshire
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