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Advertising in the past

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Dunlop were also famous for producing the tennis balls that were used in the Wimbledon lawn tennis championships. The photo below illustrates the type of tennis balls that were used in the 1953 championships "with the new long-lasting deep-nap cover". Dave.
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This has to be one of the most uninspiring adverts to come out of the 1950s. Clarke's shoes. I remember the sandals very well. Had a brownish-red pair, they were regularly cleaned by my dad with ox blood Cherry shoe polish. They were always comfy sandals. Viv.

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I wonder why they only gave the starfish one sandal Viv? I'm sure someone will come up with a witty answer!

Growing up, I always had Clarks shoes - remember the X-ray machine? I think that's been mentioned before. Fascinating to see our bones outlined in green. I still have Clarks shoes to this day.
 
hi pen being 1 of 6 children our mom could not afford the likes of clarks shoes but having said that mom did get us decent shoes from miss bunches shop in farm street and as far as i know none of us have ended up with bad feet in later life...i reckon the kids of today are more likely to have that problem when they get older:rolleyes:...no hang on min...i remember in my teens scholl sandals the wooden ones were all the rage and mom managed to get me some..thought i was the bees knees:D oh blimey you can still get them lol

https://www.celticandco.com/womens/...colourid=407&gclid=CNrZyfCirtQCFUo8GwodupwExg


lyn
 
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I am not sure if this had been posted before, so apologies if it has. A wry smile can to me when I noticed Edwin Cake was a baker and confectioner! ;)
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Hi Lyn, I think my shoes were about the only thing that I had new. Dresses used to appear and then were passed on to my cousin after I'd grown out of them. Mom made a lot of my clothes and I'm sure I had a skirt made from one of hers. It didn't fit me long as Mom was only a size 10. I had my brother's gaberdine mac on one memorable occasion and complained bitterly. If only I'd realised then how difficult it was in the years after the war.
 
how were we to know pen...we were just kids shielded from the hardships our parents faced and only in later life can we fully appreciate just how hard life was...never heard our mom or dad complain though...they just got on with things...i have always been proud of them and always will be

lyn
 
Astoness said:
how were we to know pen...we were just kids shielded from the hardships our parents faced and only in later life can we fully appreciate just how hard life was...never heard our mom or dad complain though...they just got on with things...i have always been proud of them and always will be

lyn
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Lynn you and Lady Penelope have both just summed up the difference between us (the older generation) and them ( the younger generation), we had nothing, expected nothing were glad and grateful for whatever we got. They want everything, get it and are ungrateful when they have got it. Were you from one of those families where if you wanted the cake that was on the table for Sunday tea, you had to eat the bread and butter (or marge) first. The problem is we are being blamed for all the problems that the young now face, however I keep thinking we were no forced into tertiary education and most of us left school, found a job and then went to night school to hone our skills. At 81, I still work a full week including weekends,what upsets me is two youngsters without commitment, but able to put the world to rights in minutes. Hand me downs, bread and dripping, cabbage water...to cure your spots, they have only word to describe it....YUK!!! And as for their thoughts on National Service, pass me a white feather.

Bob
 
Remember coupons on adverts where you'd get money off or could send off for stuff ? Viv
 

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Vivienne14 said:
Remember coupons on adverts where you'd get money off or could send off for stuff ? Viv
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The washing detergents became notorious for this as I don't think anyone ever bought a pack of detergent without having a money off coupon. They were in advertisements, on the back of packets, pushed through your letter box etc. Surf decided to try to break this by not giving away coupons but by permanently reducing their prices and advertising themselves as 'Square Deal Surf'.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Remember coupons on adverts where you'd get money off or could send off for stuff ? Viv
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I had never heard of the Mercury scooter, but went on Google to discover it was actually made in Birmingha, there is an interestin article about it at https://cyclemaster.wordpress.com/page57-1956-mercury-hermes-50ccscooter/1333/ I hope that is right if not put Mercury Hermes into Google and there is a great deal of info. Interestingly, the machine caused the demise of the company. Did any member work there?

Bob Davis
 
We've certainly had plenty of public safety adverts in the past. Many issued by ROSPA. I remember learning kerb drill at school. Don't think this is taught these days. Viv.
 

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Bob, your post #416 has clarified something for me. My cousin always says 'eat your cabbage, it's good for your face'. We were never quite sure why! Now I know.
 
Pedrocut - your post mentions false teeth with springs. There is a picture of just such uncomfortable dentures in 'Beneath the Bull Ring' - (unfortunately they're upside down which makes then look worse). I felt that it was a bit sad to include this in the book. Someone once told me that young ladies had all their teeth out and had a new set for their 21st. Anyone know if this is true?
 
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Lady P. I have heard this from many different sources including the dentist's surgery at the Black Country Museum. However that could still be an urban myth.
 
DavidGrain said:
Have not heard that tongue twister before. I do remember the old Accles & Pollock's advertisement which listed some (but not the rude ones) misspellings of their name on letters received. There is also the local story about how a foreign competitor sent them a tube claiming to be the thinnest tube in the world and Accles sent it back with another one inside.
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Standard Tube Company of the USA was the company that issued a card to which was attached a tube which they claimed was the smallest diameter tube in the world. A and P made a smaller one in nickel, ( drawn with a pair of tweezers ), and inserted it into the American tube, complete with a wire up the bore to show that it was truly a tube. They added the words, "There is something in what you say", to the card and sent it back.
Whatever happened to A and P of Rounds Green, Oldbury?
 
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I was at a meeting in the offices of a firm of accountants in Oldbury on Tuesday. I told them that the last time I was in that building it was the offices of Accles & Pollock Ltd. I told then there used to be a big tube making factory both behind the office block and across the road. They did not know that. A & P joined with Tubes Ltd of Rocky Lane Aston in the 1930s to form Tube Investments (TI Group). They have gone the way of most of Birmingham's manufacturing industry and their shares are now listed on that great stock exchange in the sky
 
When I worked in the sales dept. of Guest Keen and Nettlefolds I was once discussing the clever but naughty advert of A&P and said it was a pity GKN didn't have something similar.
She drew my attention to our letterhead that told the story of the inmates who escaped from the mental asylum, raped clients in a Laundromat a made good their escape. Under the company name it said " Nuts, Screws, Washers and Bolts".
PS. Hope I have only bent not broken any rules of this forum.
Cheers Tim
 
DavidGrain said:
I was at a meeting in the offices of a firm of accountants in Oldbury on Tuesday. I told them that the last time I was in that building it was the offices of Accles & Pollock Ltd. I told then there used to be a big tube making factory both behind the office block and across the road. They did not know that. A & P joined with Tubes Ltd of Rocky Lane Aston in the 1930s to form Tube Investments (TI Group). They have gone the way of most of Birmingham's manufacturing industry and their shares are now listed on that great stock exchange in the sky
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A and P used their ‘Shackles and Wollop’ type adverts to great effect on the London Tube. Many years later they tried again with, ‘This tube is going radioactive’, which was a reference to their work for the nuclear industry - there were other adverts in a similar vein but non of them had anything like the effect of the ‘Shackles and Wollop’ campaign.
For the New York Fair of 1939 they made a two foot diameter filigree table made from 8000 tube sections. For advertising purposes they produced sets of coasters with an image of the table printed on them. I did have a complete set but now I’m down to just one which is a bit the worse for wear because I use it every day. I’ve done my best to photograph it but the result is not too good. All newcomers to the company were shown a photo of the table and told that there was a mistake in the symmetry and asked if they could spot it - I spent years looking and came to the conclusion that they might have been having me on. I wonder where the table is now?
Table.JPG
 
DavidGrain said:
The washing detergents became notorious for this as I don't think anyone ever bought a pack of detergent without having a money off coupon. They were in advertisements, on the back of packets, pushed through your letter box etc. Surf decided to try to break this by not giving away coupons but by permanently reducing their prices and advertising themselves as 'Square Deal Surf'.
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What always passed through my mind when seeing so many detergent TV adverts was how they claimed every white article washed in their new product would be much whiter than previously. It suggested to me that they had been foisting an inferior product on people beforehand. As I have limited experience with washing machines I was not able to verify their claims!. I did wonder of those people, principally ladies in those days, actually believed all the baloney presented to them.
I guess there is still many TV adverts that just manage to scape through the consumer laws today.
A good old saying this way is 'I can see through a five bar gate' ;)
 
Actongrumpy said:
A and P used their ‘Shackles and Wollop’ type adverts to great effect on the London Tube. Many years later they tried again with, ‘This tube is going radioactive’, which was a reference to their work for the nuclear industry - there were other adverts in a similar vein but non of them had anything like the effect of the ‘Shackles and Wollop’ campaign.
For the New York Fair of 1939 they made a two foot diameter filigree table made from 8000 tube sections. For advertising purposes they produced sets of coasters with an image of the table printed on them. I did have a complete set but now I’m down to just one which is a bit the worse for wear because I use it every day. I’ve done my best to photograph it but the result is not too good. All newcomers to the company were shown a photo of the table and told that there was a mistake in the symmetry and asked if they could spot it - I spent years looking and came to the conclusion that they might have been having me on. I wonder where the table is now?
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I can answer my own question - the filigree table is in the Blackcountry Museum.
 
Alan
I think the detergent people were referring to the addition of an agent that fluoresced white in UV light. As there is some UV light in sunlight it would appear to make a garment whiter than it did PROVIDED THAT either it was new or had not previously been washed in that or a similar product. Of course this gave rise to the glowing shirt phenomenon in discos with uv light
 
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