Monday, September 12, 2005

Text of Red, White and Blue Beer radio commercial

This blog post is dedicated to Ricky Van Veen, since we both share an appreciation for vintage quality capitalism.

Here's a transcript for an old radio advertisement for the sale of Red, White and Blue Beer. It was printed in the book Ogilvy on Advertising because it increased the beer company's sales by 60 per cent.

ANNOUNCER: And now, another inflation-fighting message from Mr Harmon R. Whittle.

WHITTLE: One of the biggest strains on our budget is the foreign aid program. Each year, we send billions of dollars worth of planes, computers, tractors and things to foreign countries... Then we pay technical advisers to train them how to use it all. This is expensive.

A more responsive form of foreign aid would be to send them beer. American-made Red, White and Blue beer.

Red, White and Blue is less expensive than planes or computers. So we'd save a bundle, right off. It costs less than other premium-quality beer, so we'd save on that. And Red, White and Blue is easier to teach people to use than a computer. So we'd save on technical advisers, too.

And if there's any doubt whether our international popularity would increase, ask yourself this: if you lived in one of those hot, dustry countries, what would you rather have? A computer, or an ice-cold, Red, White and Blue? It's an honest beer. At an honest price.

ANNOUNCER: Mr Whittle's comments do not necessarily reflect the views of this station. They do however, reflect the views of the RWB Brewing Company, Milwaukee.

It's an old book that discusses TV as a relatively new marketing phenomenon. I wonder what year this ad was written?

 
Comments:
"And Red, White and Blue is easier to teach people to use than a computer. So we'd save on technical advisers, too."

hahah, awesome.
nice new blog digs, by the way, nick.
 

heheh

bet it was a longggg time ago
 

This commercial dates from roughly 1981. Harmon R. Whittle was the "spokesman" for RW&B Beer in the early 80s, and the commercials (there were a few like this) started not long after Reagan was elected.
 

I'm from Milwaukee, and I oughta' know... The ad does indeed date from the early 80's, when Pabst brewing introduced Red, White, and Blue beer, a "popular priced" brand intended to compete with beers like Busch (A-B) and Milwaukee's Best (Miller).
 

This is in response to "anonymous". Here is what they wrote: I'm from Milwaukee, and I oughta' know... The ad does indeed date from the early 80's, when Pabst brewing introduced Red, White, and Blue beer, a "popular priced" brand intended to compete with beers like Busch (A-B) and Milwaukee's Best (Miller).
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 4:45 PM

That isn't true at all, I remember my neighbor having 100 cases of Red, White, and Blue beer in his garage in the late 70's early 80's. Miller bought Pabst brewing for one. For 2, RWB Beer goes back to the 1880's with ups and downs in popularity. It was never meant to compete with Busch which wasn't an issue at that time. Milwaukee's Best was the cheap budget beer. RWB was a predecessor to Miller Lite since it was not a full bodied(better yet, lighter beer). So even though bone head says he's from Milwaukee and "outta know", he or she is incorrect. RWB goes back way before Miller, Bud, Milwaukee's Best, etc. It was a "lite" competitor to budweiser pre-prohibition but only in the Wisconsin area. Even though it's gone now. It went back to the 1880's. So Anonymous, you drank too much to get the facts straight. Common sense tells you that when Miller brewing bought Pabst brewing prior to the 80's...duh, why would they compete with themselves. Im sure it's an honest mistake and no harm, I am just a historian and love straight facts, they are more interesting a lot of time. God Bless and cheers, lets have some beers.
 

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