Last updated: August 3, 2020
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?
