Wolfschmidt
George LoisGeorge Lois (b. 1931 ), the agent
provocateur of advertising’s Creative
Revolution of the 1960 s, didn’t force
vodka down America’s throat, but from
1960 to 1963 he put Wolfschmidt on
everyone’s lips. The breakthrough ad
campaign, which he conceived and art
directed, featured a Wolfschmidt bottle
bantering with fruits and vegetables. It
changed consumers’ perceptions and
raised the sales of a lackluster brand.
Lois had served up the perfect mix of
humor with a wit chaser.
Advertising was serious
business back in the 1950 s. Despite
trailblazing ads by Paul Rand in the
1940 s and Helmut Krone’s VW
campaign starting in the late 1950 s, real
wit was about as common in national ad
campaigns as sophisticated typography
(which was pretty scarce). Goofy cartoons and comic strips were routinely
used, but the humor was usually corny or slapstick. In addition, the design of
most ads was dreadful. Liquor advertising was even more dour than most,
mainly because tried-and-true conventions were slavishly followed—such as
showing a bottle and shot glass set against pictures of men drinking with
business associates. By the early 1960 s the ubiquitous cocktail party scene
appeared and women were added, but they never held drinks.
Anyway, there is nothing inherently funny about liquor. In the
1950 s consumers remained loyal to a particular brand either because of
perceived prestige or because their cronies preferred it. In liquor advertising
a vintage whiskey, its bottle labeled with the heraldic marks of a venerable
distillery, had more appeal than some rotgut without heritage. And since it
was inappropriate to show guzzlers in advertisements, the bottle became
the emblem of consumer allegiance. Even when so-called image advertising
did not offer enough of a competitive edge—when, for instance, flavor was
emphasized in the copy instead—the bottle icon was always prominent.422