Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Big thumbs up for the mascot collection "Ad Boy"



Ad Boy: Vintage Advertising with Character features images of roughly 500 largely-obscure, abandoned, and forgotten mascots from 20th Century ads. I'd never seen most of the characters before, or even heard of many of the companies. (It's actually a bit reassuring, in light of the state of the economy, to be reminded that the disappearance of major companies is normal.)

The mascots range from the racist:


So-Hi, for Rice Krispies


Oscar Mayer Bandit

to the adorable, yet insensitive:

Minnegasco Minnie

to the bizarre:

Pli-Moor is "the rope that relaxes"? Is that a suicide reference?

to the familiar, yet orgasmic:


Tony the Tiger is enjoying those flakes a little too much.

It's a great book, and my only criticism is that I wish it was five times the size, with little blurbs by the creator of each mascot (or at least someone involved with the ad campaigns). But as a collection of weird mascots, it's a terrific book and is currently $12 at Amazon.

*Previously: Petey the Pee Cup and Pokey the Syringe are the official healthpartners.com ambassadors.

*Buy mascot bobbleheads at eBay.

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