The Fabuleous Fifties

Camel Run

Wednesday Advertising Day.

The various Camels ads were the backbone of newspaper strip advertising. Not only did they run some sort of celebrity of the week series all through that period, they also had interesting sidelines, such as the one panel cartoons by Dik Browne in the early fifties and the Bob Bugg Sgt. Bilko series later on. And of course the company ehind all this, the Reynolds Tabcco Company, had all sorts of different brands and products that used newspaper strip advertising. I once suggested to a publisher a book on the positibe influence the AMerican Tabacco Industry has had on American culture, from using radio and all sorts of magazines in the thirties, to newspaper comic sections television shows. He replied sarcasticly I probably should do a book on the positive effects of the Holocaust first. I am always surprised at the depth of emotion these issues evoke for the Americans. To me it is simple: smoking is a deadly habit for most people and the tabacco industry kept that knowledge from the public, even adding more addactive elements to their product to sell more stuff. On the other hand, cigarette money made possible a lot of American popular culture. Those who ignore to see that, are probably ignorant of the forces driving todays culture. The Big Bad Wolf is dead, but he's not the only predator out there.

I'll be adding some color samples tomorrow.