Friday, July 20, 2012

Friday FAIL

Some vintage advertisements that are eye-catching, to say the least.


That would probably fit most bottoms too, to provide much-needed relief after a you-know-what.



For those of you who never who are too young to remember the agony and the ecstasy of a Rubik's Cube, take heart. They have started to appear on toy shelves once more.



That's "cigarette" to North Americans.



This isn't really an advertisement, so I'll explain. Long, long ago, in some parts of Canada, it was illegal to sell margarine that was the same colour as butter.  Illiterate shoppers might not be able to read the label, you see, and could pick up a pound of marg by mistake instead of the real thing. So margarine was either pure white or bright orange. (What did colour-blind shoppers do, I wonder?) Some brands of margarine came in sealed plastic bags, with a button of liquid orange dye embedded in the middle. You squeezed the button to release the dye, then massaged the bag for oh, 10-15 minutes until the content was uniformly yellow and looked like butter. Yum, yum!

From Hermione's Heart

20 comments:

Mikki said...

I loved this post! I love vintage ads! The first one looked like something early BDSM! LOL The last one made me giggle... my mom told me about white margarine when she was growing up but she didn't know why they didn't just dye it instead of leaving the dye packet in it... we live in the states and don't know if it was ever illegal here or not... very interesting! I'll have to share with her...probably won't share with her that I found it on a spanking blog though!! *giggling* xx

Anonymous said...

Hermione,

Thank you for the vintage ads. Old ads are fun to read and you picked four good ones.

Hug,
joey

Hermione said...

Mikki - I'm sure your mom would be interested in seeing the picture, but I agree, not necessary to tell her where you found it.

Joey - I think they're funny too, even though I actually remember seeing some of them way back then.

Hugs,
Hermione

Bobbie Jo said...

My brother actually got the Rubik's cube solved correctly. He tends to be a whiz at solving puzzles.

The margarine one is rather gross. LOL Oh, the TV ads: Everything's better with Blue Bonnet on it. NOT!

ronnie said...

I love some of the old ads so thanks for sharing these Hermione.

Interesting about the margarine.

Hope you have a good weekend.

Love,
Ronnie
xx

Bas said...

That margarine add intrigued me. Was it because of the French / English language problem?
I have been to Canada several times but have never seen this margarine with do it yourself dye.
I do remember being impressed with the size of the boxes Canadians use for margarine.

Aimless Rambling said...

I love looking at the old ads. I know they are supposed to be fails and would be in this day but they were a sign of the times back then.

Minielle Labraun said...

I am with everyone else, I love any vintage ads. It gives us just a peek
into the past. Old record album covers are great too!

ricky said...

Great vintage ads, Hermione!
#1 reminds me of Paul Newman in
"The Sting" plunging his face in
a sink full of ice water to sober
up. I've never tried it myself,
because I think I'd drown.
#2 Now if I had that liniment,
maybe I could do and complete a
Rubik's Cube.
#3 So that's where the expression
came from, eh? Even the models
look like, well, er, never mind!
#4 That was my job for my mother;
that's why I am the strapping
specimen I am today, even though
I need a pair of Vice-Grips to open
the top of bottled water.

Julia said...

Wow! Thanks for the explanation for the last one. Fascinating!

Erica said...

OK, the cigarette one made me laugh out loud! Pretty horrifying sentiment, though, when you think about it. "Go ahead, do stuff that will kill you! You could die from something else tomorrow anyway!"

I remember all the old margarine ads here in the State. They weren't allowed to say butter, so they referred to butter as "the other spread." (snicker)

Unknown said...

You never fail to make me laugh, dear! :)

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ana said...

The last one is funny (if puzzling) by itself, but your commentary is hilarious. By far my favorite. :)

A. Lurker said...

Hi Hermione,
"Long, long ago, in some parts of Canada, it was illegal to sell margarine that was the same colour as butter." Hermione, I still live in one of those parts and, believe it or not, it is STILL illegal. For a while in the 80's all the margarine was bright yellow and left a weird residue when melted. Now all the margarine is white. I detest margarine!

R.

PS Do you find it weird that weird doesn't follow the "i before e" rule?

Hermione said...

Bobbie Jo - I could never get past two sides of one colour. Your brother must be a genius.

Ronnie - I like them too.

Bas - Not specifically, but Quebec (French-speaking) where the rules applied, does have completely different laws than the rest of Canada.

Sunnygirl - True, it was life as it was.

Minelle - Hey, you have a blog! Congratulations!

Ricky - Colouring the marg was my job too.

Julia - No problem.

Erica - Julia Child called margarine the other spread too.

Hugs,
Hermione

Hermione said...

Young Lady - I'm pleased with my success rate!

Ana - Thank you. You had to be there!

A Lurker - Still? I didn't know that.

Yes, I always spell weird wrong. That's English for you!

Hugs,
Hermione

Unknown said...

thanks for the butter/margarine lesson!!! Loved it!

Hermione said...

Renee Rose - You never know what you might learn on a spanking blog:)

Hugs,
Hermione

Lea said...

I figured out that the British have a different word for cigarettes than we do here in the U.S. when I got partway through Ozzy Osbourne's autobiography, quite confused. Lol.