Thrifty Acres: Are You Ready For Some Football?

Hello! Football season has begun: the local media's sports reporting is dominated by high school game scores, college football is underway, and the NFL season opens tonight. So I thought it appropriate to show off this:

A print ad from a 1962 Reader's Digest, featuring a Olds F-85 Cutlass. A sporty car for the sporty action behind it:

The kick is up and it's good! The ad folks must have thought it looked great to show that Olds F-85 Cutlass parked near the end zone of a football field, but I wouldn't want to ever park my car there! What if the kick had been blocked or the kicker had kicked it wide right? Then you'd have a dent or broken window marring that picture-perfect Olds! But of course in car ad-land, such things wouldn't happen. Save that for the car insurance ads!

The magazine was one of an armful of vintage Reader's Digests (mid-1950's to early-1960's) I scooped up at a thrift store last year. After reading the articles at leisure, I eventually tore out the ads I wanted to keep for displaying or crafting. I thrifted a simple frame for the display purpose. Its front and back sections separate easily, so it only takes a moment to change out one ad for another. 

Here's what I showed off during the summer months:

According to Campbell's, "Summer is Soup 'n Sandwich Time!" The copy continues with "Good things begin to happen when summer lunch is soup and a sandwich. Spirits perk up. Appetites quicken." 

Uh, really? First off, who serves soup along with a hot dog? And is a hot dog really a sandwich? Granted, the AC in public places is  often cranked up high enough to make me want something hot to eat, but I don't think that's what Campbell's had in mind. 

No, the purpose of promoting summertime soup is found at the very end of the ad: "And just one of 21 Campbell's Soups to enjoy once a day...every day! Have you had your soup today? Campbell's, of course!"

Of course. But sorry, Campbell's, I didn't have any of your soups this summer. However, as I'd said, it's now football season - and to me, that's soup time!

PS: on the back of this soup ad is the beginning of an article entitled "Is There Life in Outer Space?" (authored by Edwin Diamond, condensed from Newsweek magazine). It's now over 50 years later, and we still don't know!