The 1950's is a very important period in advertising because of the arrival of the television in the average household. This period in the modern history of advertising becomes the watershed that takes the visualization of the consumer to a whole new level. The arrival of television became the perfect medium of expression for instant coffee brands from Nescafe to Maxwell House.
What is about the 1950's and their advertising? Well, with the appearance of television in households advertisers soon realized the perfect medium for advertising instant coffee though it had been around some 40 years already. Without further ado and convolution we now have an advertising medium that can bring us exactly to the point. It's absolutely great stuff; and precisely to the point. No more yards and yards of ripping yarns and yawning statements. With the birth of television in the 1950's advertising of coffee products can now make that quantum leap in the consumer's mind.
What is about the 1950's and their advertising? Well, with the appearance of television in households advertisers soon realized the perfect medium for advertising instant coffee though it had been around some 40 years already. Without further ado and convolution we now have an advertising medium that can bring us exactly to the point. It's absolutely great stuff; and precisely to the point. No more yards and yards of ripping yarns and yawning statements. With the birth of television in the 1950's advertising of coffee products can now make that quantum leap in the consumer's mind.
Prior to the appearance of the television commercials we had the newspaper advertisements and billboards and wall posters and even radio that would seem to convey the message that a decent cup of instant coffee can help the consumer find some energy and some inspiration.
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| Exhibit 1 |
Ok "You can sleep when you are dead". Seems like a pretty bold statement for 1950's cutting edge advertisers trying to sell a cup of instant coffee. The advertisement certainly makes us aware that a coffee drinker doesn't need to sleep at all and that coffee prolongs the pleasure in life by prolonging the amount of hours awake. Thus the conclusion in the form of advertising in exhibit 1 is that coffee gives you that extra zing that makes you go that extra mile to go through your working day. So these advertisers must have spent hours and hours of research to come up with this slogan that differentiates the human mind from the active and non-active state. Indeed!
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| Exhibit 2 |
Exhibit 2 could only sum up naive 1950's advertising with a beaming smile and graceful innocence. Yes it is a stupid thing to fall in love as the movies of the age would endlessly portray. Indeed; more than half the world's stupidities have been created from acts of mindless passion and coffee seems to become the source of that inspiration. But then again, who cares for stupidity; we learn as we go along? Take a moment and have a cup of coffee and experience a new state of mind akin to the power of the universal Big Bang! Just ask Helen and Paris if the coffee berry secret had been found during the days at Troy.
Exhibit 3 seems to be a bit more disturbing that Exhibit 2 but is added to the list of presentation that a decent cup of coffee can really activate the mind because indeed the advert is extremely disturbing proof that a decent cup of coffee can drive the mind into all sorts of states of emotion other than mundane inertia!
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| Exhibit 4 |
Exhibit 4 is definitely and overtly sexist. That's the 1950's for you; a cup of coffee bringing out the caveman mentality of the domestic husband not to mention the blatant demonstration of domestic violence! Much left to be desired; but that's early paper print advertising for you.
?With the appearance of television advertises soon began to realize that whilst the family was glued to the television set sitcom the moment of commercial break every 15 minutes was the only real opportunity to convey the message that an instant cafe was a pretty good idea indeed! With barely 10 minutes of break time advertisers played upon the idea that making a cup of coffee was faster than brewing a cup of tea. Thus between the running up and down from living room to kitchen and back makers like Nestle began to pour upon the consumer the idea of making an instant coffee during the commercial break time.
Here is an original 1950's Folgers television advertisement for instant coffee.
Here is an original 1950's Folgers television advertisement for instant coffee.
Here is a vintage 1950's Maxwell House commercial for instant coffee.
Here is a vintage 1950's Nestle commercial for instant coffee.
Needless to say in an age which was adorned by the heroes and heroins of the silver-screen; from the Marlon Brando's and the Charlton Heston's to the Sophia Loren's and Audrey Hepburn's, the consumption of instant coffee was fast becoming a most fashionable pursuit. by 1952 already in the United States some 17% of all coffee consumption was through the consumption of instant coffee and by the end of the 1950's after the influence of television and an array of celebrity drinking portrayals in Great Britain the amount of instant coffee consumed became a staggering 90% of the entire coffee market! Away with the percolator!
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| Iconic JFK takes a moment with an instant coffee |
From the United States to Great Britain and across to Japan, the modern world had arrived with the demands for faster consumer satisfaction and in this new need of the consumer television played an enormous part in it's advertising. from politicians to actors to the average household wife; instant coffee through television advertising created an instant appeal across such a diverse area of society. Rich and poor alike could now enjoy a decent brew in a matter of minutes. The art of coffee making was now transformed. Folgers and Maxwell House came to change the landscape of the US coffee market in the 1950's as much as Nestle came to dominate Europe, and the rest is history as they would say!
Reflections on instant cafe by Pieter Bergli, a confessed cafe enthusiast!
For those of my readers that have a penchant for art babble then kindly grab a cup of coffee and turn to:
Thank you.
