Funny Traces

Picking up where I left off before Turkey Day weekend, this will continue my look at the Madison Avenue entry from 1967's Funny Travel Posters.  First though, here's a look at the retail wrapper and box:

Pretty eye-catching but the box is even nicer, with excellent mini-poster reproductions from the set beckoning:

The set was remaindered by Topps, so it clearly wasn't a big seller. They sloughed it off as part of a promotion called Sale-A-Bration that packaged together several languishing sets that presumably had a nice discount when ordered as part of the deal.  Based upon the commodity codes of other sets in the promotion, it looks to have been a 1968-69 endeavor.  

You can't see it but the back panel of the box has a playful version of the the curved Topps logo, with some little kids playing about it:

Now, back to Madison Avenue....specifically the bottom row of the poster:

Let's start with the Morton Salt Girl and move left.  She is still one of America's most identifiable brand mascots after a mere 110 years.  Her look had evolved quite a bit since her 1914 debut and Topps looks like they used the 1956 version for the poster; it would be updated yet again a year later:

(Credit: The Hutchinson News)

If you have a sweet tooth, or even if you don't but have had it foisted on you at a ballgame or kids party, you know that Cracker Jack has been filling dentist's coffers for over 125 years.  The Sailor Boy logo is just as well-known as the Morton Salt Girl and, as it turns out, it originally depicted the founder's son and his dog Bingo, who both debuted in 1918.  There is a Topps connection or two with the snack as they put out a two panel set commemorating the first 1982 Cracker Jack Old Timers Classic played in Washington DC that year:

About 200 Million boxes of Cracker Jack are sold every year and that sometimes seems like the number of uncut panels Topps printed up of the set back then as well! The game, which was a charity event, was well-advertised and televised nationally so Topps got a lot of publicity for what I believe was a handout at the game and also a premium offer.  Luke Appling, 75 years young, took 61 year-old Warren Spahn deep in the bottom of the first, which was a pretty big story when it happened:

My favorite part of Cracker Jack is the elusive peanut, as it nicely rounds out a handful of this stuff, and I'll bet it's not a coincidence Mr. Peanut is sauntering by the Sailor on the poster. More iconic branding from 1918 here kids:

After a relatively stable ninety years or so, the monocled, walking legume with the elegant top hat has turned into a creepy, nightmarish looking thing-yikes!

   

Next up is Nipper, the longtime mascot for RCA Victor. Any number of mutts have been portrayed as the music loving canine over the years, so the one Topps used looks more approximate than specific.  Heres' a more classic looking version:

Alka Seltzer is still with us, although you can just use baking soda dissolved in water to get the desired relief and save some dough.  The brand mascot was known as Speedy, although he morphed from an earlier character called Sparky in 1951. Speedy was retired in 1964, although it was well-known enough to be featured by Topps and it eventually returned in the mid-70's and has been seen sporadically since.  Here's a 1976 version in wonderful stop-motion animation that features a song some of you may have had burned into your brains if you are of a certain age:

Next up, using a method that was also used in Wacky Packages for '67 and forever after, we see Bazooka Joe. Topps would always include their mascot, or a brand of theirs, in the product parody sets.  This would theoretically stave off lawsuits but it sure didn't stop the cease and desist letters!  The post-Wesley Morse version of Joe was trending toward this look, as seen three years later on this 1970 Bazooka Bits pouch:

Mr. Clean here reminds me of the little sanitation worker who cleaned up after the Muses at the end of Peabody's Improbable History.  He still looks pretty much the same today as he did when introduced in 1958, although he was an actual human being then:

Finally, we get to our last mascot, one from Pillsbury's Funny Face drink mix, which really completes a spiral of sorts! The drink mix powder competed with Kool-Aid but as I recall it, wasn't nearly as good and featured some nasty artificial sweetener.  Funny Face had killer graphics and commercials though and their mascots, at least the non-racist ones, were rad.  Here's one now:

I mentioned 1967 Wacky Packages earlier, didn't?  Well eight of the mascots here were also parodied in the inaugural set of stickers and I'll take a look at those next time.