Jazz and modern smoking

(this post is part of our Modern Living series, for more info follow this link)

Dutch magazine ad from 1939; connecting jazz, modern and American. 

Not only is the cigarette brand presented as modern, it's a "modern American" cigarette. Stressing the fact that this is an imported cigarette is quite unusual in the 1930s in the Netherlands as only a few years earlier (1933) a government funded campaign was launched to promote buying Dutch products.

More about the connection between jazz and smoking later, for now I just want to share the picture, which I think is quite striking in it's use of colour. 

Jazz cigarettes, Panorama, Aug 10, 1939

 P.S. I cannot find any information about this particular brand - any and all information is welcome.

World's most modern motor car!

(this post is part of our Modern Living series, for more info follow this link)

Chrysler, Saturday Evening Post, Dec 8, 1956

The headline under the drawing of the car speaks for itself :-) 

The emphasis is on technical improvements: a new suspension system, new transmission, smaller wheels with bigger - and low-pressure - tires. Luckily there are also "exquisite new appointments and interior conveniences [that] will delight a lady's heart".

This ad supports our preliminary findings that there is a peak in the occurrence of the word 'modern' in the 1930s and 1950s. But we will have to do more research to substantiate that claim and will get back to that later this year.

Lucky Strike

(this post is part of our Modern Living series, for more info follow this link)

We found a Dutch Lucky Strike ad from 1932, in which the use of "modern Ultra Violet Rays" in the toasting process was specifically mentioned (the highlighting of the word in the picture below is done by me) and the words "Ultra Violette Stralen" were given a very prominent place in the text, thereby focusing on the modern scientific nature of the process.

Another 'unique selling point' for this ad is explained in the heading "Versch uit Amerika", which translates to "Fresh from America". In Dutch too, "vers" (versch is old spelling) has the double meaning of "not stale" and "new".

Interestingly, in the American version(s) of the ad campaign, the word modern does NOT appear, instead, the focus is on the analogy with the sun:

"Everyone knows that sunshine mellows, that's why the 'TOASTING' process includes the use of the Ultra Violet Rays"

Lucky Strike, Haagsche Courant, Jan 23, 1932

Examples of the American ad campaign can easily be found on Google by searching "Lucky Strike Sunshine Mellows ad campaign".

The Ford V-8

(this post is part of our Modern Living series, for more info follow this link)

Ford V-8, [Fortune?], 1934

As we've found in our research, the word "modern" in advertisements can mean many things.

What makes the new Ford V-8 for 1934 "Distinctly Modern"? According to the text, its beauty, comfort, speed, economy and safety: it "leads the line in design" (beauty), has an "exceptionally smooth performance" (comfort), has "quicker acceleration" (speed), has "more miles per gallon" (economy), and offers "Great security in driving because of the all-steel body and safety glass" (safety).

When Henry Luce founded Fortune, he envisioned a magazine that was targeted at "wealthy and influential people". Its "Purpose" (Luce capitalized the word) was: "To reflect Industrial Life in ink and paper and word and picture, as the finest skyscraper reflects it in stone and steel and architectural design" (letter to advertisers by Luce, included in vol. 1, no. 0 of Fortune, September 1929). The Ford ad, with its sleek car, elegantly dressed woman, and confidence-inspiring text, seems to fit the mission of the magazine and Luce's (modern) industrial vision perfectly.

Miner's modern cosmetics

(this post is part of our Modern Living series, for more info follow this link)

Miner's "top-ten" cosmetics, Picturegoer, December 7, 1957

This Miner's cosmetics ad from 1957 we found taps into "modern" English youth culture to advertise its products.

The brand presents itself as with-it through making lots of references to music: Miner's "top-ten" cosmetics offer a "hit parade" of beauty products, you'll be "right on the beat" (a reference to 1950s beat music) with their "beauty aids", and Miner's Super-Stay lipstick is a "top hit" that is available in "pop colours".

According to the text, Miner's is "as modern as tomorrow's mood". Buy it, the ad suggests, and you'll be dancing and flirting at the dance hall, dressed in "your style, your colours" - like a truly modern girl. 

The way to Modern Living

The next couple of months we will be posting blogs about a new project that my daughter Saskia and I have started this year.

For a long time we had been wanting to do something together involving advertising and in 2018 we sent in our application to the Ephemera Society of America (ESA) for the Philip Jones Fellowship for the Study of Ephemera. 

Our idea was to investigate the use of the word 'Modern' in advertising. Some of the questions we wanted to answer were:

• How and when is the word used? 
• Is it used in specific industries (automotive, apparel) only or do you find it in advertising for all sorts of products? 
• Is it more common in certain periods? 
• Is the word targeting a specific consumer demographic? 
• Who labels the products as 'modern'? Is it the advertiser who first labels the product as modern? Or are products already perceived as modern by the consumer and are advertisers simply using the word in their advertising to confirm that status?
• Are there advertisers labeling their products as modern to boost sales while the product does not really deserve the label 'modern'?

We were very happy to receive the news earlier this year that we had won the competition and enthusiastically started searching for examples, using my own collection of advertisements as a starting point.

The project will result in a digital paper, to be published online in early 2020. Naturally, it will be profusely illustrated.

In this blog we will post a series of three short essays with the results of our research, interspersed with shorter entries containing scans of interesting ads.

Keep following this page for updates !

---

For more information on the ESA and the Philip Jones Fellowship, please refer to the links above; the ESA also has a Facebook page.