1960 Gillette Razor Blades ad featuring Hartland statues

[FourStrikes]

one of my all-time favorite advertising pieces - picked this up in the early 1980s and have had it displayed with my Hartland set ever since.

it's an 8 1/2 x 11 double-sided advertising sheet using Nellie Fox, Ted Williams, Yogi Berra (note: not "Yogy Bear" ) and Duke Snider Hartland statues.


I find it interesting that not only was the Fox statue used twice (painted with different color cap and socks as if to imply he's two different players), but also that the team name / logo on the jersey and cap have been removed and replaced with a Gillette "G".


curious whether or not this was a point of purchase display sheet or part of a sales packet sent to sellers and/or potential retailers - it's on thicker stock than a typical print ad, but the fact that it's double-sided would almost rule out its being used as a countertop display as an easel of some type would thus be required, with the hole punches leading me to believe that at some point it was in a binder.


wonder if any larger-format posters were ever made using these same images, as this is the only example I've ever seen, and whether or not the actual statues shown were painted with the "G" on the caps and jerseys, although I believe the uniforms were altered during the pre-printing (aka "Wonka" magic, but pre-photoshop) stages.


has anybody seen (or does anybody have) a poster, brochure, etc. featuring this ad, or otherwise know whether or not it was originally enclosed with a shipment of blades to a retailer?


DS

.

[thekingofclout]

Never seen them before, but they are some terrific pieces!

[Oldtix]

Excellent items. As you surmised, these were promotional pieces used to encourage retailers to order more product. The wording all emphasizes the material to encourage pack sizes, etc. The actual retail display is shown (that upright rack). I have a 1940 General Mills route salesman's book and it's exactly the kind of binder you described. Whether yours was kept by a salesman or a store owner, it's a rare deal and very neat to see the Hartlands used like that!

[perezfan]

Exactly... the Gillette sales rep would have presented that program to retailers with the intent of increasing sales. He/she would present from a sales binder that contained all of the current products and promotions. 99.9% of these sell-sheets were probably thrown out (within seconds after the rep made his pitch and left the store).

This is still done all the time, but Retail Sales Rep jobs like this are dwindling, due to tightly controlled policies by Grocery and Drug Accounts at the HQ level. Back when this flyer was produced, there was much more autonomy from store to store, and individual store managers could make decisions on the spot (regarding what they wanted to promote and display).

For those of us in the food business, those were truly the "good old days". Now (if a rep is even utilized by the manufacturer) they are pretty much relegated to dusting off product and checking Shelf Tags.

[Oldtix]

The next year (1961), Gillette offered this free paperback book to customers with a purchase. This one was never opened...