Follies of the Mad Men #110

[From Life magazine for June 8 1942.]

1) I have never seen another Schlitz ad with a bear.

2) Bears were not a Schlitz mascot.

3) The text of the ad makes no mention of the bear.

WHAT IS THIS BEAR DOING HERE?

Was there a famous trained bear circa 1942 that Schlitz wanted to associate themselves with? Do bears in the wild have a particular fondness for Schlitz? What university does this bear teach at?

So many questions from one little ad.....

Who We Are
Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Comments

Excellent find, Martel. I guess the bear was a spokesperson for a time. But as you say, why?

Posted by Paul on 06/21/10 at 01:04 PM

Bear - Beer there's only one letter difference and that's a vowel. Easy 😛 mistake.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 06/21/10 at 01:58 PM

Well, the black bear was Wisconsin's largest resident mammal until recently. (In the last few years elk have been reintroduced to the state, taking that spot.) So maybe it was just an homage.

Or it could be people will buy anything advertised by a bear, as shown in this book - The Bear Made Me Buy It: Product Advertising Bears on Amazon.

We could always write a letter to Schlitz and ask them why. 😊

Posted by Nethie on 06/21/10 at 02:37 PM

I just wanna say that the comments on this post and pretty much all post @ WU are brilliant. Terrific insight and humor. Keep up the good work and kudos to martel for satisfying both expectations.

Posted by Pablo on 06/21/10 at 05:12 PM

looks like it was an ad campaign they ran for a time. they should have went with 'i can't bear to drink anything but schlitz'

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 06/21/10 at 06:54 PM

You're all full of Shlitz 😜

Posted by ANON in Nowhere on 06/21/10 at 07:14 PM

Does a bear Schlitz in the woods?

Only if he isn't on load to the zoo.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 06/21/10 at 10:28 PM

Maybe it was a reference to the Russian bear, an effort to be less German for the war. Maybe it was a bear market, not a bull market.

Posted by TheCannyScot in Atlanta, GA on 06/22/10 at 09:04 AM

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.