Strange Iconography

A Scottish child and a Native-American child pour hair tonic on the head of an elderly Anglo man and massage it in, while a child soldier out of some European comic opera stands by with sword upraised in tribute.

The only sensible part of this weird iconography is the Scottish kid. Once upon a time, right up to, oh, the 1960s, "anything Scottish = cheap and economical" was standard advertising shorthand.

Original ad here, with accompanying text.

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

It's not 'scotch', scotch is a drink.........its SCOTS....the abbreviated form of Scottish.

Posted by Steve on 05/07/12 at 10:38 AM

Steve--see if my amendment makes better sense.

Posted by Paul on 05/07/12 at 10:44 AM

Whew! Be glad you got that lapsus calami fixed before Scotty saw it.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 05/07/12 at 11:07 AM

I GOT IT!!!!!!

A cheap Indian trick is going to marshal your hair follicles into action again.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 05/07/12 at 11:10 AM

"Oh, baby. That feels good. No one does it like little Scots and Indians. Um... Ooooh... Aaaah... How did that soldier get in here?"

Posted by KDP on 05/07/12 at 04:03 PM

Huh, what? Someone call me?

Thanks, Steve. They already think I'm nuts enough, without having me rant about booze...

And we're not cheap. Just thrifty. To a fault 😛

KDP, I believe patty can supply us with a "little soldier" joke.

Posted by TheCannyScot in Atlanta, GA on 05/07/12 at 05:31 PM

I'd rather see more on that "Wine of Cardui" adverted below this one...

Posted by Not Gendered on 05/07/12 at 06:13 PM

I like the ad directly below it in the link - for "Wine of Cardui", a patent medicine for women. A bit of Googling tells me it was 19% alcohol by volume, and that is no doubt why the women forgot those little aches and pains they were having.

Posted by Robert on 05/07/12 at 08:23 PM

I prefer large soldiers dear. 😜

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 05/07/12 at 10:20 PM

Finally a definitive answer to, "Does size really matter?"

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 05/08/12 at 12:00 AM

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