Win A Houseboy Contest
In my physical copy of LIFE magazine for December 20, 1963, this ad occupies page 89.
In the scanned copy at Google, there is an entirely different ad on page 89. The image you see here is my scan of the paper copy.
I have no explanation for this. Did LIFE print regional issues with different ads?
In any case, I could find no other complete representation of this ad online. (There's a scan of the top part alone, for some reason.)
Thus does WU contribute to the world's stock of knowledge.
In the scanned copy at Google, there is an entirely different ad on page 89. The image you see here is my scan of the paper copy.
I have no explanation for this. Did LIFE print regional issues with different ads?
In any case, I could find no other complete representation of this ad online. (There's a scan of the top part alone, for some reason.)
Thus does WU contribute to the world's stock of knowledge.
Comments
I wouldn't have thought that they did regionals. Specially on a full page ad.
But here's an EBay listing for the Kent ad :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1963-Kent-King-Size-Cigarettes-with-Micronite-Filter-Magazine-Print-Ad-/390545869821?hash=item5aee590bfd
with the same date and another for the Chun King ad:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1963-Chun-King-chinese-food-win-a-houseboy-racist-kitchen-decor-vintage-print-ad-/141094725035
One way to check would be to look at gasoline ads. As this article implies, oil companies used different names in different markets(Exxon/Esso). So find an Esso ad and see if there's Exxon ad in other issues.
https://books.google.com/books?id=NDtMw5GDCS8C&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=did+life+magazine+have+regional+advertisements&source=bl&ots=GnBbHgJ0mV&sig=EIAKZMSwex-zivUxpmjS3G7xJhs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQxO-UxvnTAhVIxWMKHeu-AtIQ6AEIQDAG#v=onepage&q=did life magazine have regional advertisements&f=false
Also, great story of the Italian founder of Chun King eating a bug:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeno_Paulucci#Controversy
But here's an EBay listing for the Kent ad :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1963-Kent-King-Size-Cigarettes-with-Micronite-Filter-Magazine-Print-Ad-/390545869821?hash=item5aee590bfd
with the same date and another for the Chun King ad:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1963-Chun-King-chinese-food-win-a-houseboy-racist-kitchen-decor-vintage-print-ad-/141094725035
One way to check would be to look at gasoline ads. As this article implies, oil companies used different names in different markets(Exxon/Esso). So find an Esso ad and see if there's Exxon ad in other issues.
https://books.google.com/books?id=NDtMw5GDCS8C&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=did+life+magazine+have+regional+advertisements&source=bl&ots=GnBbHgJ0mV&sig=EIAKZMSwex-zivUxpmjS3G7xJhs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjQxO-UxvnTAhVIxWMKHeu-AtIQ6AEIQDAG#v=onepage&q=did life magazine have regional advertisements&f=false
Also, great story of the Italian founder of Chun King eating a bug:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeno_Paulucci#Controversy
Posted by S. Norman on 05/18/17 at 08:54 AM
On the contents page of the Life magazine, page 4, at the bottom in the fine print it says, "This issue published in national and separate editions."
Posted by Alex on 05/18/17 at 10:07 AM
People seem to confuse racist with stereotype. I see nothing racist about the ad.
Posted by RobK on 05/18/17 at 10:16 AM
Brilliant find, Alex!
Rob K: I too am hesitant always to deploy the nebulous term "racism." Hence the "stereotype" tag I used.
Rob K: I too am hesitant always to deploy the nebulous term "racism." Hence the "stereotype" tag I used.
Posted by Paul on 05/18/17 at 11:08 AM
Leave it to the American taste to think that something in a box labelled "Chinese" cuisine is something authentic.
During my time at university I had an opportunity to go to a local Chinese restaurant with a Chinese student who recommended it. The outside sign had the name of the restaurant in English and the ideograms listed down the sides. I asked what the ideograms signified and she told me that it was pretty much the same as the English. I'd always suspected that those ideograms said something like "Up yours, round-eye."
During my time at university I had an opportunity to go to a local Chinese restaurant with a Chinese student who recommended it. The outside sign had the name of the restaurant in English and the ideograms listed down the sides. I asked what the ideograms signified and she told me that it was pretty much the same as the English. I'd always suspected that those ideograms said something like "Up yours, round-eye."
Posted by KDP on 05/18/17 at 01:04 PM
Years ago I ran across a difference between subscription copies and newsstand copies of the same magazine. Stories started on the same page number, but they were more contiguous (fewer "continued on page 94" jumps), and ads were smaller (fewer full-page ads) in subscription copies.
Posted by Phideaux on 05/18/17 at 01:34 PM
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Category: Business | Advertising | Products | Ethnic Groupings | Food | Stereotypes and Cliches | 1960s