Before Dr. Seuss gained worldwide fame as a beloved author and illustrator of children’s books, he paid the bills with advertising gigs and magazine artwork.  In fact, Theodore Seuss Geisel landed his first paying job after leaving Oxford with the New York City publication Judge.

In the 1920s, Seuss embarked on a career as an advertising illustrator, a job that garnered him national exposure and a better paycheck.  A series of cartoons for Flit bug spray kicked open the door for Seuss.  One illustration shows three guys in a tank as an oversized mosquito jettisons toward them.  In large yellow words it reads: “Quick Henry, The Flit!”

Seuss would end up doing a whole series of ads for Flit, and moved on to design campaigns for iconic American companies like Ford and NBC, and General Electric. His ads spanned the realm of products, from ball bearings, to cars, oil and sugar.

Another Flit ad, black-and-white, shows Seuss’ dark sense of humor. This one shows a forlorn and defeated looking bug, wings sagging and antennae mangled.  It appears to have facial stubble and sunken eyes that glance lethargically at the viewer.  The made-up species has rigged a can of Flit spray with a string, ready to take its own life.  The title reads simply: “The suicide.”

In 1949 Seuss started penning ad campaigns for Ford Motor Company.  The ads were simple, but showed glimpses of characters that would show up in many of Dr. Seuss’ books.

But Dr. Seuss’ most notable run in the advertising realm came from his 15 years of work designing ads for Standard Oil.  His illustrations showed a beauty and depth that still captures the imagination of viewers today.

The color ads featured Dr. Seuss’ flair for making up monsters, such as the “Karbo-nockus” and “Moto-raspus,” a cat-like creature with exceedingly long arms that tinker with an engine while the stunned driver stares with bulging eyes.  Another ad features the “Zerodoccus,” a creature resembling the abominable snowman.  This character blows a sheet of ice over a car while another stunned driver sits behind the wheel, shocked and helpless. Below the illustration it reads: “Next time, use Essolube, the only 5-star motor oil.”

Much of Seuss’ black and white work for Standard Oil had a seafaring vibe, featuring boats and strange pieces of imagined machinery for the company’s line of marine engine oil.   One such ad features the “carbonic walrus.”  This illustration shows a confident, smiling walrus as it lurches from the water and pummels a boat.  The captain, clings to a flagpole, which bends comically, like a piece of rubber.  The waves in this image come up in sharp points, as if the ocean is some kind of mountain range.

In another stunning ad, an ugly mermaid lured sailors with a sign for Essomarine engine oil.  The illustration is black and white, with splashes of red.   The mermaid is holding an Essomarine sign, which attracts the boaters, steaming toward the siren in red boats on an expanse of gray ocean.  Behind the homely mermaid, two of Suess’ famed cartoon fish can be spotted pointing toward the emerging ships. One of the fish is saying: “Annabella may not be such a hot looking siren…But she sure does know how to lure the sailors!”

Dr. Seuss’ full-color ads for Holly Sugar are among his most vibrant and striking illustrations.  The ads are simple and feature much less wording than those done for Standard Oil, NBC or now-defunct communications company Stromburg Carlson.  The theme was simple for Holly Sugar.  Nearly every ad featured the same six words: “All it needs is…Holly Sugar.”

One such ad features a Seuss creature that looks like a cross between a yak and a cow.  The freaked out animal looks both sad and repulsed by the green apple offered by a young boy with spiky blond hair.  Both characters appear before a bright red backdrop. To the right, is a bag of Holly Sugar.

In another ad, a creature resembling a mounted moose head, sulks before a birthday cake, staring somberly at the offering.  Below, a young child looks up, bewildered by the creature’s reluctance to eat the cake.  The main characters and the cake are illustrated over a lime green backdrop.  Above them it reads: “All it needs is…Holly Sugar.”  As usual, the bag of sugar is featured in the right.

Although Dr. Seuss is best known for his work as an author, his advertising brought imagination and artistry to the industry.  He carried every day products into the realm of fantasy, making even a bag of sugar or a can of bug spray seem like something out of a fairy tale or cartoon world.  Simple products would all of a sudden come alive due to Seuss’ keen development of magical realism.

Dr. Seuss went on to compose children’s books, television specials, a feature-length film, dr seuss lesson plans for teachers and even a Broadway musical.  His children’s books have been translated into at least 15 languages and his ended up in the homes of well over 200-million people.  Throughout his career, Seuss won two Academy awards, a Pulitzer Prize, a Peabody and two Emmy awards and

The world however, may never know how many cans of Flit or Standard Oil were sold as a result of Seuss’ ads.  There’s no record of how many Americans were inspired to purchase a Ford or buy a bag of sugar based on his artwork.  But there’s no doubt his work in advertising will be admired by many generations to come.

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As our society becomes more modern and open, the more racy and controversial our advertisements get: think of anything you can see on the first 20 pages of every high fashion magazine. But it’s easy to forget how far, and, in a weird way, not so far we’ve come with our advertising.

Sure technological developments in graphics have contributed to noticeable progress in today’s advertising world, but there’s something to be said for the simple look and feel of ads from decades back, and what needs to be said is simplicity of appearance didn’t necessarily correspond with simplicity of message in the years of yonder.

Aesthetics

Maybe it’s because of the limited availability of artistic tools for graphic artists in the 50s and 60s, but mute tones and open-outline illustrations dominated the landscape of hand-drawn print ads. This aesthetic was often paired with images and messages depicting family life, invoking that unmistakable warm, homey feeling. Whether promoting the new Buick or the latest product from Clairol, major corporations of this era seemed to avoid bold, bright dominate colors.

In terms of look and feel, minimalism dominated the print advertising landscape. The product being advertised was almost always displayed in the ad, but the human subject paired with the product would often be positioned as the dominant image. And, unlike the image-heavy and busy ads we see today, there was little visual competition with the advertised product in these display ads.

Text, however, is a whole other situation. Large bulky blocks of text crowded the frames of the vintage ads; it’s rare today to see sets of body copy like that even in articles of the nation’s most prominent publications. The fact is that consumers from these vintage eras had more patience and were willing to devote more time and attention to their publications, including ad copy.

Characters

There’s no doubt about it, the iconic nuclear family was one of the most prominent themes of ads from the “Golden Age,” but use of the family theme wasn’t always found in the most appropriate settings. We all know by now that knowledge about smoking has progressed quite a bit over the past few decades; it’s hard to imagine mother and child paired together for a pro cigarette ad or babies guzzling soda, but it happened… a lot.

Not much change in the way of babies, puppies, and kittens being able to sell anything; it’s just that ad agencies of the past took this age-old selling strategy a step farther than you’d imagine. Iver Johnson Revolvers apparently found no wrong in using the image of a child lying bed with a revolver in hand to promote the safety of their product (yes you read that right, safety).

Iver Johnson Revolvers 1913

Motifs

Advertising agencies used to be largely populated by men – if you’ve seen just one episode of Mad Men you’ll know what we mean – so it’s no wonder why misogyny popped up everywhere in vintage advertisements. Women used as objects (a bearskin rug), as “property” (being spanked for not testing the coffee), as the inferior sex (incapable of opening a bottle) didn’t seem to phase the public of the time. One infamous ad leads with the headline “Is it always illegal to kill a woman?”

It’s also strange to think that doctors used to promote everything in ads from cigarettes to skin bleaching products. This not only speaks to the general social consciousness of the time but also to the perception of the medical professional as an additional authority-figure of the family. This is quite a contrast to today when doctors are rarely even featured in medical advertisements, avoiding any liability of being tied to one product over another.

About Dana Bashor

Dana Bashor is the founder and owner of Dana Bashor Consulting Services. Dana Bashor consults for small-to-medium sized businesses and provides management tools and tips on her website. On her free time Dana Bashor loves to freelance on different topics and provide consumer alerts for sites like planet antares scam alerts.  Catch up with Dana on her blog or connect with Dana Bashor on facebook.

What is stropping or honing in terms of shaving? And why is that baby wearing a bonnet? It’s still funny anyway.

Wow. Just… wow.

Maybe it’s just me, but shouldn’t the child be hitting the Joker or some other villain instead of his idol? That kid’s going to make a great bad guy some day.

The higher the pants go above your belly button, the better. I can’t believe this used to be attractive.

I don’t understand your riddles!

“My Joanie! Your cheeks are as soft as a swan baby’s.” Who wrote for these ads?

Big Bird looks angry… very angry.

Sorry for the second bus ad in a row, but I couldn’t help asking: who is in the market for a bus?