Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The Charcoal Pit Part 2

Here's another Lorain Phone Book ad for the Charcoal Pit, this time from 1956. It's interesting to me because there's a couple things going on marketing-wise.

First of all, there's an advertising mascot  – a chicken dressed like an artiste, with beret, paint brush and – spats? I'm not sure if he is just a piece of clip-art that was added to the ad, or if he is a bona-fide mascot.

Also of interest is the reference to King Henry Family Style Chicken Dinners. I've scoured the internet to no avail trying to find some other mention of this brand. (All I could find is the claim that King Henry IV of France believed that everyone should eat chicken on Sunday.)

The whole ad is probably a template, supplied by the oven manufacturer, which the restaurant could customize with their city, phone number, menu, etc.

The ad is intriguing, though. Imagine broiling a chicken to a golden brown in two minutes! At that rate, in five minutes you'd have a pile of ashes!

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