One of the fun things about saving old programs, newspapers, etc. is looking at the old ads in them. As I am employed in the advertising field (sort of), I am particularly fascinated by old ads, especially when they bring on a feeling of nostalgia.
Here's a few from the 1968 Cleveland Indians scorecard. There's one for the Red Barn chain of fast-food restaurants, one for the Open Pantry convenience stores and one for radio station 1300 WERE. (Click on each of them to view a larger image.)
According to its Wiki entry, the Red Barn was a restaurant chain founded in Dayton, Ohio that at its peak had 400 locations. (Click here for a great website devoted to the Red Barn.) I remember that the Red Barn's advertising mascots were puppets shaped like a chicken leg, a fish and a hamburger. I also remember saving an old greasy Red Barn barn-shaped container and keeping my bottle cap collection in it!
Open Pantry was a chain similar to Lawson's. I did a little online research and found that there is still an Open Pantry chain operating in Wisconsin, although I'm not sure if it is the same company.
WERE 1300 was the radio home of the Cleveland Indians for many years. (I like their ad with Chief Wahoo, with its Laugh-In inspired headline, although it is sad that the mascot is rarely used in such a creative fashion any more.) WERE is still around, although it no longer has Indians games and it's no longer at 1300 AM. Click here to visit the station website.
I could not access any of the old TV spots for The Red Barn off of their website. My brother and I remember one with a cartoon of a small kid dressed like a cowboy or something, walking into a Red Barn, and he mouths the words "The Red Barn!" and it was an adult's voice, very low. We are trying to find that! It was on mid to late 70s.
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