Frostie Root Beer Ad – July 15, 1959

Pop sure does seem to be a regular topic on this blog.

Here's a vintage newspaper ad for Frostie Root Beer that ran in the Lorain Journal on July 15, 1959 – 54 years ago today. The ad was promoting the fact that the root beer was distributed locally by Dr. Pepper, which had a facility back then on Lake Avenue in Elyria.

It's funny that there used to be so many ads in the Journal for soft drinks in the 1950s and 60s. Maybe it was because pop wasn't something that people drank every day (like they do now), and the bottlers were aggressively competing for the same limited market share.

Anyway, I've always liked the Frostie Root Beer mascot. The bearded guy with icicles on his hat has been around a long time (the beverage has been bottled since 1939), and you can find him adorning many antique advertising signs.

When I was a kid, I thought the Frostie Root Beer guy bore a striking resemblance to a character in an old Golden Book we had – The Golden Goose – with haunting illustrations by Gustaf Tenggren. Here's what the mysterious little old man (who set the whole plot in motion) looked like in that book (below).

We must have drank a lot of Frostie Root Beer as kids, because at some point we sent away for Frostie Root Beer mugs that looked just like the mascot. I don't know what ever happened to our mugs, but they seem to pop up on Ebay frequently. Here's one (below) that was for sale a few weeks ago.

Over the years, the appearance of the Frostie Root Beer mascot was tinkered with once in a while, making him look a bit odd at times. Here's one of the later redesigns (below).

But the owners wisely went back to the original, classic design and that's what's on the bottles today.

Frostie Root Beer is still available today. One place where it is available locally is Vermilion Farm Market. Every once in a while I pick up a carton just for old times sake.