Lorain vs. Elyria Ad – November 12, 1954

It's Friday night, and that means high school football games. So here's a full-page ad with sponsors promoting the Lorain vs Elyria game that ran in the Lorain Journal on November 12, 1954 – 60 years ago this week.

As usual, the sponsors include some long-gone companies (like Kline's and Kutza's). But this ad collection is unusual, because many of the companies are still around. These include Crystal Clear Dry Cleaners, Lorain Telephone (now part of CenturyLink), Ohio Edison, First Federal Savings of Lorain, and Lorain Banking Company (now Lorain National). Does that mean it pays to advertise?

The ads themselves have some clever wordplay tying in their company's specialty with sports terminology. But what's funny is how some of the advertisers blatantly pull for Lorain to win, while others either just offer tepid encouragement, or play the middle of the road entirely.

I guess when you're a public utility you can't play favorites.