Hills Bros. Coffee Ad – March 5, 1968

Yesterday's blog featured a Cutlass ad that may very have helped define my parents' choice of cars (assuming that they were susceptible to newspaper advertising).

Continuing that line of reasoning, here's an ad that may have led to Mom and Dad choosing Hills Brothers as their all-time favorite coffee.

The ad – which took up 3/4 of a page – ran in the Lorain Journal on March 5, 1968 – 50 years ago this week.

Mom and Dad were super loyal to Hills Brothers. For decades, it was the only coffee they ever drank. When it was on sale at Marc's, I would pick up three or four cans for them. Once, they had thirteen cans of it in the cupboard!

(I always thought Hills Brothers was pretty good, and it probably helps explain why I'm not a coffee elitist today. However, now I drink Tim Hortons coffee – the choice of millions of Canucks – each morning.)

Interestingly, Hills Brothers was one of the few coffees with an actual advertising mascot. In this case, the turban-wearing coffee drinker was known officially as the "Taster." (The iconic figure is immortalized in the form of a bronze statue, which you can read about here.) I think he gave the can a lot of character.

Here he is as part of a vintage easel-backed point-of-purchase display, courtesy of liveauctioneers.com.

Unfortunately, the coffee-sipping Arab was 'canned' in the 1990s.

The reasoning behind his retirement is explained in this interesting article. The article also reveals that the brand is now enjoying increased popularity nationwide because of a recent redesign of the packaging.

And here's a link to a whole Pinterest page devoted to Hills Brothers coffee packaging, signage and history.

****

What’s your favorite coffee?

Do you like it brewed the old-fashioned way, where you open a can (or bag) and scoop it into a basket/filter? (To me, smelling that ground coffee is the best part!) Or are you a pod person?

Be sure to leave a comment!