Sohio Ad With Toppie – October 1971

Do you buy your gas at the same place each week?

If so, perhaps it’s because you have a loyalty card and earn points toward a variety of rewards, including free stuff, rebates or discounts towards other purchases. I have two such rewards cards in my wallet – one for Speedway and one for Mickey Mart. 

Well, fifty years ago, there was no such thing as rewards cards at gas stations, just charge cards. Thus trading stamps (such as nationally known S&H Green Stamps) were used to build loyalty, as they could be redeemed for various premiums.

The Sohio ad below, which appeared in the Journal on October 29, 1971, used the offer of extra Top Value Stamps as an incentive for customers to buy a fill-up. 

As you can see, good old Top Value Stamps advertising mascot Toppie the Elephant was pressed into service as the gas jockey in the ad.

I’ve written about Toppie before (including this post), and mentioned that at one time we had this lunch box and themos (below). At one time, an online auction website valued a mint one for around $6,000. (Sob!)

Courtesy Hake's

Anyway, Toppie packed his trunk and disappeared along with Top Value Stamps many years ago, and of course the Sohio brand is long gone.

Which explains why in 2021, I buy my gas at a station with a big plexiglas moose statue in front of it, and I have a plastic card with his portrait on it in my wallet.