Kline’s Christmas Ad – Dec. 9, 1971

The 1970s were a time of change in the style of the ads that appeared in newspapers, especially those created by their art departments. The availability of modern clip art done in a loose style resulted in a shift away from the old-fashioned style of illustration and more towards anything that seemed new and different.

Thus you had an ad like the one above for Kline’s, a mainstay store in Downtown Lorain for more than sixty years. It’s an unusual looking ad, with Santa depicted as an amorphous blob all for the sake of making room for text. Kline’s was a chain, however, and it’s possible that the ad was created by its own agency or in-house art department.

Quite a difference from the Santa in this ad for Kline’s from 1956.

Anyway, it’s hard to believe that approximately three years after the Dec. 1971 ad ran in the Journal that it would be announced that Kline’s would be closing its Lorain store.