Mid-America Boat Show Advertising – 1961, 1971 & 1972

Although the 2022 Progressive Cleveland Boat Show isn’t until March, many Northeastern Ohioans remember that traditionally the show (previously known as the Mid-America Boat Show) used to be held in January.

It was a nice distraction during the cold winter months to think about boating, even if you’re not a boater (like me). 

I did a post back here, in which I compared the different approaches to advertising the event, promoting it with special appearances by the Osmond Brothers and Jerry Murad’s Harmonicats (1965); featuring a Miss Boat Show in the ad (1969); and enlisting Popeye, the world’s best-known spinach-eating sailor as a mascot (1970).

Well, here are two more examples of Boat Show advertising with different approaches.

Back in 1961, this family-oriented ad appeared in the Lorain Journal on January 14th. 

As you can see, the gimmick that year was “fabulous magic waters that actually dance to the excitement of music under a rainbow of colored lights. A huge 60 foot entertainment marvel that will make a lifetime impression.”

I like the cartoon of the kids in the bathtub playing with the toy sailboat, as Fido looks on.

Anyway, by the time of the 1971 Mid-America Boat Show, the ad men decided to go with the tried-and-true angle of using pretty girls in swimsuits to promote the event.

This ad appeared in the Journal on January 15, 1971.

A year later, in time for the 1972 edition of the Boat Show, the Journal featured these promotional photos of swimsuit-clad lovelies in the sports pages (for fathers to peruse, I guess). On the day each photo appeared, it was positioned right next to the popular “Rambling With Rudy” column, and directly above the bowling scores. The actual 1972 Boat Show ad ran on January 14, 1972 elsewhere in the sports pages.

From the December 17, 1971 Journal

From the January 14, 1971 Journal

From the January 14, 1971 Journal

It’s interesting that the photo caption of the two women at first refers to them as “two youthful boating experts,” and later as “two housewives who know their boating.”

I worked in the advertising field for many years, and had to hire models (male and female) for photo shoots. With that in mind, I'm guessing that the Boat Show models were all happy to get the work, that they were paid fairly well, and that they enjoyed the publicity, as well as the photos which would become part of their portfolio.