Thursday, December 15, 2022

O'Neil - Sheffield Center Christmas Ad – Dec. 6, 1962

As I mentioned yesterday, images of Santa Claus in newspaper ads found in the Journal radically changed during the early 1960s. There was a deliberate attempt by advertisers to present something new and different, perhaps reflecting the change in decades.

Here's a really good example. This offbeat Santa was the focal point of an ad for the O'Neil - Sheffield Center.

I actually mistook his round cheeks with the crosshatch design for his eyes – making me think he resembled a (yechhh) common house fly. But his closed eyes are the U-shaped slits on both sides of his tiny nose.

Ironically, the odd layout and distracting illustration of the jolly old elf almost overshadow the mention of the very thing that most of remember fondly at that shopping center: the Talking Christmas Tree.
"Youngsters talk to our glittering 50-ft. Norway Spruce... and it answers back!" reads the ad copy.
Christmas at O'Neil - Sheffield Center has been mentioned on this blog several times, with posts spotlighting  1954; 1955; 1959;  1960; and 1963. 
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1 comment:

  1. -Alan D HopewellDecember 15, 2022 at 9:36 AM

    That certainly was a highlight of the season for us Hopewell boys, visiting Santa and the Talking Christmas Tree. My Grandfather and my Mother kept us mindful of the true reason for celebrating, of a baby Who would travel from a crib to a cross, to atone for our sinful state.

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