Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Old Quaker Bourbon Ad – March 25, 1963

I mentioned several times on this blog how the Lorain Journal used to run ads for hard liquor almost every day in the 1940s and 50s, in addition to daily beer ads. You would think that the average Lorainite had a major drinking problem.

The daily parade of booze ads finally began to taper off in the mid-to-late 1960s.

But in 1963, the national and regional distilleries were still doing their best to get Journal readers to have a snort, judging by the ad below for Old Quaker Bourbon. It ran in the paper on March 25, 1963.

I find the ad interesting, because it employs the image of a Quaker to promote bourbon exactly as Quaker Oats does to promote its oatmeal. The Old Quaker mascot looks pretty happy, much more enthusiastic than his lookalike on the breakfast porridge package.

Ironically, for years actual Quakers practiced teetotalism. I understand that's not the case today; drinking is discouraged, but allowed in moderation. (I'm assuming they can eat all the oatmeal they want.)
Anyway, Old Quaker Bourbon bottles are pretty ubiquitous on eBay as well as other online sources. In fact, it was fairly easy to find pretty much the exact bottle.

At least I didn't have to hit some Lorain garage sales to find one.
One of the Old Quaker advertising gimmicks was the inclusion of the age of the bourbon right on the bottle in big letters, such as "THIS WHISKEY IS 4 YEARS OLD." As the Journal ad notes, Old Quaker had just added "Two Extra Years of Aging... At No Extra Cost!"
Exciting news for local boozehounds, no doubt.
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I've posted a lot of whiskey ads on this blog, including these for Old Log Cabin WhiskeyPM Blended Whiskey, Schenley, and Corby's.

4 comments:

  1. "I'm assuming they can eat all the oatmeal they want."

    Brady, me boy-o, you crack me up!

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  2. That old smiling Quaker guy looks like John Wayne dressed up as a Quaker.

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  3. You're right!! The likeness is uncanny. They missed some great advertising opportunities, they could have had him saying, "So take my advice, Pilgrim and try Old Quaker Bourbon... it's as smooth as the handle on my Colt .45!!

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  4. They sure did miss some advertising as they could've had it to where John Wayne would down a whole bottle of bourbon then throw the empty bottle up in the air and blast it to pieces with his .45.

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