Ohio Edison Ad – April 1, 1953

"Keeping Ahead of the Joneses" is the theme of this stylish Ohio Edison ad that ran in the Lorain Journal back on April 1, 1953. But while the similar phrase "Keeping up with the Joneses" normally refers to the act of trying to compete with neighbors who might be in a slightly better economic standing, this ad has a different angle. It depicts how Ohio Edison is committed to being ready to supply electricity to a variety of different Joneses in the early 1950s.

And of course our old pal Reddy Kilowatt makes an appearance.

As for the Joneses in the text, the first ones (shown in an illustration as your basic nuclear family) are new householders that are "finding it to their advantage to live electrically through greater use of electric appliances." It's a little odd that they are referred to 'new customers' as the family doesn't exactly look like they were participants in the rural electrification program.

The second Jones is an industrialist whose factory uses "tens of thousands of kilowatt hours of electricity" each year. I like the chart on the wall with the upward arrow. Business is good!

The last Jones is shown as a pipe-smoking atomic scientist, symbolizing Ohio Edison's involvement in the construction of power plants to supply energy requirements of the Atomic Energy Commission's Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Pike County, which produced enriched uranium. (You can read about it here on Energy.gov.) Today, the plant is long-closed and the site is still being cleaned up. Oh well.

The ad is also interesting because it shows the old style transmission tower that is becoming a thing of the past (like the ones removed on Tower Boulevard). 

I wonder if any Journal readers wrote for their free copy of the Annual Report of the Ohio Edison Company?