Cities Service – today's CITGO – had a special summertime promotion involving root beer (another favorite topic on this blog). The purchase of ten gallons of gasoline entitled you to a free quart of Dad's Root Beer.
Despite the appealing name (not unlike Mother's Oats), I don't remember drinking too much Dad's Root Beer. There were just too many brands, and Mom seemed to favor Frostie for a long time, with some Hires Root Beer here and there.
What's interesting to me is the friendly beaver mascot for Cities. I don't recall seeing him before, and he seems like he'd be right at home in the Great White North, where appropriately there are a lot of companies with beaver mascots.
The little buck-toothed mascot was also featured in his own little activity book.
And speaking of mascots, Superior's Frankies always utilized their friendly frankfurter well. In the above ad, he's directing Journal readers to enter a contest to win a trip to the 1964 World's Fair and be his guest. What's a little odd is that the ad notes that "June is Frankies Month."
Anyway, here's a 10-second commercial featuring Frankie himself.
5 comments:
Trifiletti's Cities Service was just a block west of our house. I remember the "Eager Beaver" commercials on tv, and the ones announcing the change to Citgo.
I can't think of Cities Service without being reminded of an eerie story I first read as a child...
https://the-avocado.org/2022/03/22/history-thread-the-case-of-the-phony-sea-specters/
There was a skinny, little kid in grade skool named Frankie. Everyone (not me) called him the "Keener Wiener."
When we reached high skool, he had grown into this humongous beast of a guy. Nobody called him the "Keener Wiener" no more. Except, maybe, his sweetheart in private moments.
It's funny looking back on how family members were loyal to certain brands. My grandmother did favor Dad's but in our house it was Hires or Frostie's. My aunt was Heilman's mayo we were Miricle Whip. Todd
Back 50-60 years ago, gas stations didn't make much money pumping gas; they made it from other items. Thus the "eager beaver" who was eager to check your oil, inspect your wiper blades and otherwise service your car.
Today's experience is such that you seldom see an employee near the pumps; rather, they are in the convenience store selling you cigarettes, CBD gummies and Dad's Old-Fashioned Root Beer (assuming that brand is still made).
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