Funny how advertising images from the past linger in the memory. For example, that kid with his scrubbed-shiny face and 'fifties hair cut with a mouthful of Rowntree's Fruit Gums and and a mischievous twinkle in the eyes.He was the kind of boy who'd hang out with (Just) William Brown or go to the same school as Jennings and Derbyshire and, in the school holidays, would get involved in some prankish exploit such as we read about, when young, in books like The Otterbury Incident or saw in films like Hue and Cry. He was - to those of a certain age - one of us!
Not so some very creepy kids that Irascian came across on the net the other week on a site devoted to period (and therefore 'strange') advertisements.
Take this young man with teeth that suggest he might just be the young Hannibal Lecter...
What is he eating? And is it still alive? If it's not, then why is it struggling to get off the fork? And are those bread sticks on the table beside him or sausages... or what??
As for this young lady, I can't help feeling she probably oughtn't to be fed too much red - orf even pink - meat...
While, scariest of all, is this young miss whose rapture at seeing all that red stuff (which may only be jam although, personally, I doubt it!) would suggest the imminent need to send for an exorcist!
A lingering question remains: did these commercial children actually sell any of the products they were advertising. I have to say, I doubt it - unless, of course, those products were birth control aids!
11 comments:
Oh my giddy aunt! They are just freaky. The obviously homicidal maniac in the boater looks like she’ll clear the plate and then have your sweetbreads for her sweet. Why they let her out of the cage is beyond me.
Looking at the little horrors it reminded me of something producer Gale Anne Hurd said in the extras for Aliens.
When it came time to cast Newt, the young girl that survives the initial alien attack, all the kiddies that came to audition had appeared in commercials and therefore finished each line reading with a big cheesy grin.
If you feel particularly brave, you might want to check out the book Regrettable Food, chock full of the same kind of very scary food adverts from the 1950s and 1960s.
Perhaps the message the advertisers were trying to get across was, 'if you don't eat these products, we'll send these little monsters round to get you.'
Kids are like farts Mr B. You can just about put up with your own - sometimes you even feel a sense of fleeting pride at what you've created. Other people's are very off putting though
ASMSGESS: A vague smell, with no obvious creator, circulating in a lift
GOOD DOG - You know, looking at them again (in the light of your anecdote) I think these might actually be aliens...
MATT - Thanks for the link. That's definitely going on my wish list - along with its sequel Gastroanomalies !
SHARON - Yep! They'd have certainly made me eat my greens - and, probably, everybody else's too!
BOLL - What a brilliant and perfectly fragrant analogy! My only quibble is whether these children could, conceivably, have been born to anyone - outside of a '60s horror movie, that is.
Were can i get some of that cellophane-wrapped bread? I'm sick of not being able to see the loaf through opaque wrappers.
I suspect the Deliverence child was chosen to take attention away from the fact that the rat intestines he is eating seem to be defying gravity.
I'm not sure if rat intenstines can get rigor mortis but I'm sure the stiff appearance is not a hallmark of quality.
PHIL - The trouble is that cellophane-wrapped loaves are only available as a home delivery item and the kid in the picture has grown up and is now the person driving the delivery van...
GOOD DOG - Yep, definitely rat intestines. As recommended in the recipes section of the best-selling, post-war survival guide, Making the Best out of Living in a Rat-Infested Slum.
....and who can forget the Five Fry's Boys ? (Not to be confused with the Five Guys Named Mo !). We used to snigger at the one who looked as if too much chocolate had given him the runs!
Roger O B...
Blimey, ROGER you are showing your age!
For those who don't know what you're talking about: here's the original image and here are a couple of interesting variations.
Wow - what a difference between the original and the pseudo Five Fry's boy (who looks lovely).
I'd forgotten about Fry's Chocolate Cream Bars and can't even remember which colour was my favourite (though I think Orange was bottom of the list).
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