In
the same way that comic readers of the 1970s were familiar with the
big names in comic publishing (IPC, DC Thomson, Marvel, DC), so were the
consumers of sweets (very often overlapping in the Venn diagram of
newsagent patrons) aware of the manufacturers of their favourite
treats. Rowntrees, Trebor, Mackintosh, Cadbury, Mars – mention of
these names would bring on a craving for something sweet and either
chewy, crunchy, chocolatey, minty or else fruity and boiled (or
possibly, in the case of those with generous pocket-money allowances,
a combination of all the above).
There
was yet another titan of the enamel-eroders; Bassett's. Bassett's
were probably most associated with their iconic Jelly Babies and
Liquorice Allsorts, but the company's ads in Cheeky Weekly focused on a range
of pre-packaged confectionery clearly aimed at the younger end of the
sweet-buying market. Running during the latter half of 1978 for a
total of 5 times, the adverts (all identical) alerted readers to a
promotion whereby 12 empty bags from the range could be exchanged for
a book featuring Paddington Bear. The marmalade-loving ursine
immigrant had been appearing in children's books since 1958, but in
1975 he made the leap to the small screen in a high-profile animated
series, and Bassett's no doubt hoped to capitalise on the resurgent
interest in the character. It seems those who survived the sugary
onslaught necessary to accumulate the requisite 12 depleted packs
were able to specify which Paddington book they required from a
selection of 8. 11 tomes relating the misadventures of the furry,
hat-sporting Peruvian had been published by this time, but maybe the
books on offer were specially produced for the purposes of the
promotion – despite an exhaustive search of the internet (lasting
almost 3 minutes) I've been unable to source any further information
regarding this ad campaign, so we'll probably never know.
| Issue Date | Page | Page Type | Advertiser | Subject |
| 22-Jul-1978 | 22 | Normal | Bassett's | |
| 05-Aug-1978 | 9 | Normal | Bassett's | |
| 09-Sep-1978 | 13 | Normal | Bassett's | |
| 14-Oct-1978 | 11 | Normal | Bassett's | |
| 18-Nov-1978 | 8 | Normal | Bassett's |
Similarly-named
sweet manufacturer Barratt ran a short promotion in September 1979
relating to their Oran-gee-tang nougat bar. Were you one of those
kids who pronounced it 'nugget', or did you use the posher-sounding
'noogah'. I must confess I fell into the latter category. Like
Basset's, Barratt chose to anthropomorphise their campaign, but in
this case it was an unknown primate of their own devising, looking
more like a gorilla than the orangutan it was presumably supposed to
resemble, who was chosen to head up the promotion. Unlike Bassett's,
Barratt chose to place full-page, colour ads, although the Barratt campaign
was much shorter.
Barratt
required of their respondents less exposure to tooth-rotting
materials than their rival, as just two wrappers from the
rainforest-inhabitant-referencing, filling-loosening comestible would
facilitate entry into a competition to win a 'customised' bike. Again
the ad is somewhat lacking in detail, giving no indication as to the
nature of said customisations. Possibly a giant, flashing fibreglass
Oran-gee-tang bar attached to the handlebars – once more the
internet fails to furnish enlightenment.
| Issue Date | Page | Page Type | Advertiser | Subject |
| 15-Sep-1979 | 25 | Normal | Barratt | Oran-gee-tang |
| 22-Sep-1979 | 25 | Normal | Barratt | Oran-gee-tang |
No comments:
Post a Comment