bottlebugs
Well-Known Member
Feeling much improved today. Just traces of this stubborn summer cold.
I had time to think about company display bottles. I've only had Cokes and
never seen a Pepsi from the 1940s. I'm not talking about those giant bottles.
From what I can see, Coke started using standard size display bottles at
this juncture in history. They were standard Atlanta issue bottles, painted
brown up to the fill line and sealed with a factory issued cap. I've had quite
a few of these in my time. Unlike the large ones, they could be produced
with little to no effort. For a short time, during the pre-war era, their new ads
showed this style of bottle. At that time they relied on photo styled ads and
employed graphic artists (ie: Sundblom) for the more famous colour poster
ads. It would have been easy to display a standard corporate bottle
because the dealer privilege was always on the bottom.
How did Pepsi go about this? Did they even try? I'm sure they would
have a least considered it. One small problem...they used paper labels,
where the dealer privilege was prominent.
They solved this problem after the war by releasing silk screen bottles
with the dealer privilege on the back. Until then, they employed photo
ads where the dealer privilege was intentionally blurred. I did notice that
ads from 1942 employed a labelled bottle showing only the NY HQ issue.
These were not photo ads and more expensive to create. Artists! Sigh...
That leaves us with a curiosity. How did Pepsi produce photo ads in the early
1940s? They did but they were rare. I've only seen hybrids. Notice that there is
no dealer privilege? The model is conveniently obscuring it in the photo.
Coincidentally, in Canada, they were fortunate enough to have labels with the dealer privilege
on the neck. At head office in Montreal, they had neck labels without a dealer privilege because
it was already displayed on the body label for many years. I've had one these thanks to a tour of
Montreal antique stores with Mike R many years ago. It was identical to the ad below.
Lets just say for the sake of argument, that they were forced to produce a photo ready label
by 1941. This seems to have solved my mystery...sort of. Were NOS leftovers added to
bottles to sell them to unwary collectors like me? Not convinced about the gradient tho..
I had time to think about company display bottles. I've only had Cokes and
never seen a Pepsi from the 1940s. I'm not talking about those giant bottles.
From what I can see, Coke started using standard size display bottles at
this juncture in history. They were standard Atlanta issue bottles, painted
brown up to the fill line and sealed with a factory issued cap. I've had quite
a few of these in my time. Unlike the large ones, they could be produced
with little to no effort. For a short time, during the pre-war era, their new ads
showed this style of bottle. At that time they relied on photo styled ads and
employed graphic artists (ie: Sundblom) for the more famous colour poster
ads. It would have been easy to display a standard corporate bottle
because the dealer privilege was always on the bottom.
How did Pepsi go about this? Did they even try? I'm sure they would
have a least considered it. One small problem...they used paper labels,
where the dealer privilege was prominent.
They solved this problem after the war by releasing silk screen bottles
with the dealer privilege on the back. Until then, they employed photo
ads where the dealer privilege was intentionally blurred. I did notice that
ads from 1942 employed a labelled bottle showing only the NY HQ issue.
These were not photo ads and more expensive to create. Artists! Sigh...
That leaves us with a curiosity. How did Pepsi produce photo ads in the early
1940s? They did but they were rare. I've only seen hybrids. Notice that there is
no dealer privilege? The model is conveniently obscuring it in the photo.
Coincidentally, in Canada, they were fortunate enough to have labels with the dealer privilege
on the neck. At head office in Montreal, they had neck labels without a dealer privilege because
it was already displayed on the body label for many years. I've had one these thanks to a tour of
Montreal antique stores with Mike R many years ago. It was identical to the ad below.
Lets just say for the sake of argument, that they were forced to produce a photo ready label
by 1941. This seems to have solved my mystery...sort of. Were NOS leftovers added to
bottles to sell them to unwary collectors like me? Not convinced about the gradient tho..
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