What Do Guinness And Alice In Wonderland Have In Common?
They'll take you on a wild ride
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Now, back to our regularly scheduled drink ad breakdowns.
This week, I’ve been lost in a haze of black gold and studying vintage ads from that holiest of holy Irish drams - Guinness.
An ad that caught my attention is from 1930 from a creative genius by the name of John Gilroy called ‘Off with its Head!’
Context
Before breaking the copy down, let’s dive into the placement of this ad against the backdrop of Guinness’ advertising history. John Gilroy was an illustrator and painter that Guinness hired during a period that became known as the brand’s iconic ‘Guinness is Good’ campaign.
This was a campaign that targeted doctors so they would prescribe Guinness to their patients due to its high iron content. A campaign that proved to be wildly successful, with Gilroy producing a huge range of ads for Guinness over the next 35 years.
The ‘Off with its Head!’ ad was part of a 24-page booklet called The Guinness Alice that featured parodies of scenes from Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through The Looking Glass. It was sent out as a Christmas gift to doctors and became influential in them prescribing the drink to pregnant women.