1986
IT HAPPENED IN…1986
Unemployment dropped to 6.6%, producer prices
fell 2.5%, vehicle sales hit a record 16 million (28.2% were
imports), and the foreign trade deficit rose to $170 billion.
Over 60,000 U.S. farms were sold or foreclosed as
an economic depression continued in the rural West and Midwest.
Heat and drought damaged crops and livestock causing a $2
billion loss.
The space shuttle
Challenger exploded after
liftoff killing all seven astronauts aboard.
Cyanide poisoning killed two people who had taken
Extra-Strength Excedrin containing the poison.
The next day Bristol-Meyers withdrew all of its
non-prescription capsule drugs from sale.
A Soviet nuclear reactor in Chernobyl exploded
dispersing radioactive fallout over Europe.
Nintendo video games debuted in the U.S.
1,380 U.S. soft drink bottling plants were in
operation.
Procter & Gamble decided to celebrate 1986 as Hires’ 110th year in business, and made the anniversary Hires’ marketing theme for the year. Copywriters at Manning, Selvage & Lee, Inc., a New York City advertising agency, prepared a folder of materials for distribution to bottlers.
(Figure 1986-01, 110th anniversary folder, front cover)
The 110th anniversary folder included a press release-style, notice:
CHARLES HIRES: A PIONEER OF ADVERTISING
Charles E. Hires, the father of the nation’s oldest
soft drink, Hires Root Beer, was also a pioneer of advertising, having
been the first person to run a full-page ad in a U.S. newspaper in 1889.
The following is a collection of vintage Hires ads which have
featured the familiar “Hires Boy” and entertainer Bob Hope.
The referenced “collection of vintage Hires ads” included black-and-white reprints from 1919, 1920, 1932, 1937, and 1961.
Procter & Gamble also distributed several 110th anniversary announcements, including this “fact sheet” with numerous errors that clearly demonstrate the copywriters didn’t devote much/any time to gathering “facts,” instead repeating numerous historical dating errors and myths.
(Figure
1986-02, 110th anniversary
fact sheet)
Procter & Gamble also promoted a 110th “Anniversary Edition” of the
replica Hires Boy stein.
The graphics are similar to the 1974 replica stein, with “1876 – 1986”
lettering added along the front base.
The back is blank.
The base marking is a design error; Crush International Inc. sold Hires’
United States operations in 1980 and Hires’ Canadian operations in 1984.
(Figure 1986-03, replica Hires Boy stein shipping box)
(Figure 1986-03, replica Hires Boy stein front)
(Figure 1986-03, replica Hires Boy stein base)
Hires’ 110th anniversary celebration also
included production of the illustrated metal and poured acrylic lapel
pin. Logo-shaped lapel pins
marked GENUINE Hires ROOT BEER, and SUGAR FREE Hires ROOT BEER, and a
mug-shaped lapel pin marked AMERICA’S 1ST ROOT BEER with an
1876 - 1986 logo were also produced.
(Figure 1986-04, metal and poured acrylic
lapel pin)
The Wisconsin Clock Company produced fantasy battery-operated, wooden, wall clocks featuring a Hires Boy image in conjunction with Procter & Gamble's 1986 marketing campaign. Wisconsin Clock Company operated in Clintonville, Wisconsin 1973-1988.
(Figure 1986-05, wooden, battery-operated
wall clock, 20.0" x 13.0")
Plastic "Sandeen Spinjammers" were introduced in 1986 "with a unique cone shape on the bottom that enabled it to spin, balance, and twirl better than any disc on the market." Millions of these Frisbee-like discs were sold. This example was apparently produced as a promotional item in conjunction with a Hires marketing campaign. Time and sunlight have faded the orange coloring and GENUINE ROOT BEER lettering on the Hires logo.
(Figure 1986-06, plastic Sandeen Spinjammer
disc, 9.0" diameter)