Sunday, April 21, 2024

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Clowning for Kool-Aid!

 Long before CLOWNS were considered scary, and before "DRINKING THE KOOL-AID" took on a sinister and outright deadly connotation, comic book readers were treated to this very attractive ad for America's favorite soft drink powder in the pages of TOM AND JERRY COMICS #136 and #142 (Dell Comics, Cover Dates: November, 1955 and May, 1956 respectively) and CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST #38 (Harvey Comics, Cover Date: November, 1955). 

Doubtless there are more instances of the ad, but those are the three appearances I've logged thus far at GCD.  HERE'S a link to one of them, for the curious. 

As noted in the index: "A clown that looks as if he just stepped out of a Normal Rockwell painting acts as a circus barker to hawk Kool-Aid."

Just an all-around pleasant, nice-looking ad that was far more typical of the 1950s than of the increasingly sloppy years that followed.  (I'm talkin' to YOU, '70s and '80s!)

...And that "smiling pitcher" is just a "forever icon", isn't it?  

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