12 Days of Vintage Christmas Ads

This Guinness ad dates to the beginning of the 1940s and is the work of the London firm S.H. Benson. The ads produced under S.H. Benson in the ‘30s and ‘40s are attributed to illustrator John Gilroy and copywriters Ronald Barton, and Ronald Bevan. The ads are considered iconic for the brand.

The ads are remarkably consistent in appearance, and legibility for the ‘3os . Compared to what was commonplace at the time — they seems very modern.

Simple layout, though on first glance it’s hard to tell if he’s carrying a log out of the forest or a tree. “Guinness for strength” is part of the larger “Guinness is good for you” campaign.

Christmas is the first thing you see; visually and in the copy. Guinness has the most weight in type, but is almost completely out of sight — a reliance on how easily recognizable the campaign/brand was.