#TBT Beer Advertising Edition

I love this work. It’s a black-and-white double truck print ad for Ballantine Ale, with Ernest Hemingway parked in an Adirondack chair, dressed in shorts and a Herringbone hunting jacket. He could be out on a cool summer evening on a mountain lake, or on a beach bathed by ocean breezes, or with the thick, leathery green leaves behind him, at the shoulder of a jungle.

His face is inscrutable. If his reading was interrupted, he’s hardly annoyed. In fact, he seems interested in something you’re saying, and maybe he’s poised to offer an insight.

He’d be regal and a statesman — if he wasn’t wearing shorts in a beer ad. You like him. You can’t help it. He’s a tower of a man, but approachable in his summery shorts and casual attitude. This ad says, “Let’s drink a beer. And let’s drink this one, because I’m Papa, and I like it. You will, too.”

This art is hanging on a wall in our home. Everyone passes it, and many friends stop to read it and examine it. It’s a beautiful piece of work. I shot this photo using a Hefe filter on my iPhone 6 (Hefe, because I can’t find a Papa filter yet; if there were one, it would smell like sea salt and rum).

#beer #advertising #craftbeer