Laden!

This 1920 ad for Baker's Chocolate is interesting:

It seems like a familiar scene until you think, "Wait! That's not Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim!"

It's the typical Cratchit pose, but the carrier looks like Scrooge and the carrie-ee looks like Little Red Riding Hood?

Maybe it's not really LRRH, but a similar looking character did pop up in a Baker's ad the year before:

And a couple of years earlier saw a grown Red in this 1916 ad:

Yes, please, to the Christmas dainties!

He's Done it Again!

This ad is from 1974:

I watched it that year - on a different station!

Nothing New!

Just to show that things have been around longer than you think, this ad is from 1913:

So, it wasn't the men in the grey flannel suits who started linking "A Christmas Carol" with the other kind of spirits!

Or Was It This Brand?

Controversy over which brand C. Dickens preferred:

Or did he like them all?

Endorsement!

We just saw the "A Christmas Carol"-themed tin from J & B Scotch and apparently the author of that story was a fan of the product:

I guess that's one celebrity whom you don't have to pay for the endorsement!

A Little More 1930s!

Here's an ad from "The Saturday Evening Post" issue of December 26, 1936:

Of note is that this is the broadcast in which John Barrymore filled in for Lionel due to Lionel's wife passing away the day before. That was a last-minute change, so it wasn't reflected in the ad.

I think it's interesting that the ad copy uses the word "pathetic" to describe Tiny Tim.

Here's what the dictionary says:

pa·thet·ic

Learn to pronounce

adjective

1. 1.

   arousing pity, especially through vulnerability or sadness.

   "she looked so pathetic that I bent down to comfort her"
2. 2.   miserably inadequate; of very low standard.

        "he's a pathetic excuse for a man"

They're going with the first definition, but I think in 2022 the second is more common but we really don't think of Tiny Tim that way!

And here's the 1935 ad for the show:

I've always liked that depiction of Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim!

More Spirited!

This ad from 1940 shows us why Fezziwig was so jolly:

Aha!

Yes, It Is!

 I don't think I've seen a poster with this tagline before:

They're right, though. It is a musical!

Absolutely?

 And what's the deal with this ad?

I remember this campaign where the caption would be just "Absolut (Blank)."

Are they using "Scrooge" as some kind of hipster shorthand for Christmas? They can't be saying you're a Scrooge if you drink their product and/or give it as a gift, right?

Is it possible for a piece of two-word copy to have a plot hole?

No Christmas Spirit!

 This ad has an interesting take as it tries to make us feel sorry for Scrooge:

Is this a reformed Scrooge looking to buy a gift or unreformed Scrooge looking to drown his sorrows?

The Secret!

 So, now we know why old Fezziwig's Christmas parties were so merry:

Not judging!

PB (Hold the J)!

Besides fighting pirates and reissuing kiddie records over and over Peter Pan keeps busy driving buses and making peanut butter, that latter of which caught the attention of our favorite miser:

If Mrs. Cratchit had only sent Bob to work with a plate of cookies, everything could have been resolved much sooner!

Grumpy!

Here's an interesting ad from 1968:

Avis had a whole campaign showing how they got rid of "bugs" when you rented one of their cars:

The Grump bug even got his own coffee mug:

Make mine pumpkin spice, please!

Must See TV!

This ad is ostensibly from the Chicago edition of "TV Guide" from 1956:

The movie would have only been five years old at that time, so what a holiday treat for viewers!

More TV!

And here's an ad from 1984 for the first time that "Mickey's Christmas Carol" was broadcast on TV:

That definitely was a big deal!

Less Spirited!

 Oops! By 1976, Scrooge was grumpy again:

Better switch back to J & B!

More Spirited!

Here's Scrooge with another load of Christmas spirits in this ad from 1969:

He looks pretty happy! He just needed to switch brands!

The Real Christmas Spirit!

Here's another interesting ad, this one from 1965, also purporting to show what Scrooge really needed to make him happy:

Is it working? Well, this one's from 1967:

Hey, if that doesn't get him going, nothing will!

Is That All It Took?

Check out these ads from the early 1970s:

Who knew all Scrooge needed was a comfy chair? Could've saved Marley's Ghost a lot of work!

1964 Plymouth Valiant Commercial

While we're hanging around the mid-1960s, here's something else fun - a vintage car commercial!

Will the year-end price of a 1964 Plymouth Valiant be so low that even our favorite skinflint will buy one?

Let's find out: