Category Archive: Advertising
Show us your Johnson
A Johnson & Johnson ad for multiple products, Motrin, Ben Gay and Sudafed. Dad knows how to butt board! If you find this newspaper circular and can send in a more conventional overhead shot or scan, please do, this one has already gone in the recycling bin. – Thanks to Chris Strople for the pic. (Yes, that Chris Strople…)
Skateboarding Mikey at Walmart
I was actually looking for some budget Vision completes (popsicles) that have the Gator graphic but just say “Vision.” I have been told those have been seen in some Walmarts, but I couldn’t find any. Stay classy, Vision. The LED TV’s on display had a continuous loop of snowboarding playing, interspersed with last minute gift ideas like this RC Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle on a skateboard.
Accenture in the Airport
I went to a wedding in Colorado a couple years ago, Grover went as well. This backlit advert for Accenture was up in the Denver airport. Blurry phone cam pics after the jump.
The End of Transworld
The End of Transworld, Volume 1, #3 that is. Just posted the last of the adverts in the gallery, including Bob Denike for Seaflex, Lester Kasai for Sims, Chris Baucom for Walker, Rector Riot Gloves, and other gems from 1983. So far that’s a grand total of 295 ads in the the gallery. Currently on the scanner: A July, 1977 edition of Wild World of Skateboarding.
The Mercury
This is hard drive cleaning time an illustration by Tim Root, for the Portland Mercury, that dates back a couple years. It might have been a cover, or t-shirt, or both. I can’t remember. Tim’s illustrations for Stumptown Coffee have appeared here before. Who is Tim Root?
Skateboarding Nesquik Bunny Part 2
This is the print campaign associated with the 1994 TV commercial and toy prize giveaway uncovered in the Mega-Nesquik post from last year. This one was found on Ebay Italy by “Cool Steve.”
Gone to pot
StayTrueToYou.org is part of a public service campaign trying to convince teenagers in Oregon not to smoke pot. It’s likely funded by some of taxes imposed since the recent legalization of marijuana in Oregon. The trouble with running a campaign like that on social media is that allows all kinds of predictable commentary from the peanut gallery. This radical stock image posted on Instagram states “Pot can make it harder to learn new tricks,” but it prompted a response from an ever helpful young adult that said “Not really, I learned how to skate while being high :)” Earache my eye. This banner was spotted at the mall, surrounded by mall-grabbers. You know what else can make it harder to learn tricks? A bunch of girls with their feet hanging over the coping.
Amazon Kindles Skatepark Abuse
Amazon Kindle has contributed to the advertising phenomena in which people go to a skatepark to engage in activities that don’t involve skateboarding. Usually it’s a TV commercial involving some radio controlled vehicle, or the next yo-yo abstraction. This time it’s a print ad in Time Magazine with a cute little girl sitting on the deck of a skatepark (which one?) enjoying a good novel instead of skateboarding. It’s perfectly reasonable, as long as she is reading the Secret History of the Ollie. The all caps text highlighted on the warning sticker works as an unexpected shout out to a certain truck company. – Thanks to Tallboycan for the tip.
The J is for Japanese
Michael J. Fox made some commercials in Japan for the Honda Integra in the late 80’s and early 90’s that were essentially designed to remind you that Fox was in Back to the Future without having to pay Robert Zemeckis and and Bob Gale. This is a print piece that looks like it was probably a magazine feature and not an advertisement. The Chris Miller deck dates to 1988 according to Art of Skateboarding, but the print piece appears to be from 1989. Because I first saw it on FB, it’s nearly impossible to trace to it’s original Internet source, but it might be this Michael J. Fox fan Tumblr. Unfortunately, there’s no real information about what it says or what it’s from. It’s likely related to the commercials because although none of the 5 versions I saw contain any skateboarding, a few contain scenes with the red guitar shown in this print piece. UPDATE: Added a vague translation.
Travel Portland, just don’t move here.
Travel Portland commissioned and published a series of “zines” for use in their campaign to entice people to travel to Portland and spend money. Included in the series is FSBS (For Skaters By Skaters) which is a guide to Portland skate spots, shops, parks, etc… We all know skate-tourism attracts scrounges who tend keep their wallets closed as much as possible, excepting trips to the beer aisle. Still packaging it as a “zine” (in quotes again for a reason) does make Portland seem hip. I’m starting my own zine to discourage people moving here from California to buy newly built houses on lots where cool, old buildings with character recently stood.











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