In one of my recent bouts of insomnia, I recalled one of the most memorable brands from when I was growing up in the heyday of unimaginative campaigns, the late ’50s to early ’60s. This was the “innocent” period of nascent advertising when one specific product sponsored, say, entire television series. Products like Old Gold cigarettes, Maxwell House coffee, Geritol syrup and my favorite, Ex-Lax, were made ubiquitous through concerted campaigns of logos/marks, slogans/jingles, spokespople/mascots as well as premiums, bonuses and rewards. (Remember Woody Allen’s homage to regularity with this jingle?)
Designed by Lucian Bernhard, 1933.
Most memorable for me were the Whalen’s drugstore/soda fountains decorated for months at a time with the unmistakable Ex-Lax logo (including a version designed by Lucian Bernhard in the 1930s and again a decade later). These signs efficiently reminded the public that irregularity was normal and regularity was moments away with every chew.
This was not high-concept, big-idea advertising. The ’50s and ’60s, while the beginning of the creative revolution, were consumed by quotidian products such as Ex-Lax that only required name recognition to sell. The product had entered the market in 1906, the invention of Max Kiss (1883–1967), a Hungarian Jew who moved to the United States in 1898 and graduated from the Columbia University School of Pharmacy. This “Excellent Laxative,” as it was known, contained phenolphthalein as the active ingredient, and chocolate for taste. It eventually became the bestselling laxative in America—and arguably the most familiar brand colors and block typeface of any leading brand. Ex-Lax was always in the mind (if not also on the lips) of consumers.
It’s funny what one thinks about while suffering from sleepless nights …
This enamel sign that held a thermometer (c. 1950s) still hangs outside a former pharmacy—a memory of more relaxing times.
The post The Daily Heller: Ex-Lax for the Entire Family appeared first on PRINT Magazine.