Advertisments for Motor Oil (a viscous and sluggish
substance) provided two highly succulent visual elements.
The first element is
the shiny reflective droplet, represented above by three stunning examples.
Many people are capable of drawing this prototype,which crops up in
doodles during telephone calls. But nobody has ever rivalled the PUROLATOR
ads, droplets as attractive, shiny and mysteriously coloured as capsules
of Cod Liver Oil.
The second element is the multi-coloured packaging available
on the forecourt with its ingenious little tag to open. Shell's orange
yellow tin was a delight on the page. The delight of the observer was
compounded by the conceit that when the tin is poured, three separate
colours cascade from the hole.
I shall add a separate section of Shell advertisements
of the 1950's which use a breathless and not unattractive Capitalist
Surrealism. More in due course then.
HARNESS
OIL, SOCONY VACUUM, display Rockefeller Centre. 1936
HAVOLINE ASSOCIATED WITH OUTDOOR ADVENTURE 1953 |