Topic: Gen - St - Qld
Queensland, September 1900
The Advertising Ball, Brisbane
XXX Beer Advertisement.
[Click on picture for larger version.]
What did a company do to adverise its product outside the realm of the ubiquitous newspapers?
In the days when moving advertisements required humans to repeat the exercise over and over again, one method of marketing products was to hold advertising balls. People paid good money to see folks dressing up in mobile product costumes at a ball - sort of a fancy dress ball with a commercial twist.
This first picture is of the face of Queensland beer in September 1900. Here is the buxom, XXX rated Mrs Chubb swanning around in her XXX outfit.
XXX????
No, it wasn't a risque set of clothing, or lack of it, it's just that as now, the Queenslanders couldn't spell beer then, but even worse, couldn't spell XXXX. How tough can it be?
Nothing like the scantily clad, supine nubiles used to flog beer today. Mrs Chubb has a robust and buxom appearence. She is surrounded by as bevy of lassies, who by appearance alone is enough to scare any man into the clutches of wowserism.
It makes a person wonder what happened to that other "X" that seems to have dropped off from this picture.
At the same party, there was another person whose name is an institution in Australia. Here she is flogging her latest cake, although the picture below is a head and shoulders shot.
The woman who took the cake at the ball.
For those who haven't recognised this woman, you are looking at Lady Lamington, the founder of the lamington drives that are the bane of all school fund raising activities. This is the woman whose name is now an enduring symbol of Australian cake.
Further Reading:
Citation: The Advertising Ball, Brisbane, September 1900