Refreshing

The back inside cover of my 1956 Life magazine is this wonderful Norman Rockwellesque advertisement for Pepsi. Apparently someone at Pepsi had decided, "To hell with these teenagers and their disposable income! We're going to target our marketing at the middle-aged cocktail party demographic!"


Which makes sense. If you're at a cocktail party and you have a choice between a manhattan, a two olive martini and a glass of Pepsi, naturally you'll choose the carbonated sugar water.





The copy is as clunky and old-fashioned as your drunken uncle doing the Birdy Dance at a wedding:





Several words come to mind when I consider Pepsi. "Gracious", "gentle" and "purity" are not among them.


I like to think that the text is being spoken by the well-dressed fellow on the left, earnestly and with convinction... which would certainly explain the look on the woman's face.





I think her expression falls into the catagory of "disdainful amusement". And if we needed one, the artist has kindly inserted a visual reference to underline this guy's chances of getting anywhere with this particular blonde:





Get ready to wilt, dude.