1955 Vintage Ad

The ad copy reads:

This young man is 11 months old – and he isn’t our youngest customer by any means.

For 7-Up is so pure, so wholesome, you can even give it to babies and feel good about it.  Look at the back of a 7-Up bottle.  Notice that all our ingredients are listed.  (That isn’t required of soft drinks, you know – but we’re proud to do it and we think you’re pleased that we do.)

By the way, Mom, when it comes to toddlers – if they like to be coaxed to drink their milk, try this:  Add 7-Up to the milk in equal parts, pouring the 7-Up gently into the milk.  It’s a wholesome combination – and it works!  Make 7-Up your family drink.  You like it  . . . it likes you!

While there’s a similar ad floating around the Internet that’s most definitely a fake, I believe this one is legit.  (I found a copy in the Duke University online archive, among other places.)

I’d like to say a lot has changed since this ad came out, but I’m sure I’m not alone in occasionally spotting a toddler with a plastic soda bottle at his or her mouth.  At least soda companies are no longer pitching their drinks to parents as wholesome baby fare.  That’s progress, I guess.

It's 1955 at the Seven-up headquarters someone in the advertisement department came up with this brilliant idea. Captioning the beauty of a baby drinking 7up using the slogan; “7up is so great, even babies like it!” They felt since it was so good that mothers would give 7up to their kids instead of formula. After much research they say the 11 month old child isn’t even their youngest customer of 7up!

This ad promotes and list all the ingredients are pure and wholesome for children. Now, on the other hand is it good for babies? Some parents would like to thinks so. Researcher came across one parent who felt the need to suggest if a child doesn’t drink milk try mixing the 7up and milk together and this would be healthy for the child. Some parents strongly disagree with this suggestion!
            In addition, 7up doesn’t speak about the overall advantages and disadvantages of drinking 7up. Think a about it! While the 11 month old child in this vintage ad is enjoying the beverage; a couple of months later the child will have and is starting a history of dental problems. This is the start to early addictions in children; as well as the sugar rush and cavities this is the beginning of a disaster.

This sugary soft drink is even great for adults, but sodas advertisements from 1955 would have you to believe that this drink would help your child grow up big and strong! Nowadays, America is big on childhood obesity: which I believe is linked hand and hand with soda intake. Drinking all of this sugar is shortening the lifespans of our young boys and girls.  Giving our children sugar diabetes at a young age!

As we fast forward to the future 2012 and using this kind of advertisement. We as America would be pushing ourselves under a bus because we all are obese in some shape or form. As we too drink a lot of these sugary soft drinks! America First Lady Michelle Obama, stresses the point that we as Americans need to get our act together and gain control of our children on the road to obesity.

However, I think this was a great ad to publish by showing that 7up is so great that even babies can drink it. Using the slogan "nothing does it like sever-up", also promotes the enjoyment of this produce. This beautiful baby reaching out for the product make you want to spend your money and try the product. Also, a great way they advertised this product was to encourage the customers to look on the back of the label and seeing for themselves how great this product is. After it’s all said and done, looking at the benefits of drinking this sugary soft drink is this really a great produce for our children to enjoy?