TOPIC:

Ogden's Guinea Gold must have had a generous marketing budget.



The Graphic, 9 June 1900

Some from the Holmfirth Express, early 1900. I had to photograph these from a computer screen in the library.

The wording for the first ad is: -

War! War! War!

Heaton's Glycerine & Borax Dry Soap
Is at war with all dirts & grease wherever found. Clothes, floors, tables, pots, pans, crockery, etc., etc., are all cleaned and sweetened more readily and quickly than by any other soap.

We solicit a trial.



Two for Homocea; note the name of Harrie Hopkin above the second ad. He seems to have been a Holmfirth entrepreneur.





I wonder if a month or two later, Harrie Hopkin was advertising this as 'Lord Roberts corsets'? And J. Haigh also has a war-related ad to the right.

Homocea and its tagline ‘touches the spot’ became a household name in the last years of the 19th century and it was certainly still around during World War II, if not later. As well as the original ointment, there was a strong form called Exaino or Homocea Fort, and a Homocea Soap. In 1897 the Soap and its related product, the Hair Wash, were highly recommended in The Nursing Record and Hospital World, which said that the soap was ‘very soothing and softening in its action, and is very fragrant and pleasant, moreover, to use.’

The BMA’s More Secret Remedies reported in 1912 that the ointment comprised a large proportion of eucalyptus oil, small amounts of lemon oil and ammonia, beeswax, lard and coconut oil. The 2s. 9d. tin contained 2 ½oz, the cost of ingredients being about 2 ½d.

Source: thequackdoctor.com/index.php/homocea/

One of those adverts that starts off by appearing to be a news item.

...."A letter just to hand from Bermuda says that the writer is a torpedo man, and his duties were taken up with guarding the Boer prisoners, of which there were several thousands there. Every night he kept a watch, burning a searchlight all round the islands. For the first two or three months he used to feel anyhow the next day, but one of his chums recommended Vi-Cocoa. For a time he used it, and after a week or so found that the fatigue feeling had entirely disappeared, and he now says that it is Vi-Cocoa that sustained him and his mates through the cold nights of last winter. Mr T J Brown, H.M.S. "Medina," Bermuda, West Indies, who writes this letter rightly adds "This is not a light task for ten months at a stretch."

The Welsh Gazette, 29th January 1903

Here's an early example of product placement!
Good illustrations, which can be downloaded in high resolution, here: wellcomecollection.org/works/u7vrpjw5

That is the first one I have seen in colour..... Interesting.......

Mike