Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Reader's Digest Condensed - October 1972

Welcome to one of my more sporadic features - Reader's Digest Condensed, or as I call it "Just the Ads".  Today's issue is the October 1972 edition.

This post actually ended up tying in with a previous post based on a comment made by reader BJB.  During a discussion of Canadian Trick or Treating memories, he recalled collecting pennies for UNICEF while Trick or Treating.  This issue contained a section devoted to the Unicef "Treat of Life", an addition to the annual charity event, this one involving collecting product labels.

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF began in 1950 in the United States and continues today.  Danny Kaye was the first "Goodwill Ambassador" for UNICEF and served from 1954 until his death in 1987.

Danny Kaye with Trick or Treaters




A current ad for Trick or Treat for UNICEF featuring "Slappy" from Goosebumps.



You can order your boxes here or download a label for your own home-made collection jar.

This ad caught my eye as it features an unknown-to-me Cap'n Crunch variant, "Vanilly Crunch". Apparently, it has somewhat of a cult following and beloved by those who ate it.  It even had a grass roots effort to bring it back (well, one guy blogged about it).




I can't put my finger on it, but there's something very disturbing about this ad. Not sure if it's the dog licking or the "meaty" chunks.

I swear at first I thought this was an ad for Mrs. Paul's Frozen Calamari.





At first, I thought that was Dinah Shore.


"Eggs Baked in Cream of Rice" with Prune Juice wins this month's "Worst Breakfast" award.

This is an odd ad layout with the coupon corner appearing on the opposite page.



I thought Ruth Buzzi might have been milking the "Gladys" bit here, but "Laugh In" was still on in '72.

Sanka straight up murdered "Freeze Dried Coffee" yet "Instant Coffee" smiles in the face of death.










I'm doing my best to guess who these artists are above.  My guesses are, Top row left to right: Engelbert Humperdinck, Loretta Lynn?, don't know but he looks like Warren Beatty, Glen Campbell, I don't know, Tony Bennett?.  Bottom row left to right: Donny Osmond?, Conway Twitty, don't know, Burt Bacharach, Neil Diamond and Elton John.

4 comments:

  1. might the woman in the middle on the top right be Carol King? i'm not sure that's Elton John on the bottom right or not. i guess he was still dressing more sedately in 1972, so maybe. i was wondering if it was someone like George Jones.

    i had forgotten that Unicef at halloween was even a THING... and it's still around? who knew?

    and VANILLA Cap'n Crunch? impossible. this is just more proof that i've fallen into a very different timeline. i'm still blaming that world series win by the Chicago Cubs for causing the slip.

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    Replies
    1. >might the woman in the middle on the top right be Carol King?
      Another friend of mine made the same guess, so it's probably a pretty safe bet.
      >and VANILLA Cap'n Crunch?
      No, "Vanilly"
      > this is just more proof that i've fallen into a very different >timeline.
      You may be on to something.

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  2. "Warren Beatty" is Merle Haggard. Really.

    Five years later, there would be a Saturday morning cartoon show using the "Gladys" and "Tyrone" characters, Baggy Pants and the Nitwits, so there was indeed some milking.
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=81YGfFeq97M

    And not only do I remember - and had - Vanilly Crunch, I remember Cinnamon Crunch before it disappeared and came back years later as Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Maybe a name change is in order for VC to return.

    ReplyDelete
  3. >"Warren Beatty" is Merle Haggard.
    Thanks James. I also had a guess of "Conway Twitty"
    >Five years later, there would be a Saturday morning cartoon show using the >"Gladys" and "Tyrone" characters
    I do remember that and am embarrassed to admit I watched it.
    >Maybe a name change is in order for VC to return.
    With all the cereal variants out there, you think it would be a no-brainer.

    ReplyDelete