In bathing suits, feet burning on the sand, pennies in hand and noses turned up, entranced in front of the colorful ice cream billboards. Or in front of appliance stores, watching televisions airing advertisements for chocolate-covered sticks, croissants and fiordilatte cups.
Looking back at billboards, old commercials, and rereading names of ice creams that have now disappeared, we return to those distant summers that seemed to never end. Here we have collected some famous ice cream advertisements from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. We felt August was the right month to refresh our memories with a dip into the past.
Packaged ice cream, a symbol of modern times
In the late 1940s, ice cream changed shape. The artisanal one smacks of bygone times; the novelty of the postwar period is industrial packaged ice cream, the kind that tastes like modernity and can even be stored in the freezer at home.
Motta
In Italy, in 1948, the first packaged ice cream appeared, the Mottarello Motta, a symbol of a changing society that wanted to establish a new economic condition. In cafes, children are enchanted by the screen-printed metal advertising signs, where colorful images of Motta’s fiordilatte stick ice cream that “nourishes and refreshes,” inspired by American stick ice cream, parade by.
On television they watch Carousel with the misdeeds of little brothers Toto and Tata (aired from 1961 to 1965) who, called to order by their mother, snack on the Motta cone.
They passionately follow the adventures of Gigino Pestifero, written in the 1960s by Giovannino Guareschi to advertise Tanara ice cream.
Or the Toseroni ice cream commercials.
While in America in the 1950s, Borden’s advertises its fruit and chocolate ice creams with a commercial in which two children draw the visual of the company’s ice creams. The teacher recommends: make sure the ice creams you choose have this drawing on the packaging, because Borden’s is a guarantee of goodness! And if the teacher says so, children and parents can trust her!
The 1950s were also the boom years for home appliances. The lucky ones who could afford a freezer also had the luxury of eating ice cream without moving from home. Here is a commercial for Borden’s Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream, the family-size tub of ice cream that can be stored in the freezer.
Streets is an Australian ice cream company, now part of the multinational Unilever. An old commercial from the 1960s shows a behind-the-scenes look at the glitzy world of show business. Everyone, from dancers to cameramen, eats Cornetto ice cream.
Algida
After Sixty-eight passed, society was transformed. These are the years of creativity, transgression, political struggles, and music soundtracking the lives of so many young people. In the Algida ice cream commercials, the company addresses young people directly, speaking in their idiom. In its choice of testimonials it draws on the universe of music, Rita Pavone appears with the line “Can I say a word? There’s an Algida over there that makes me gluttonous,” and Patty Pravo advertising Paiper, “the ice cream of the new world.”
Among the emblematically named ice creams is the Bikini, named after the transgressive two-piece that uncovers women’s bellies. Here is the sign for the old Algida ice creams dated 1971.
Eldorado, the Algida ice cream line designed for young children, chooses a fictional character as its testimonial for its advertisements: Coconut Bill, the hero-justice man who lives in the West and gives children Eldorado ice cream. Here is one of his adventures aired in 1971 and, below, the Eldorado ice cream sign depicting the cowboy.
In 1978 Atlas Ufo Robot, a cartoon destined to mark history, landed on Italian televisions. Children begin to dream of adventurous space travel and their imagery is populated by spaceships and aliens. Not coincidentally, the background of the 1978 Eldorado ice cream sign features celestial space.
Sealtest
Instead, the Sealtest Dairy company, which aired this hilarious commercial in the early 1970s, is aiming at an audience of young and old. With extreme embarrassment, a child admits that the healthy and nutritious snack of his mother’s choice, Sealtest ice cream, is also good. But shhh! Don’t tell his friends!
That the company was keen to reassure mothers about the wholesomeness of its products is also evident in the visuals of its advertising campaigns where, between the 1950s and 1960s, ice cream is always accompanied by images of fresh fruit.
Some you may have remembered, while others are part of a world you did not know. Our journey through time ends here, also because now it is time to enjoy a good ice cream! Happy vacations from Pixartprinting!