Back in the mid-1940s, Seagram's advertised its VO Canadian whiskey with a series of extremely manly magazine ads about "Men Who Plan Beyond Tomorrow" -- unspecified futuristic thinkers who liked the fact that Seagram's was patient enough to age VO for six years.
No, it doesn't make much sense to me, either. But the ads, each of which depicted a different miracle that would transform postwar America, are glorious. They're entertaining when they sort-of-accurately predict scenarios that eventually came to be, such as the rise of the cell phone. And they're even more so when they marvel at wonders-to-be such as coin-operated streetcorner fax machines. Herewith, some highlights as they appeared in LIFE magazine -- click the dates to see the issues with the ads at Google Books.
This is similar to George Orwell's uncanny ability to predict life in 1984 back in 1948.
ReplyDeleteOne may assume that the writer (Freemason) actually knew the future plans for regular people.
Similarly, the owners of Seagram's (Freemasons) also had secret knowledge of futuristic inventions. They tout their double headed eagle many years before it bacame popular with Adolf Hitler.
Art imitates life, not the other way around. Life never imitates art. Ever.
Think about it.
You know Folks, I thought about this when I read it and I couldn't agree more.
ReplyDeleteCartoons with futuristic ideas were always something we'd thing, nah, that's too far fetched. Today many of those wild things have become a reality.
Remember when we'd see future car styles and think, that will never happen. Well today it's a reality
OK, that being said, what's the future hold for the world now? What's new in technology that we'll say 30 years from now, I never thought I'd see the day?????
Joe:
ReplyDeleteDick Tracy had a cell phone -- he wore it on his wrist -- back then!
The stealth fighter plane was a UFO for a decade out in the Southwest desert.
ReplyDeleteThen, one day, the government revealed the triangle shaped plane and admitted that yes, they had been flying it for 10 years previously. Many people saw it. It was reported as a UFO.
Who would have thought there would be "sound wave weapons" which make people sick? they are real.
Who would have thought there would be lasers that can be pointed at windows and turn the entire window of a room into a microphone. it is real.
How many people know that cell phones can be turned on (as long as the battery is connected) and the phone can become a listening device? yes, it is real.
It is all about vision.
ReplyDeleteUnless you are Oscar Wilde or Hippocrates.
ReplyDeleteLife is short, the art long, opportunity fleeting, experience misleading, judgment difficult.