Retrospect: New Year's Eve Ads

~ Cheers to the New Year. ~ 

Years before getting a degree in graphic design I can remember dissecting ads and design. As a kid, the T.V. screen and magazines filled with end of the year Christmas promotions, New Year's liquor campaigns, and everyone's favorite, Super Bowl ads. Advertising has changed a lot in the last three decades, whether visually, the message, or the platform in which they are displayed. I'd like to think we are wising up, making better decisions as consumers, and that agencies aren't pushing negative stereotypes as much to move products. Here are some New Year's Eve inspired beverage ads throughout the years.

Usher's Whiskey ad from 1909 on the left, 1935 Rittenhouse ad in the middle, and 1933 Byrrh ad on the right.

​According to History.com "The earliest recorded festivities in honor of a new year’s arrival date back some 4,000 years to ancient Babylon.". In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar that officially claimed January 1st the day of the new year again. Although the Julian calendar, which began in 45 BC, used January 1st as the first day of the new year, too, but that's a whole other story. In the U.S. the most popular New Year's Eve attraction, New York's Times Square, first celebrated the holiday in 1904.

Schenley Reserve Blended Whiskey had a run of yearly New Year's ads. This 1947 print ad depicts Father Time and the new year rooster.

Two different Piper Heidsieck ads from different eras.

It's Champagne's holiday as beer sales rank a lot lower for this end of the year holiday, but due to the increase in craft beer number continue to rise. ​Some companies stayed fairly consistent on brand focus over decades like Piper Heidsieck in the ads shown above.

Finding ads with positive images showing any kind of diversity was sadly few and far between. Two examples of ads featuring African American adults celebrating the holiday in this 1964 Smirnoff Vodka ad and this 1966 Champale ad on the right.

Does sex sell, and is it used as a tool as often now? Moët & Chandon Champagne ads showcased stars like Scarlett Johansson shown here in this 2011 campaign on the left, and this ad on the right, which created controversy for the subject.

DYK: In 1899, only three years after the introduction of motion pictures, Cointreau released the first advertising film, which featured the iconic Pierrot clown character.
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Soda, or pop, if you prefer, gets involved in the holiday, too. An example from Coca-Cola and 7Up.

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What are you drinking to ring in 2016? Share links to your favorite beverage ads from this year, or years past in the comments below - cheers! 

- Sadie, Michael and Jason