PINUP GIRL ADVERTISING MATCHBOOKS

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PINUP GIRL ADVERTISING MATCHBOOKS

Believe it or not, the pinup girl genre dates way back to the 1860's!

They made their first appearance on advertising matches in the 1930's and gained popularity during World War II when the image of a gorgeous girl temporarily took the soldiers' mind off the war by acting as their only link to their world back home.
Their selection of pinup's took the form of a lithographed pinup calendar, an advertising matchbook, or a print ad that featured a pinup that was torn out of an American or European magazine. Most GI's in the service had their favorite taped inside their footlocker lid.

These fantasy women were first known as 'Petty Girls', named after the artist George Petty, which were popularized by Esquire Magazine's ribald cartoons during the 1940's and 50's. The depictions of scantily clad and voluptuous women were featured in magazine calendars, centerfolds, cartoons, advertisements for cigarettes and cars and many were painted on WW II warplanes!

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In the late 1950's and early '60's the attitude and fashion of vintage pinup girls went mainstream quickly moving from the centerfold straight to the front cover. Millions of advertising matches were distributed by every category of business that ran the gamut from Gas Stations, Bars, Restaurants, Hotels/Motels, Florists, Jewelers, Retailers, Trucking Companies, Car Companies, etc. The advertisements were initially drawn with illustrations by renowned pin up artists Rolf Armstrong, and Gil Elvgren and Vargas. Later photos of real models and movies featured pin up girls in their provocative poses and fashions. Marilyn Monroe who was Earl Morans' favorite model before and after she became a movie star, Rita Hayworth, Betty Grable, Esther Williams, Jane Mansfield and last but not least; the "edgier" Miss Bettie Page
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Pin up fashion and art has proven to be resilient. Over the past several years independent burlesque troupes have exhibited at mainstream venues in every major city, as well as a resurgence of Rockabilly fashion, Retro "Hot Rod" magazine style pin up fashion in which many young people mix with their interests in music, hair styles, tattoos, hot rod culture and retro motorcycle fashion

Pinup girls, pinup art along with pinup style and pinup fashion's resurgence has been confirmed by being featured once again in movies and magazine ads, as well as being adopted by pop singers like Katy Perry, among other celebrities like the cult figure Dita Von Teese.

New books and related images are being published featuring the great artists of the past. Original paintings are highly sought after and commanding sale prices that reach into the ten of thousands of dollars at auction! This wonderful American art form hasn’t received this much attention, or enjoyed as much popularity since it’s heyday from the 30’s to the 50’s.

To order your own pin Up matches to promote your business be sure to get in touch with TheMatchGroup or call one of our experienced "match makers" at 800.605.7331.


Where Did the Term "Three on a Match" Originate?

Where Did the Term "Three on a Match" Originate that implies that it's bad luck to light three wooden tapers or cigarettes with one match from a match box?

THREE ANSWERS:

1) Three is the symbol of the Holy Trinity.

To make mundane use of a match was to defile its sanctity and to transgress holy scripture. Man would invite disaster and put himself into the power of the 'evil one.' Thus, the use of a single match or lit wooden taper, would light the fires of Hell for one's own soul.

2) Self-protection in time of war.

The superstition first arose among British troops during the Crimean War. British soldiers, entrenched against Dutch foes in the Boer War, learned by bitter experience of the danger of lighting three cigarettes from one match. When the men thriftily used one match to serve three of them, they gave the Boer Sniper time to spot the light, take aim and fire to kill 'the third man'.

3) Ivar Kreuger, the President of The Swedish Match Company who was known as the 'match king', certainly did not create the term or the superstition surrounding it, as it has been alleged back in the 1930's. But he certainly exploited the term to promote sales for his company's matches! He surmised that most people, innately thrifty, were not using enough of his matches through their habit of conserving them by using a single match to light multiple candles, cigarettes, etc. After his successful campaign perpetuating the superstition of the wartime precaution and it's association with the mortal consequences of using just one match, he earned millions of pounds of profit for his company by greatly increasing sales of his Swedish Matches.

There was also a famous movie Three on a Match
That was based upon the story of three friends from childhood, Mary, Ruth, and Vivian, who meet again as young adults after some time apart. They each light a cigarette from the same match and discuss the superstition that such an act is unlucky and that Vivian, the last to light her cigarette, will be the first to die.

Make sure to load up and avoid the curse of THREE ON A MATCH by buying your own batch of branded matches for your business from TheMatchGroup or call one of our experienced "match makers" at 800.605.7331.


...as the world’s freebie of choice and its most cost-effective and appealing advertising vehicle."

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The New York Times-A New Old Freebie: Restaurant Matches Return

Great Feature from the New York Times 10/20/2009 re. The Renaissance of Match Advertising!

In the face of many cities' anti smoking enforcement "...match boxes serve as the finishing touch on an ambience calculated to dislocate the present tense." says Dona Savitsky, a former smoker, who is the owner of the retro themed restaurant FLORA located in Oakland, CA.

"Savitzsky's  experience is echoed by a number of restaurateurs across the country, who concur that matches may be experiencing a fragile renaissance as the dining world’s freebie of choice and its most cost-effective and appealing advertising vehicle."

"Ms. Savitsky confirms that only a fraction of Flora’s matchboxes are taken for their ostensible purpose. Their overriding utility, aside from lighting the odd candle, is promotional: “They go out into the world, and they bring people back.”

"A Chicago spot, 33 Club, named for the year Prohibition was repealed, opened in August without matches, but that’s only because Jerry Kleiner, the restaurateur, is perfecting the design. “When they’re done right, they’re a piece of art,” said Mr. Kleiner, who envisions an oversize blue and gold-leaf matchbox bearing a crest and the 33 Club logo.

Mr. Kleiner operates eight other restaurants in the area, none of which has matches. “We had them till the antismoking thing happened and they fizzled out,” he said. “But I think I’m going to bring them back.”

To place your order for your business' branded match books or match boxes GoTo: TheMatchGroup or call one of our expert matchmakers at TheMatchGroup 800.605.7331 or email: Strike@getmatches.com

DENVER POST -Food 11/2/11 Smoking Ban Aside, Colorado Restaurants Find Custom Matches are Still a Great Way to Strike Up a Relationship

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A terrific (and relatively current) article about restaurateurs' reasons for continuing to rely on printing and distributing economical advertising matches to promote their business despite statewide bans on smoking.

To place your order for your business' branded advertising matches goto:TheMatchGroup or call our "matchmaking" specialists at 800.605.7331

DENVER POST: FOOD

Smoking ban aside, Colorado restaurants find custom matches are still a great way to strike up a relationship Got a light?

POSTED:   11/02/2011 01:00:00 AM MDT UPDATED:   11/02/2011 09:50:57 AM MDT

William Porter The Denver Post

Free matchbooks, a decades-old staple in restaurants and bars, would seem a likely candidate for extinction in this age of public- smoking bans.

But an odd thing has happened. Rather than going the way of the rotary-dial phone, the matchbooks, typically sporting a business' logo, have showed staying power.

Why? Chalk it up to a mix of nostalgia and a touch of club-kid irony — think porkpie hats and meatloaf as a menu star.

Toss in our crow-like eye for things bright, snazzy and free, and it translates into a gimme-bowl of sulfur-tipped pleasure at the host stand.

"Matchbooks are one of the few pieces of merchandise that customers are likely to carry around in their pockets and also one of the few collectibles," said John Bachman, director of operations for the Boulder-based Big Red F Restaurant Group. "It's a way of getting our brand out there in front of people as often as we can, and it's an inexpensive way of doing it."

Big Red F's holdings include Lola, the Jax Fish House restaurants, The West End Tavern, Zolo Grill, Centro and The Bitter Bar. Not all the venues offer custom matches — "There's no rhyme or reason as to which ones do," Bachman said — but the plan is that eventually all be aboard.

Bachman said the matchbooks are ordered in batches of 25,000 and must be ordered every few months. Design is critical.

"A matchbook's content has to be captivating," he said. "The color, the logo, maybe something snarky or clever on the inside cover. Anything to make someone say, 'This stands out.' I think we're realizing their effectiveness."

That's music to the ears of Jack Wagner, who's company has been selling matches in Evergreen for 30 years.

Wagner's company sells all manner of custom hospitality products, including coasters, toothpicks, dinner mints and sugar packets. But matchbooks and matchboxes are the mainstay. Wagner said he sells millions of them nationally each year.

"A matchbook is a business card with a purpose," Wagner said. "It's functional."

Despite this, estimated national matchbook sales have dropped to about $30 million from $200 million in the 1970s. But since they're sold for pennies, the economic crunch has made them an effective ad medium for restaurants, allowing them to enjoy a mini-revival.

Wagner takes pains to create matchbooks that are aesthetically pleasing. They show an eye toward art, sometimes literally. He is especially proud of the matches his company created for Sweet Basil in Vail.

"There's a gorgeous painting behind the hostess stand," Wagner said. "We took that image and wrapped it around the matchbox, along with the restaurant's info.

"So what we have is a very appealing piece of advertising far cheaper than anything else out there and it's going directly to the customer. It's point-of-sale advertising."

At Steuben's restaurant and bar on East 17th Avenue, the vintage vibe extends beyond comfort food and midcentury decor. The matches, too, are a throwback, down to their '40s-era design. This at a restaurant that's 5 years old.

"They're great for us," said bar manager Randy Layman, who adds that Steuben's has ordered 50,000 matchbooks since January.

"Whenever someone is leaving and they see the match bowl, their reaction is really neat," Layman said. "Their eyes light up and they go, 'Hey, we never see this.'

"It's an absolutely effective way of getting the word out."

On a recent evening, Heather Lyons snapped up a Steuben's matchbook as she head out the door. "I don't smoke, but they come in handy," she said. "I like to keep a pack in my purse and glove compartment. It's also a keepsake. I look at it and have memories of a night out."

Linger, which opened in Lower Highland about 3 1/2 years after Colorado's smoking ban took effect, offers matchbooks that change every few weeks. They are popular among customers, said owner-chef Justin Cucci. The matchbooks are modeled after vintage '60s patterns found in the restaurant's decor. "We wanted to give guests something that was used and popular from the era," he said. "Matchbooks were a natural fit."

And Boulder's Pizzeria Locale offers matches in a tube container with a nifty pop top.

The hospitality biz isn't the only outlet for such matchbooks. When "Pulp Fiction" was released on video in the United Kingdom, stores gave away packs of "Pulp Fiction" matches stamped with a quote from the film: "You play with matches, you get burned."

The Avenue Grill has been a staple in Denver's Uptown neighborhood for two decades. The restaurant was long known for its matchbooks, which had a gleaming white cover with the restaurant's logo: a stylized martini glass, rendered in a few deft ink strokes, and a green olive.

"People really like them," said Joel Bryant, the Avenue's director of operations. "You go to someone's house and they have sets of them they've collected over the years."

But the restaurant hasn't reordered the matches for several weeks, and the bar no longer features tumblers filled with the matchbooks. That's being rethought.

"When the smoking ban started, the need plummeted," Bryant said. "But the matches were something we were known for and we probably should bring them back."

As Wagner, the match company honcho, points out, lighting a match is not necessarily the purview of nicotine fiends. Candles, fireplaces, charcoal grills — they all require a foray into the "close cover before striking" zone.

"It's not the smoker who needs the match," Wagner said. "They have Bic lighters. It's the rest of us."

William Porter: 303-954-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com

Photo illustration (above) by Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post. Model: Marnie Ward of Reveille 3, an Andrews Sisters tribute act (myspace.com/reveille3). Gloves provided by Mariel (1428 Larimer St., 303-623-1151).


SPY MAGAZINE MARCH 1990 SCOOP White House Matches MADE IN CANADA! with quote from Joe Danon

Hilarious mention in Spy Magazine March 1990 Naked City Column exposing the fact that the White House's Official Presidential match books (for then Pres. George Bush Sr,) were produced in Canada!
At that time, I was the NY Sales Manager at the now defunct Universal Match Corp. that had recently moved it's last remaining US match factory to Canada from Hudson NY. I was quoted in the article responding to the intrepid reporter's question re. "The ominous legend printed on the bottom of the White House's matches that stated "Made in Canada" and "the potential firestorm of controversy" that it may cause. I told him "that we made the type very small and discrete as we were aware that we were dealing with a national symbol so we took precautions."
Then the writer contacted the White House spokesperson and she acknowledged that the matches were foreign made but was otherwise tight lipped about the situation...
Spy Magazine was a very funny satirical publication. If you're a fan of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, that magazine would be considered the journalistic equivalent to today's Daily Show.
Ahh good times, good times.
Call TheMatchGroup to order your branded matches at 800.605.7331. www.GetMatches.com.