Saturday, June 21, 2014

Speech was given us to disguise our thoughts

A pearl of wisdom in the Hobart Mercury newspaper of 1 October 1895 following excerpts from the Government Gazette:
"Speech was given us to disguise our thoughts, but you may preach till doomsday and then you will not disguise the fact that Jones' IXL Jams are the best in the world."
[THE GAZETTE. (1895, October 1). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 4. Retrieved February 16, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9303123]

I love IXL's old, zany and tiny ads such as:

EAT JONES' IXL JAMS. The total wealth of Great Britain with all her possessions is estimated at £8,000,000,000. France comes next with £7,500,000,000. The wealth of the six largest nations in the world aggregates £33,000,000,000. [EAT JONES' IXL JAMS. (1897, July 8) Launceston Examiner(Tas. : 1842 - 1899), p. 2. Retrieved June 21, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39691687]

EAT JONES' ' IXL JAMS. "Lives there a man with soul so dead, who never to his wife has said-'Use BOROLEINE SOAP.' "
That's a pre-feminist puzzler. (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39691605)

EAT JONES' ' IXL JAMS. Kid gloves, with hand-painted flowers on the back, are the latest fad in Paris.
(1897, July 10). Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899), p. 8. Retrieved June 21, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39691992

The technique seems to be, we'll give you one extraneous fact to illuminate your life and you swallow our message and our jam, please. Reminds me of the outrageous, hilarious and high-production-value television advertisements coming out of Sweden lately. We'll give you a laugh or three; please buy our vacuum cleaners, Volvos and IKEA.

Information on Henry Jones, founder of IXL jams.