Cola Is Good For Babies: Fact Or Fiction?
June 2nd, 2008
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Vered posted this picture that had me and some friends laughing for two days straight:
At first I thought it was real, because Vered posts a lot of 1950s ads, all of which seem pretty crazy. But after thinking about it, I decided it was definitely a fake.
A lot of people were fooled by Tim Ferriss’ April Fools’ joke, something I thought was quite obviously a joke. Distinguishing fact from fiction is an important skill to have, so I thought I’d use the cola ad as an exercise in fraud detection.
Take a look at the ad, and without using Google, see if you notice anything that suggests it’s a fake. Here’s what I saw:
1. It’s not clear what’s being advertised. Is it soda, cola, or “other sugary carbonated beverages?” I think the Soda Pop Board of America would be advertising soda pop.
2. They couldn’t use “laboratory tests” to confirm these results. That would involve locking up a baby in the lab, feeding him cola, keeping him there until he was a teenager, and then seeing if he would fit in. They’d probably use surveys instead, asking teenagers if they fit in and when they started drinking soda.
3. The ad talks about babies and says they can’t start soon enough, but the kid shown is not a baby.
4. It seems odd that they would suggest a strict regimen of sodas, but not say what that regimen should be.
5. I can’t believe any ad would say “gives body essential sugars.”
6. This is awfully aggressive for a 50s ad, saying “not soon enough,” “strict regimen,” “right now,” and “guaranteed happiness.”
7. “Guaranteed” is misspelled. I know they didn’t have spell check back then, but I think the great Soda Pop Board of America could do better.
8. I don’t know what the official abbreviation of Illinois was before we moved to the two letter standard, but it wasn’t “ILL.” Maybe it was “Ill,” but the ls would definitely be lowercase.
9. There’s no ZIP code.
10. The capitalization is inconsistent in the bullet points on the left. Marketers would pay attention to this.
So that’s why I thought it was a fake. Unfortunately, you can’t trust everyone these days. And while this ad was harmless (assuming today’s parents know better), some things might not be. Be sure to run everything through your fraud filter.
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:47 am
Hey, thanks.
I love the idea of a fraud filter, or critical thinking, or whatever you choose to call it. I am getting better at it as the years go by. We are surrounded by so much info, especially on the web, that sometimes it’s easy to forget to run all that info through our fraud filter. I am already teaching this to my kids – they are 6 and 8 and it’s interesting to see that kids tend to believe whatever they are told. It takes time and practice to notice the warning signs.
Great analysis!
June 2nd, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Well, I wouldn’t judge a 1950s ad by today’s standards. I could totally see an ad back then talking about “essential sugars.” That was about the time they were really hyping the Prudent Diet, which among other things was supposed to convince people that butter is bad for you and margarine is Food of the Gods. And, well, some of us know how well *that* turned out. Also they ran a much looser ship when it came to slick ad copy. But who knows for sure? Fraud filters are still a good thing but they’re more useful for advertisements broadcast now, I think.
June 2nd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
It is quite brilliant, though, spoof or not. As you say, they don’t seem to actually be advertising anything about from a generic ‘cola’, which really does not exist. Even the smallest companies have a brand. If the spoofer had made this by Coca Cola and tidied up a few of the typos I think they’d have had us all fooled.
Sheamuss last blog post..77 Steps To Serendipity
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Hi Hunter,
Fraud filter? Is that like your blog post rehasher?
I have been sitting here laughing at the ads AdSense has on this post. “Colic Calm” for babies? WOW! Who knew?
BTW: I like that analytical talent of yours. You’re good!
Barbara Swaffords last blog post..Those Are Fighting Words
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:27 pm
@ Barbara: ah, the magic of “relevant ads”. Don’t get me started on THAT.
Vereds last blog post..Best Shot Monday: Old, But Still Moving
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Sadly, almost all advertisements are created by manipulating facts and information.
Even sadder is that most people believe what they hear or read, never considering the source, insinuations or alternative points of view.
oh, I’m such an anarchist.
Nicoles last blog post..Awesome, Smart Shit Around the Web Today
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
We live in info-overload as as addiction. It is so overwhelming that we ignore the details and believe that we read is truth. Truth can’t be further than that. Great post Hunter.
Shilpan
Shilpan | successsoul.coms last blog post..How I Transformed My Life with These 5 Simple Thoughts
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:04 pm
@ Vered, so you’re teaching your kids the harsh realities of the world.
I guess it has to happen at some point. When do kids usually find out about Santa?
@ Dana, margarine was supposed to be the food of the gods? That’s interesting. We’ve had some “food of the gods” moments in modern times too, like with the beta carotene hype that turned out not to be true.
@ Sheamus, I was thinking the same thing, that it would be a lot more believable if it was for Coke. I guess the guy didn’t want to get in trouble with them. But we have those “milk does a body good” and “beef: it’s what’s for dinner” ads, which if I recall correctly aren’t promoting specific brands.
@ Barbara, I never thought about automating a fraud filter! This changes everything. I’ll have to get back to you on that…
@ Vered, come on, these ads are very relevant. After all, people at The University of Phoenix must drink soda, right? Maybe?
@ Nicole, there’s certainly a lot of manipulation out there. Some ads are more guilty than others. At least drug ads have to disclose the risks. Can you imagine if they could just say anything?
@ Shilpan, people in the U.S. are exposed to something like 5,000 ads per day. With so much information coming in, it’s hard to slow down and think about things. But when you want to make an important decision, it’s essential to think first!
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Have you turned detective? But great analysis you have here! Now that you brought up these points, I have to agree too that it is a hoax!
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:26 pm
@ Evelyn, I’m only a detective when I notice something fishy going on. Once the fraud alert goes off, I can’t stop! At least this was a funny hoax instead of a dangerous one.
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
@ Hunter, you’re quite right, but the difference between the milk and beef ads, and the example above, is that they represent genuine organisations (i.e., US Diary or US Beef Corp). As far as I’m aware there has never been a corporation that fronts the entire soft drink industry! Maybe that’s a niche we should all be tapping into?
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:31 pm
@ Sheamus, maybe there would be such a corporation if the “essential sugars” thing were true!
August 6th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Reason 11 – The text on the Cola bottle is the wrong way round.
August 6th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
@ Bob, I couldn’t really tell what it said, but yeah, it looks backwards!
September 17th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
[...] version of this ad has "guaranteed" correctly spelled, the other is [...]
September 17th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Yes, most definitely fake, made it several years ago for a friend and the thing keeps popping up from time to time around the interweb. A corrected version can be found here: http://thecitydesk.net/baby_soda_ad/
September 17th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
@ thecitydesk, thanks for setting the record straight. And thanks for providing a corrected version of your brilliant work!
January 29th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
According to the USPS, the ZIP code was not inaugurated until 1963:
http://www.usps.com/postalhistory/significantdates.htm
A Google Maps search shows that there is a N. Hart Ave. and a S. Hart Ave. in Chicago, but no W. Hart Ave. Although that may not have been true in the 1950s.
January 29th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
@ Chris, thanks for the ZIP tip. I wonder if the ZIP was intentionally omitted for that reason.
August 28th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Coca-Cola is backwards. Clever.
February 12th, 2010 at 9:33 am
Got an email forward “Disturbing old ads” and decided to google this one in particular… I thought it more different than the rest and sure enough you confirmed it for me.
March 19th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Prior to the institution of zip codes, postal codes were two digits and inserted between the city and state. Your old-fashioned postal code is the last two digits of your current 5-digit zip code.
F’rinstance, when I was in grade school I lived in “Brooklyn 18, N.Y.”
If a street address were listed in an ad it would include the postal code, as today it includes the zip code.
May 5th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
There is no address 1515 W. Hart Ave. in Chicago. And Hart St. and Hart Rd. both run N/S.
May 7th, 2010 at 10:11 am
What immediately tipped me off to it being a fake was the word “Lifestyle” in the copy.
That word didn’t exist until the early 1970s. And since there was no zip code, that would imply the ad would have appeared before 1959.
July 29th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
@Xzero, I got that e-mail also, titled “You won’t believe these ads. I forwarded before checking out the cola ad. Thought the “Soda Pop Board” sounded fake and couldn’t believe the “never too soon” line.
August 20th, 2010 at 7:44 am
I can’t swear that this particular ad is real, but having grown up in the late 50s and early 60s I can assure you that this is pretty typical (in terms of the language used as well) of what we used to get bombarded with. As to some of your points, right off the bat, “Ill.” was indeed the abbreviation for Illinois prior to the post office’s introduction of the two letter system, and zip codes, as noted by a previous commenter, didn’t exist until 1963. As to Jay’s assertion above that lifestyle didn’t exist as a word in English until the 70s, a few second’s of research would show the word was coined in 1929 and gained popularity in the late 50s and early 60s, just about the time of this ad. In terms of the whole lab tests thing, you’re thinking too much in the modern day, it wouldn’t have occurred to anyone as out of the ordinary back then to do lab tests on babies, and many parents would have been happy to have their kids “chosen” to participate, especially if they were paid well, and if it “contributed to national health” or some other such billing.
August 25th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Well if the “Lard Information Council” existed, I suppose the Soda Pop Board of American could too. If it’s a spoof, it seems the author may have modeled it after the following ad.
http://tribes.tribe.net/vegansareyummy/photos/64e2f517-213a-46f8-9b52-575d14181386