An Investigation of the Marketing and Advertising Initiatives of Seagram and Hiram Walker, 1950-1969

Mickeys, Minis and Pints: An Investigation of the Marketing and Advertising Initiatives of Seagram and Hiram Walker, 1950-1969 By Rochelle Pereira-Alvares A Thesis presented to The University of Guelph In partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Guelph, Ontario, Canada © Rochelle P. Pereira-Alvares, December 2014 ABSTRACT Mickeys, Minis and Pints: An Investigation of the Marketing and Advertising Initiatives of Seagram and Hiram Walker, 1950-1969 Rochelle Pereira-Alvares Advisor: University of Guelph, 2014 Catherine Carstairs This dissertation is an investigation of the marketing and advertising initiatives of two Canadian distillers Hiram Walker and Seagram in the United States from 1950 until 1969. The study contributes to the field of alcohol studies as it explores the divergent meanings alcoholic beverage advertisements conveyed about drinking in relation to constructs of gender, race and class. This dissertation demonstrates that while Seagram and Hiram Walker’s advertising campaigns and marketing efforts targeted white, middle class men, they disseminated competing and contradictory messages about masculinity and normative alcohol consumption to reach consumers with varied interests. The dissertation argues that despite the existence of an established heterosocial cocktail culture in the 1950s, the majority of Seagram and Hiram Walker’s whisky advertisements presented drinking as a homosocial activity. During the 1950s and 1960s, Hiram Walker and Seagram tried to increase market share by advertising to women and African American consumers in novel ways. This dissertation compares and contrasts the distillers’ advertisements directed at white men, women and African American consumers. As well, it adds to the history of advertising as it explores how the distilleries tried to influence consumers’ purchasing decisions, tap into their desires, expand market share and increase sales at a time when competition was intensifying. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My gratitude extends to numerous people who have helped me through this dissertation. I would like to thank my advisor, Catherine Carstairs for her wisdom, dedication and insight over the course of this project. As well, Alan Gordon and Julia Roberts offered helpful suggestions and advice through the various readings of my work. I appreciate their hard work and commitment. Thank you to Suzette Blom, Pat Bowley, Jodi Campbell, Lisa Cox and Heather Parker for their feedback on early versions of my dissertation, and more importantly for their friendship and encouragement over the years. A big thanks to Alia Vaz, Louise Lumba, Lourdes Santiapillai, Phyllis Au, Shane Ferrao and Aman Singh for decades of laughter, wonderful memories and support. The University of Guelph and Associated Medical Services Inc. have provided partial funding for this dissertation. I owe my parents, Cheryle Pereira and the late Robert Pereira a lifetime of gratitude. Their financial support, love, reassurance and inspiration have been instrumental to me every step of the way. Thank you for all that you have done. To my husband, Oswyn Alvares who has stood by my side, thank you for your love, friendship, sense of humour, hard work and strength. Our darling son Noah, you have brought so much joy, wonder and laughter into our lives. Every time I look at you, I remember that there is so much more. Finally, to Fozzie, for the long walks that allowed me to clear my mind. v Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1 The Smooth Canadian: Sophistication and Moderation in Seagram‘s Whisk(e)y Advertisements 41 Chapter 2 Shark Riding and Osso Bucco: Adventure, Travel and Masculinity in Hiram Walker‘s Whisky Advertisements 96 Chapter 3 Distinguished Men: Respectability and Responsibility in Advertisements for the African American Consumer 152 Chapter 4 Cooking and Candlelight: Hiram Walker and Seagram‘s Advertising Strategies and the Female Consumer 205 Conclusion 258 Appendices A 268 B 271 C 276 D 282 E 289 F 303 G 313 Bibliography 327 1 Introduction In the early 1960s, a reader of Life magazine might have come across an advertisement for Hiram Walker’s Canadian Club Whisky like this one that stated “When the Limbo originated in the jungles of Africa, it was used as a test of manhood…Today in the Virgin Islands, it’s a colorful dance…My Island friends taunted me into trying it, and I thought I was man enough to do it. But they didn’t tell me they were going to set the bar on fire!”1 In the vignette, Toby Schoyer, an American tourist to the Virgin Islands, decides to take up the challenge to dance under a three foot high limbo pole set aflame by his host. After a successful attempt, Schoyer was confident in his abilities, and asked his host to lower the bar by a foot, so he could prove himself a second time. Much to Schoyer’s disbelief, his shirt caught on fire, and his host had to douse out the flames. After the ordeal, Schoyer’s host treated him to a glass of Canadian Club Whisky-“the World’s lightest whisky” at the Buccaneer Hotel. The whisky was an antidote to his embarrassment and a reward for being a good sport. In the 1950s and 1960s, Hiram Walker released hundreds of advertisements like this one as part of its Adventure Series print advertising campaign. It illustrates Hiram Walker’s decision to combine heroic masculinity with humour to target middle class male consumers. This dissertation is a history of the advertising and marketing initiatives of two Canadian distilleries, Seagram and Hiram Walker in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. It examines Seagram and Hiram Walker’s print advertising in four magazines: Ebony, Gourmet, Life, and Sports Illustrated because distillers were limited to advertising in printed media. It contributes to 1 “The Limbo Dance” Hiram Walker Adventure Series Advertisement Life (10 August 1962), 82. http://books.google.ca/books?id=Hk4EAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Life+magazine&hl=en&sa=X&ei= OwrAU-25KYeOyASN5YGQBg&ved=0CEMQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Hiram%20Walker&f=false (accessed 11 July 2014). 2 the history of advertising as it explores how the distilleries, through their advertisements and marketing endeavours tried to influence consumers’ purchasing decisions, expand market share and increase sales at a time when competition was intensifying. Moderate drinking was a socially accepted trait throughout much of American history with the exception of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when dry advocates launched influential campaigns against alcohol consumption and the alcoholic beverage industry. In order to reverse the damage, whisky makers were committed to turn drinking into a respectable and desirable activity among all segments of American society. This dissertation builds on the work of scholars like John Burnham, Lori Rotskoff and Pamela Pennock who stress that shortly after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the alcoholic beverage industry, of which Seagram and Hiram Walker were two prominent members, laboured to normalize alcohol beverage consumption. It contributes to the field of alcohol studies as it explores the meanings alcoholic beverage advertisements conveyed about drinking in relation to constructs of gender, race and class. This dissertation demonstrates that while Seagram and Hiram Walker’s advertising campaigns and marketing efforts targeted white, middle class men, they disseminated competing and contradictory messages about masculinity and normative alcohol consumption to reach consumers with varied interests. The dissertation argues that despite the existence of an established heterosocial cocktail culture in the 1950s, the majority of Seagram and Hiram Walker’s whisky advertisements presented drinking as a homosocial activity. In this same period, the distillers tried to increase market share by advertising to women and African American consumers in new ways. Seagram and Hiram Walker are the focus of this dissertation because they were two of the largest distillers in North America in this period. Approximately at the mid-point of this 3 study, Seagram and Hiram Walker individually spent $11.6 million and $4.9 million on magazine advertising in 1962.2 Out of the nation’s top one hundred advertisers, Seagram ranked twelfth and Hiram Walker ranked forty seventh. The distillers were in the business of selling whisky, a spirit made by fermenting and distilling grains like corn, rye, wheat or malt. Americans preferred beer over all alcoholic beverages, but whisky was their favourite distilled spirit in the postwar decades.3 Seagram’s brands were the highest selling in the blended and Canadian whisky categories, with Hiram Walker’s products sitting between second and fifth place. Shortly after the repeal of Prohibition, the American whisky market reflected some regional variations. Drinkers in the East liked straight rye whisky, and those in the South and West had a fondness for bourbon whisky. However, data from The Liquor Handbook, a distilled spirits trade publication, showed that Americans had a predilection for “blended whiskies” as opposed to other styles of whisky in the 1950s.4 “Blended whiskies” comprised of a minimum of 20% by volume of 100 proof straight whisky combined with grain neutral spirits. A blended whisky could only bear a grain name designation like “blended rye whisky” if it contained 51% by volume of straight whisky like rye or bourbon. Most often, blended whiskies consisted of two or more straight whiskies mixed with grain neutral spirits and did not carry a grain name designation.5 Some of Seagram and Hiram Walker’s most popular and lucrative products were blended whiskies like Seagram’s 7 Crown, V.O., Crown Royal and Calvert Reserve and Hiram Walker’s Imperial Blended Whiskey and Canadian Club Whisky. By the mid-1960s, straight whiskies proved to be strong competitors, but throughout the period under study, Seagram and 2 “Top 25 Magazine Advertisers” Advertising Age (26 August 1963), n.p. 3 See Appendix A-Table A-Alcoholic Beverage Sales in the United States, 1950 to 1990 4“The National Liquor Market” The Liquor Handbook (1953), 3.

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