Monday, June 1, 2015

Rocky and Bullwinkle shill for the US Treasury

The advertising agency behind General Mills' decision to sponsor the Rocky and Bullwinkle shows, Dancer-Fitzgerald-Samples, worked out a deal with the US Treasury to use the Jay Ward characters in a campaign to promote US Savings Bonds*.  Timed to coincide with the premiere of The Bullwinkle Show in September of 1961 was the Hollywood-produced short, Rocky and Bullwinkle Savings Stamp Club, promoting US Savings Stamps to school children, who would ultimately grow to become US Savings Bond purchasers.  Sam Clayberger color keyed and painted the backgrounds for this short (inexplicably giving Sherman blonde hair!) and a few of these keys can be seen in a previous post on this blog.  Art Diamond created this membership card for the club:


Allan Burns did these gag panels to promote buying US Savings Bonds:



which became the basis for this Sam Clayberger art for Boy's Life to encourage Boy Scouts to buy US Savings Bonds:


Allan Burns also created these promo comic strips aimed at getting adults to buy those same bonds:



*Jay Ward and Bill Scott had a tempestuous relationship with the agency, for more behind-the-scenes info read The Art of Jay Ward Productions and The Moose That Roared.

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