While brainstorming ideas with colleagues for an internal contest at my company, I thought it might be fun to ask employees to come up with an advertising jingle for one of our programs, done in the style of Burma Shave. Many of you may not know of Burma Shave. It was an American brand of brushless shaving cream that came about in the 1920s and was known for its clever roadside advertising.
In the days before huge billboards, Burma Shave jingles were usually five rhyming lines that were arranged on sequential roadside signs. The red signs with white lettering would conclude with the name of the product: Burma Shave. They were clever and are a staple of mid 20th Century Americana.
My colleagues liked the idea and we’ve sent it up the flagpole to see if those higher up approve it. If so, I’ll have to figure out how to announce the contest in a way that clearly explains to our employees, the vast majority of whom are too young to have heard of Burma Shave, what the objective is.
Browsing an online collection of the entirety of their jingles, arranged by year, I thought I would share some of my favorites with you.
| Tho stiff The beard That Nature gave It shaves like down With Burma-Shave | Are your whiskers When you wake Tougher than A two-bit steak? Try Burma-Shave | Your beauty, boys Is just Skin deep What skin you’ve got You ought to keep Burma-Shave |
| College boys! Your courage muster Shave off That fuzzy Cookie duster Burma-Shave | If you think She likes Your bristles Walk bare-footed Through some thistles Burma-Shave | Riot at Drug store Calling all cars 100 customers 99 jars Burma-Shave |
| His tenor voice She thought divine Till whiskers Scratched Sweet Adeline Burma-Shave | Cooties love Bewhiskered places Cuties love the Smoothest faces Shaved by Burma-Shave | A peach Looks good With lots of fuzz But man’s no peach And never wuz Burma-Shave |
| Prickly pears Are picked For pickles No peach picks A face that prickles Burma-Shave | Said Farmer Brown Who’s bald on top ”Wish I could Rotate the crop” Burma-Shave | If you Don’t know Whose signs these are You can’t have Driven very far Burma-Shave |
Maybe we should have a Xanga Blog jingle contest?
A comment
Smiley
Or a rec
Make me as happy
As all heck
Xanga
What do you think?
christao408 
Hehe. I learned something new this morning.
I’ve learned something new as well!
I remember the Burma Shave signs when driving around the country. Boy that was years ago. I have to admit they were a distraction.
The Burma Shave jingles are cool. I neve knew about them. Xanga jingle?? rants are common but pictures put a smile don’t much care for a sermon Chris’s food porn, stretches a mile. Xanga!!
(Your)Comments, insightsPhotos and foodAlways brightenA dour moodchristao408 :)Now we’ll have to put the words to song. I propose something like this.BTW, love the drugstore one.
Brings back memories of drives from Southeast Kansas to Northwest Missouri. Rather than a distraction, it helped the miles go by for four children who kept busy looking for the signs and reading them. Sometimes we didn’t understand the humor, depending on our ages, but they helped pass the time.
wow
Haha, now that is pretty creative 🙂 I can see how it caught on and was effective.
I actually used the theme in a blues song I wrote twenty years ago. (Having seen the signs along the highways all through the 50s.You got Allah who’s akhbarJesus who SavesYa see Moses investingY’all know that..Burma Shaves.(The last line is a hint toward eastern religions, gracefully free of rhyming slogans, ha)
That sounds like a fun contest to me!
We had a book with a huge collection of the jingles. Very creative. I miss that kind of advertising.
Blogs of opinions,Introspective or crass…ehWhat I’m interested inIs that enormous massof pictures. Xanga!
@sassyjessie – @jsolberg – @Senlin – @ZSA_MD – Okay, the four of you earned bonus points for creativity!@Roadkill_Spatula – @AzureRecollections – It seem like so much advertising these days are not half as clever.@jandsschultz – @Fatcat723 – There are a few of the jingles I still don’t understand!@Finity – @Dezinerdreams – We aim for daily education at this blog… Ha ha!@TheCheshireGrins – Maybe we can convince Alex to organize it… he likes to be made responsible for the big organizational things, right? =D@yang1815 – Um, it is supposed to be five or six lines, not just one word, Andy… =P
I like the idea and hope it flies at work. As for xanga – sounds like a contest to me! (as the competitive overzealousness rises to the surface)I have A badge that Proclaims TrueWant one for Life And Premium tooXanga
Hmmm… interesting. I never saw them in Canada so I’m guessing this is US only. I’ll have to think of something.
@ElusiveWords – Yeah, I think those were the days when all Canadians had beards.@murisopsis – Oh, very clever!
Hehe some great jingles there Chris. Can’t think of a Xanga one at the minute, but may do later.
@Chatamanda – I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time to think of one before someone actually organizes an official contest.
i remember reading those along route 66 ()when i was a kid. we drove croass country from calif. to mn every summer to visit relatives and those signs were the highlight of the long trip.
I`d have them make paper hats
@grannykaren – These days, sadly, the highlight of such a trip would be watching “Toy Story” on the back seat DVD player for the umpteenth time!