It's fascinating to read what was considered newsworthy exactly one hundred years ago and compare how it would rate in today's world. According to the Campbelltown News from the day, this unique advertising promotion attracted "great interest on the part of all who saw it". The visit was from an advertising automobile described as having a unique "stunt" body. The automobile was actually a truck with an extensive frame that fitted a large tubular body. On the body was a reproduction of a roll of Pep-o-mint life savers, described as the candy mint with the hole. The reproduction covered the shape, colouring and lettering of a life saver packet. The car stopped at Campbelltown on its way to Melbourne. Our town was one of a number along the principal highways of the country that the trucks would stop at. A million samples of life savers were given away by a few other trucks that travelled all over Australia at the time. The sketch above shows what the truck would have looked like. Kind of hilarious but way ahead of its time!
Life Savers Sweets Co. Ltd launched Life Savers in 1922 with a series of display advertisements in major papers in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria with a professionally executed campaign. The special promotional vehicle like the one that visited Campbelltown and constructed by the distributors, continued the promotion in 1924.
Written by Andrew Allen
Sources:
Campbelltown News, Friday 6 June 1924, page 7
https://australianfoodtimeline.com.au
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