Anthropology of a Beer Ad
Jeff Alworth
Amid all the election furor, here's something a little offbeat. I recently came into possession of an archival tape from the Blitz Weinhard brewery and had it digitized so I could post some of the material over here. It's a bit of a mish-mash of material, but scattered throughout it are all the commercials the brewery ever ran, organized chronologically.
Watching them all together is an instructive exercise--I imagine that if you asked someone who knew nothing about the state to watch these, she'd actually get a fairly accurate sense of what Oregonians have historically valued, and a little taste of their culture. And, if you took this hypothetical person and told her about the history of public policy in Oregon--the Bottle Bill, land use planning, free beaches, etc.--I think she'd nod and say, "Yeah, I can see that."
Watching through the ads, I felt a sense of loss--it seems like we have drifted pretty far from that greater sense of the state. I look at the recent history of policy, focused on tax cuts at the expense of the public good, and it seems out of sync with the earlier Oregon. The ad below highlights the natural beauty of the state that is itself an end--more valuable than any money you might get working in the rat race. Hard to square that message with the passage of Measure 37.
Anyway, I may be making too much of it. Have a look for yourself and see what you think. The quality's a little low--the original had seen better days--but not too bad. I'll post the lyrics to the song below the fold. A blast from Oregon's past. Enjoy--
Got the sun in the mornin' to get me out of bed,
Got an old hat to cover my head,
Got me a river runnin' by my door,
Got everything here, don't need no more.
Don't make a lot of money, but the livin's free,
I work when I want, break when I please,
Some folks say I gotta do more,
Guess I could ... don't know what for.
[Announcer voice-over: In Blitz Country the river is still the road, and for 120 years, Blitz Weinhard has been the one premium-quality beer found wherever you stop along that road. Blitz country, where people enjoy the best of living, and along with it, the best of beer.]
Got a snow-capped mountain outside my door,
Got a beer called Blitz, don't need no more,
Got two good reasons for livin' here:
The best country in the country and the country's best beer.
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11:32 a.m.
Oct 12, '06
That really does evoke for me the feeling of living in Oregon as a kid growing up in the 50's and 60's.
I loved the Schludwiller series when it aired--Vern and Earl bumbling into "Oregawn".
"Now where do you boys think you're goin' with all that beer?"
Oct 12, '06
No, you aren't making too much of it. Of course, it presents an idealized Oregon that was supposed to appeal to the way people thought about themselves. But what is the ideal now? That sure isn't it and it makes you want to cry for what has been lost.
11:33 a.m.
Oct 12, '06
What a great blast from the past! I think I was twelve or so when I first heard that.
Bonus points if you can match this slogan to its beer:
"It's the water, and a lot more..."
Oct 12, '06
Jeff
thanks for this wonderful reminder of when Oregon was really Oregon - not like now with corporate raiders taking over everything from our jobs to our politics.
"Boy's where you going with all that beer?" What a great memory. Union family wage jobs, now that was something we could strive for. Alas no more.
Mary
11:56 a.m.
Oct 12, '06
I'm glad to hear your initial reactions. When I first saw this, I thought, "there's my beautiful Oregon." My wife, whom I had watch the ad, joked that it was "kind of communistic." But perhaps the nostalgic tone would resonate just as strongly with Republicans who might joke to their spouses--"that's so conservative!" But anyway, I'm glad to hear some of you share the reaction I had.
12:12 p.m.
Oct 12, '06
Wow, Jeff, just like most others here that commercial brought back to me my childhood. I remember the song from the commercial as well as my dad drinking those stubby little brown bottles of Blitz. To me, what resonated was the local economy we had then, and that we've just now gotten back to that idea again--we went from regional beers like Blitz and Rainier to giant corporate beermakers distributing across the country (who drove out the regional beers) and now back to locally-made beers again. I hope the same is happening with other industries.
Anybody else out there remember smelling the yeast and hops from Blitz-Weinhard Brewery near Powell's Books on Portland's Burnside Street? Today the only reminder is in the "Brewery Blocks" name...I must be getting old.
Oct 12, '06
Yup Jeff, those were the days. The corporations paid taxes just like the rest of us. A 50/50 split..not like today 93/7% split. My only disagreement with you is the guilt trip put onto property owners with Measures 5 and 50. Why not guilt trips for the corporate gangsters? India has sacred cows..Amerika has sacred corporations.
Oct 12, '06
I too agree that there has been a drift away from what makes Oregon great, but I have a different opinion of why there was and what makes Oregon great.
Those halcyon days of the sixties and seventies were built on logging! Talk about local industry, that was it. When the left took away logging there were promises of tourism funds and jobs. It didn't materalize and those incomes that could support families are gone.
Only the large corporate logging companies can deal with the legal red tape and litigation - so goodbye to family run logging companies.
We on the right are not saying that the rate of logging should be unsustainable, but those on the left hold our trees up as some diety that must be untouched. A tree is a plant that should be harvested, with some areas being set aside for recreation purposes and habitat.
The reason why we have a reemergence of local beer and wine companies has to do with the creativity of the individual and the fact that the government has thus far kept its hands off.
2:05 p.m.
Oct 12, '06
Anybody else out there remember smelling the yeast and hops from Blitz-Weinhard Brewery near Powell's Books on Portland's Burnside Street? Today the only reminder is in the "Brewery Blocks" name...I must be getting old.
I was down there the other day, and suddenly smelled beer brewing. I was baffled... until I realized it was coming from Bridgeport.
The smell of brew is alive and well in the Pearl.
Oct 12, '06
A couple interesting points about the Blitz ad. 1) It was 60 seconds. Now 30 seconds is the common length, a reflection of shorter attention spans and dumbing down of life, perhaps. 2)What amazing production values! The photography, editing, words, music, theme. Do we work that hard on advertising anymore? Maybe it wasn't worth it...Blitz didn't survive.
Oct 12, '06
sob
next you're going to make us remember pixieland.
Oct 12, '06
"...the left took away logging"
Holy state of denial, Batman! Cutting down all the goddamn big trees took away logging, ditto-brain.
Oct 12, '06
"I was down there the other day, and suddenly smelled beer brewing. I was baffled... until I realized it was coming from Bridgeport.
The smell of brew is alive and well in the Pearl."
That pretty much sums it up, thanks Kari.
I grew up in rural Linn County. My uncles on my Dad's side were all loggers. And hell yes, they all drank Blitz. That ad stirred up a lot of good memories for me. Thanks Jeff!
Of course, the days in the ad are long gone. You have to sense at least a little bit of irony here that blueoregon contributors are waxing nostalgic about an ad that features industries that have been or are being systematically destroyed by the policies being advocated regularly on this site.
In Blitz Country, the river is still the road...until we take out the dams of course. At least Kari will still be able to enjoy that Bridgeport IPA in the Pearl. Cheers!
Oct 12, '06
"We on the right are not saying that the rate of logging should be unsustainable"
But, in fact, it was and it left a bunch of empty milltowns and unemployed loggers in its wake. There is no one who argues that the logging levels of the mid to late 80's were sustainable indefinitely. If the forest service had stuck to limiting logging to what was sustainable there never would have been a spotted owl crisis or the other environmental blowback. There still would have been problems with obsolete mills that couldn't cut second growth forest, but those would have been far more manageable. And logging would have continued to provide steady employment and economic underpinnings in rural Oregon.
5:27 p.m.
Oct 12, '06
Thanks, Jeff, I enjoyed that. Oregon just doesn't seem quite as special anymore. But that doesn't mean I'll quit trying to bring it back.
Great ads, but Blitz was pretty awful beer!
Oct 12, '06
Yo! I realize that Bend isn't exactly "Oregon" (get used to it, we're hotter than you are), but over here we brew the best damn beer in the world (and I'm not going to tell you about it 'cause I don't want you impose upon my access).
Logging!? Bitching about logging!? To this Fourth Generation Oregon Logger turned (now) semi-retired [whatever the bejeevers translates to part-time college instructor (computer science)] that is soooo.... twentyith century.
Get over it, fir goodness sakes, there are far more important things to be obsessed... errrrrr... to be obesessed with.
Oct 12, '06
Bonus points if you can match this slogan to its beer:
"It's the water, and a lot more..."
Can't believe no one has responded to this yet. That'd be Olympia Beer, who also brought us The Artesians, but that's another ad campaign...
My dad worked in the timber industry for 35 years, fed our family, helped put me through college, etc. We were plenty thankful for his income. Now, he's retired and bitches about all the clear cuts and how they're destroying habitat for fish and animals, harming the environment and so on. He's moved on; I suggest those still kvetching about the timber industry join him in the 21st Century.
Oct 13, '06
I know this wasnt intended to be a post about logging, but since that can of worms been opened I'll jump right in. In some parts of the state logging on private land provides significant benefits to the local economy. Before everyone jumps on me, remember I said PRIVATE land--not federal land. Harvesting of 2nd and even 3rd growth is occurring. Not old-growth. So let's move beyond this whole notion that logging is a dead industry--and unsustainable (whatever that means in the real world. The discussion needs to be on what the future holds, not what's happened in the past. By the way, the tech industries that were supposed to replace logging in Oregon are not without their economic ups and downs.
Oct 13, '06
Great nostalgia ad. Reminds me of my arrival in Oregon in the late 1960's.
As for the "anthropology" of Oregon, I'd take issue. I'm a PhD in Anthropology, although from the "other side" of the discipline. At best the video is sociology, but more likely cultural history. It isn't Anthropology by any definition I know.
9:28 a.m.
Oct 13, '06
You have to sense at least a little bit of irony here that blueoregon contributors are waxing nostalgic about an ad that features industries that have been or are being systematically destroyed by the policies being advocated regularly on this site.
It wasn't intended to be a logging post, but hey, it seems germane, so let's follow it a bit. I don't know too many liberals who are opposed to logging. Everyone I know of is opposed to indiscriminate, forest-destroying logging.
One example is fresh in my mind from last week's New Yorker. During the 70s, logging companies were tearing through the redwoods, trying to cut down the entire forest while legislation was pending to protect a few of the ancient stands. As legislation grew closer and closer to becoming law, the commercial loggers shifted to 24/7 logging with devastating consequences to the forest. This was pure greed in the pocket of timber companies--money that would provide negligible benefit to society, at the expense of one of the world's unique, ancient resources.
The same thing happened to old-growth stands in Oregon. Logging companies, never mind the rhetoric of the free-marketeers currently ascendant in American politics--and not be expected to sacrifice money for a greater, more diffuse public good. That's the role of government, through regulation. Almost no one I've spoken to thinks that we should raze the old Doug firs so Weyerhauser can earn a few more bucks.
There's a balance to strike where sustainable forest practices allow for a healthy--if small, by historical standards--logging industry that leaves the old trees standing.
This commercial has resonance to me because it recalls a time when Oregonians were capable of striking that kind of balance--preserving our gorgeous natural beauty while allowing people to continue to use and harvest it. We saved the beaches, but we can't save the old growth? Just doesn't seem Oregonian to me.
9:30 a.m.
Oct 13, '06
As for the "anthropology" of Oregon, I'd take issue.
Fair enough. I think cultural history is probably closer to the mark, though as a clarifier, I was actually speaking of the full scope of the Weinhard ads, from the 60s through their demise (at least on Burnside Street) in 1999. There's a striking quality of intact, distinct culture running through them.
Oct 14, '06
Jeff, re your redwood comment. That occurred 30+ years ago. Seems to me the statute of limitations on pillorying the timber industry should have been reached by now!!!
Oct 14, '06
Jeff, re your redwood comment. That occurred 30+ years ago. Seems to me the statute of limitations on pillorying the timber industry should have been reached by now!!!
Have the redwoods grown back?
It seems to me this is precisely the problem. We are still paying for the short-sighted decisions people made a long time ago, just as people 30 years from now will pay for our short-sighted decisions.
On the other hand, the far-sighted decisions to eliminate the freeway along the waterfront in Portland, preserve large areas as wilderness, build state parks, create a network of rural roads, etc. are all ones we benefit from. If we spent more time thinking about 30 years from now, we would be making better decisions today and face fewer hard decisions in the future.
Oct 14, '06
Actually Ross the redwoods probably have grown back, they are the only conifer species which stump sprout. At least forests are renewable (ie sustainable resource) as opposed to all the land lost to housing and shopping malls. 30 years from now we'll be wishing we would have preserved private land as commercial forests, instead of destination resorts, mcmansions and hobby forests, which is what it will become if we regulate commercial forestry to the extent the landowner can make more money by selling the land off.
8:48 a.m.
Oct 15, '06
Engineer, Ross substantially makes my argument, but just to add one more piece. There's nothing evil about business, but it is essentially amoral. It is not the logging companys' job to think about what happens when all the 1200-year-old trees are cut down. That's our job as citizens and participants in the poltical system. You're right, they would grow back, provided climate change doesn't change the habitat too radically. But exactly how cold is that comfort? It takes centuries for these trees to reach maturity. Not, unlike, the ancient Doug firs Weyerhauser would have no qualms razing for a few bucks. The citizens who would protect them are in this beer ad. I would like to think Oregonians are still those people.
Oct 15, '06