Esso tiger
The Esso tiger is an advertising character for the mineral oil company Esso .
history
A Tiger was first used as a company logo by the Group's Norwegian subsidiary in the 1920s or even earlier, promoting Tiger petrol in the form of an emblem on the pumps . It was drawn realistically and made a rather aggressive impression. In the 1930s, the tiger was also adopted as a company logo in Great Britain.
During the rationing period during the Second World War , advertising for petroleum products became superfluous and the tiger disappeared for the time being. It was not until an advertising campaign spanning several countries between 1953 and 1959 that the old figure, which symbolized speed and aggressiveness, was used again.
In 1959 the tiger was redesigned in the USA and given a friendly face. At the same time, the slogan Put a Tiger in Your Tank became popular. The new advertising character was very successful and increased the company's sales. Time magazine declared 1964 the year of the tiger; In 1965 the tiger conquered in its new form - in Germany and Austria now with the Germanized slogan Pack the tiger in the tank! or put the tiger in the tank! - again the European continent. The advertising campaign lasted three years. Plush Esso tigers and artificial tiger tails that were left hanging from the fuel filler flap were popular at this time. Although Esso did not advertise the tiger as often in the following 17 years and other catchy slogans - such as There is a lot to do. Let's go for it - created, the advertising figure did not disappear from the minds of consumers. In 1986 she appeared in a new edition, no longer as a comic-like character, but as a real animal.
In the late 1990s, large tigers were temporarily placed on gas station roofs.
Others
In 1965 ESSO released a 45 single (sound foil) with two promotional songs sung by Ralf Bendix (page 1: Pack the tiger in the tank, page 2: Tiger RAG, composer: Froboess / Bradtke).
In 1967 Gustav Peichl, alias Ironimus, caricatured Gerd Bacher, who was elected general manager of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation , as a tiger ("Put the tiger in the box"). Bacher is known to this day as "the tiger".
Originally written in 1976 as a short promotional song for a jeans brand, an extended re-recording of the song "Jeans On" by the English singer David Dundas was released in 1977. It became his biggest hit (# 3 in the UK, # 17 in the US). It contains the text passage "I got money in my pocket, got a tiger in my tank, and I'm king of the road again". Here reference is made to the advertising figure of ESSO-AG.
1977 in Blödel song Tarzan is back from Willem in the text line and Tiger has to return to the tank reference is made to the slogan.
In 1994 Robert Gernhardt published the volume of poems Weiche Targets . One of the poems contained therein begins with the words The tiger lives on from place to place only as an advertisement and refers to the advertising figure, but at the same time parodies Christian Morgenstern's poem Das Einhorn only lives on from place to place as an inn .
literature
- Esso-AG (Ed.): The Tiger's Affair, o