You’ve likely never heard of a company called Burma-Shave. It would make sense. It went out of business 54 years ago. But its impact on those little cheap political yard signs has been immeasurable.
It was a simpler time back in the 1920s, when automobiles weren’t built to go fast. The pre-Eisenhower highway system in the United States was less developed, and a popular advertising campaign popped up that began to make history late in that decade.
Enter Burma-Shave, a company that became famous for its brushless shaving cream way back in the day. Founded out of Minneapolis in 1925 by Clint Odell, Burma-Shave inadvertently paved the way for political candidates and their eventual election signs.
The product name, Burma-Shave, in part, came from the lead word Burma, because most of the essential oils in the product were from the Burmese portion of the Malay Peninsula in Thailand. Exotic as that sounds, Odell’s company was struggling for business, failing to reach its target audience right out of the gate. Clint’s son, Alan, came up with an advertising ploy – roadside signs.
Cars were just now really populating the roads in mass, and the people of America were eager to drive. While Alan’s father was apprehensive about the campaign, he finally gave in. Clint gave his son $200 to give the idea a go. Alan bought second-hand boards, cut them into three-feet in length, and painted them. Then, he placed four signs in a row, 100 feet apart. The first rounds of them looked something like this:
The idea worked, and worked well. The signage started solely in Minnesota, but eventually ran in 48 states across the country all told. The signs later transformed into messaging more along the lines of driver safety, for example, this:
And while the company ran its course in 1966, the idea of roadside signs to advertise in the automobile era was cemented. As a testament to the campaign’s cultural significance, a set of signs was donated to the Smithsonian, where it still resides to this day.
That messaging led to candidates running for office using campaign signs. Now, those pieces of corrugated plastic signage are everywhere, and an absolute must in political advertising. While you might not have a 41-year run in office like Burma-Shave did with its company, you just might want to take a cue from the success that business had.
Below are a few stories as to how political candidate signs can, and do work for those running for office.