OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Collectors Corner Collectables VICTA - April 1959 - "Dad's New Lease of Life"

Hi ODK members,

I bought this two-page story because it represents how subtle advertising had become
by the late 1950s. It is taken from The Reader's Digest, April 1959.

It is an advertisement disguised as a short narrative.
Victa's Sales & Marketing Department clearly understood their potential target audience - and they tried
to make that audience as broad as possible.

There are disagreements as to how Victa became an Australian icon. In all the reading I
have done, though, no one disagrees that Victa's marketing was second to none.

This is a great read involving subtle manipulation of the reader. Enjoy!

All very readable.
---------------------------------------
JACK

The word "gay" had a different meaning back then. ( last paragraph )

That change in the accepted meaning of the word has made a few old songs a bit comical too. (For example, "When I Was a Bachelor Gay", which is supposed to be about a previously care-free guy who has recently married, but there is no suggestion of a change of preference. It also made a couple of Jim Reeves' songs a bit odd. In "Partners" two guys go out into the wilds prospecting for gold, one of them being "A gay young fool". In "Streets of Laredo" the hero says "Once in the saddle I used to go gay", but he says that where he used to "go gay" was Rosie's, which would be an odd arrangement for a gay guy.) It's kind of unfortunate that every time the language changes, a lot of existing literature is orphaned.

Hi to all ODK members,
Here is a comical look at the changes in meanings;

Do you remember the day when if you said that you were gay
It meant with joy, you could sing and shout....
When a fairy was enchanting and dressing up and camping,
Was something you did with the Scouts!

That care free age when an urgent case of AIDS
Was powdered milk we sent to the Sahara,
A fruit was something nice to eat, a poof was something for your feet,
And a queen was some old tart in a tiara.

Chorus:
Look what we�ve done to the old Mother Tongue
It�s a crime, the way we�ve misused it.
It�s been totally diswoggled, pulverised and gollywoggled
We�ve strangled, fangled, mangled and abused it.

Hi Alwil, Grumpy, Deejay and ODK members,

I'm glad you all clarified that for the younger members.
Otherwise they'd be thinking that Victa turned more than grass into lawn.
Victa's marketing was so powerful a 1959 ad. is still being discussed today.

Deejay, I found your song: Silly Slang Song

Grumpy, I like your comment about abandoned literature:-