custervicks

Great Moments in Advertising: Custer

In the Spring of 1876, riding a wave of national notoriety, Geroge Armstrong Custer pens a lucrative endorsement deal with Richardson-Vicks Incorporated. Unfortunate incidents later that summer brought the affiliation to an untimely demise. All that remains is this image. It is believed Custer had promotional materials at the Little Bighorn, where in his tent he made editorial changes to the proposed script. Archival evidence suggests the proposed ad copy had Custer claiming that the comforting aromatic vapors of the patent medicine kept his sinus passages clear allowing him to "smell a hostile a mile away."

Mick Reasor
Gouache on Paper, 2.5x3.5 inches, 2009