Skyler Ross

5/6/2015
HIST 128J: Beer in American History
Windmills and Wooden Clogs: The Marketing of Heineken Beer from 1945-1970
In Season Two, Episode Eight of AMCs Mad Men, advertising expert Don Draper must
pitch a brand new marketing strategy to the executives at Heineken. In his attempts to define the
brand, he proposes placing large displays of the product in suburban supermarkets for
housewives to see while shopping for groceries. The executives at Heineken want to try a
different marketing strategy, as they believe that their ideal target market is not the suburban
well-to-do housewife as Draper claims. To allay their concerns, Draper launches an experiment
that involves duping his wife Betty through one of these displays by playing on her aspiration to
worldliness.1 It works. The Drapers host a dinner party featuring food and beverage items from
all over the world, and Betty serves Heineken beer to the guests alongside wine from France,
gazpacho from Spain, and rumaki from Japan. Betty, a metaphor for all suburban housewives, is
humiliated when she finds out about the scheme. Part of her anger stems from her disinterest in
being the subject of other peoples games. She and women like her were the constant targets of
food and beverage advertising throughout the postwar period as they ran households and raised
children.2 But while Mad Men uses Heineken as an example of average beer advertising, the
drinks status as an imported beer intended for elites warrants special consideration of it.
Between the 1950s and the 1970s, Heineken produced a series of advertisements that buck the
trend in beer advertising. Whereas most breweries and beer companies tried to depict their beers
in American advertisements as integral to the proper functioning of the family unit, Heinekens

Jennifer Gillan, Kodak, Jack, and Coke: Advertising and Mad-Vertising, in Analyzing Mad Men: Critical Essays
on the Television Series, edited by Scott F. Stoddart (Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland &
Company, 2011), 107.
2
Nathan Michael Corzine, Right at Home: Freedom and Domesticity in the Language and Imagery of Beer
Advertisements, 1933-1960, Journal of Social History 43, no. 4 (June 2010): 84366.

Ross 2
advertisements in this period rarely, if ever, do so. Rather, appeals to novelty, masculinity,
nationalism, and prestige dominate the visual imagery and language surrounding these
advertisements. Heinekens ads grew in maturity during this period. Whereas throughout much
of the 1950s they depicted cartoonish figures and caricatures of Dutch cultural objects, by the
1970s the beers advertisements focused on presenting Heineken as the epitome of clean,
European masculinity. In the process, the beer had to shed its specifically Dutch identity. This
narrative presents the marketing tactics of Heineken as separate and distinct from the marketing
tactics of the greater beer industry. The advertisements of other premium beers in this era, such
as National Brewing Companys National Premium beer, show a highly competitive approach to
marketing domestic premium beers. The strategy of these brewers was to deemphasize the link
that Heineken had established between importation and prestige. This discussion is informative
on several levels. From an economic perspective, it demonstrates how market segmentation was
a worthwhile strategy for companies looking to grow. This advertising strategy involves splitting
a large market into smaller units in order to directly appeal to one or a few of them. In the case of
Heineken, the beer was intended solely for elites and cosmopolitan-types, not the average man.
From a political perspective, it reflects changing attitudes toward foreign countries, immigrants,
and xenophobia. And from a cultural perspective, it reflects a changing aesthetic within
American culture, where different had the potential to be the new in.
Since its founding in 1864, Heineken has grown into one of the most powerful American
import beers.3 America and the Heineken Company have a strong relationship, with more than
one-fourth of the companys global sales coming from the Americas and much of that
consumption being in the United States.4 For the worlds third-largest brewer by sales, that is
3

Our History (The Heineken Company, n.d.), http://www.theheinekencompany.com/about-us/our-history.

The Americas-Regional Performance (The Heineken Company, n.d.),
http://www.theheinekencompany.com/about-us/our-global-presence/the-americas#view=markets&region=3.
4

Ross 3
both a significant volume and a significant proportion of revenue.5 At the same time, the cultural
landscape of the United States is necessarily impacted by the continued presence of Heineken.
As an object of material culture, Heineken beer is consumed as the result of a complex
relationship between personal taste and the larger sociocultural forces that shape it. One such
force is the presence, form, and character of marketing.
The complexities of this relationship date to the beers earliest days in the United States. Philip
van Munching introduced Heineken to American consumers several days after Prohibition
officially ended in 1933. Over the course of his tenure as Heinekens exclusive American
importer, he developed unique tactics that presented Heineken as a special product, or the
champagne of beers.6 Whereas most beers sold in the United States at the time appealed to the
commonalities shared among men, Heineken operated under the belief that its higher cost and
foreign nature would most greatly appeal to those Americans who were seeking
cosmopolitanism. In other words, Heineken was a beer for those who had taste and could afford
a European beer.7 As such, van Munching worked to have Heineken sold only in upper class
venues.8 He would arrive at a restaurant or bar that did not currently stock Heineken, yet order
one anyway. When he was of course denied, he would be very vocal about his disappointment.
Later on in the day, a Heineken salesman would arrive with a pack of the precious beer and a
contract proposal.9 Of course, van Munching utilized other tactics as well. But the notoriety of
his performances demonstrates both their potential to raise awareness of Heineken and their

Maarten Van Tartwijk, Heineken Sees Profit Rise, The Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2015,
http://www.wsj.com/articles/heineken-sees-profit-rise-1429685715.
6
Barbara Smit, The Heineken Story: The Remarkably Refreshing Tale of the Beer That Conquered the World
(London: Profile Books, 2014), 38.
7
Ibid., 40.
8
Ibid., 40.
9
Ibid., 39.

Ross 4
success in getting Heineken sold in more establishments. Moreover, this tactic could be used in
carefully chosen spaces, which were often selected for reasons of class.
Heinekens strategy in the United States contrasts with the strategy the company used in other
parts of the world, reflecting how the American market was perceived as unique. In the United
States, Heineken sold its flagship product and attempted to influence American consumers
through advertising it in particular ways. On the other hand, the company was prone to creating
new products for other expansion regions. Between 1932 and 1949, Heineken created at least
three new lagers in specific geographic regions in order to appeal specifically to local tastes. The
first of these new products was Tiger Beer, which was created in Malaysia in 1932. The
Heineken Company followed by creating Bintang Beer in Indonesia in 1937 and STAR in Africa
in 1949.10 Moreover, the distinct qualities of Heinekens American marketing strategy were
reinforced as they proved to be successful. Between 1950 and 1951, U.S. sales figures increased
49 percent from 3,087,336 bottles sold in 1950 to 4,608,000 bottles sold in 1951.11 Van
Munching was personally rewarded for this success. As early as 1953, he was receiving lavish
gifts from the Heineken executives in the Netherlands, and Heineken stock was yielding huge
dividends as a result of the booming cross-Atlantic trade.12 Production expanded, too, as
Heineken constructed new breweries to accommodate this increased demand.13 The impetus for
much of this expansion was likely growth of the American market. The boom in Heineken

10

Our History.; Official Website of Nigerian Breweries PLC, n.d. http://nbplc.com/our_company.html.

Heinekens Sales Up 49, New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962), January 14, 1952, 1322441686, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: New York Tribune / Herald Tribune.
12
HEINEKENS DIVIDEND 9%: Dutch Brewery Aide Reports Substantial Rise in Profits. The New York
Times. March 15, 1953. http://search.proquest.com/docview/112565120?accountid=15172.
13
Heineken Plans New Brewery, Wall Street Journal (1923 - Current File), December 2, 1969, 133348762,
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Wall Street Journal; Heineken Adds Dutch Brewery, New York Herald
Tribune (1926-1962), September 11, 1958, 1327297120, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York Tribune /
Herald Tribune.
11

Ross 5
consumption in the early 1950s yielded advertisements that reflected the companys view of
what American consumers would want to see in the product.
To the extent that van Munchings tactics might be considered socially immature, the printed
advertisements for Heineken from the early 1950s through the mid-1960s reflect a similarly
puerile quality. One advertisement that ran in numerous publications during this period features a
caricature of a Dutch individual smiling, smoking a pipe, wearing wooden clogs, and leaning
against an oversized bottle of Heineken beer (see Figure 1). The person and the bottle are
physically located right next to a custom Heineken glass that could be purchased in sets of six,
imported directly from Holland.14 The ad relies on xenophobic stereotypes to portray Heineken
as a novelty item, and indeed, the custom beer glasses were sold as part of a lineup of Heinekenthemed Dutch cultural objects. Others included ceramic statues, windmill displays, and wooden
clogs.15 In using a cartoonish Dutch figure, in making that figure diminutive, and in having the
figure wear clogs, the ad creates a uniformly simplistic view of Dutch people and culture. It
attempts to present Heineken as collectible, as an ornament that can be bought and shown off.
The kitschy aesthetic is supposed to be cute, which is reinforced through the rhyme in the ads
copy: Heinekens Heinekens Heinekens Beer / A Treasure of Pleasure from Holland to
Here!16
That copy signifies the unique combination of foreignness, prestige, and kitsch that was
characteristic of Heinekens position within the American beer market in the early postwar
period. Through highlighting the Dutch qualities of the beer, Heineken was attractive to those
who were looking to try something new. One ad (Figure 2) from the late 1950s positions
14

Display Ad 120 -- No Title, Boston Globe (1960-1983), July 29, 1962, 276443337, ProQuest Historical
Newspapers: The Boston Globe.
15
Smit, The Heineken Story: The Remarkably Refreshing Tale of the Beer That Conquered the World, 50.
16
Ibid.

Ross 6
Heineken as a global drink with strong roots in Holland. It draws upon stereotypical connections
between windmills and the Dutch countryside by depicting four glass Heineken bottles arranged
like windmill blades, with a representation of the globe behind them to serve as the windmill
tower. Perhaps reflecting popular taste preferences for beer at the time, the circular describes
Heineken as having unmatched flavor and lightness which has made it Americas largest
selling imported beer. Moreover, those preferences are said to be global in nature: From
Bombay to L.A. people of taste prefer Heinekens. This ad is not particularly plebeian in tone
and carries with it an air of snobbery. Rather than inviting all readers to take part in a global
tradition, the ad welcomes only those readers who care about prestige and who can afford to
frequent restaurants, bars and stores where quality counts.17 Another ad (Figure 3) from 1960
explicitly references the finer restaurants, bars and clubs at which Heineken might be served.
The ad literally serves Heineken to the cultured reader on a platter, alongside a figurine of a
Dutch person.18
Perhaps this snobbery in advertising is why Heinekens import efforts were not particularly
profitable until the late 1950s, despite the huge growths in sales that had begun earlier in the
decade. Ignorance may also have contributed to this situation. Having been marketed as a
uniquely Dutch beer, Heineken may have inadvertently limited its sales because many Americans
had little idea of what Holland was. Despite the recent memory of World War II, a study
conducted by the breweries embarrassingly revealed that pitching Heineken as a Dutch beer was
a complete waste of time because the average US punter was unashamedly ignorant of European
geography. Most thought that Heineken was imported from Germany.19 Quite simply, it did not
17

Display Ad 257 -- No Title, Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File), November 3, 1957, 167173122, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times.
18
Classified Ad 21 -- No Title, New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962), June 19, 1960, 1324091377, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: New York Tribune / Herald Tribune.
19
Smit, The Heineken Story: The Remarkably Refreshing Tale of the Beer That Conquered the World, 50.

Ross 7
matter to most Americans where Heineken originated. The important thing is that it was from
Europe, that it was imported, and that it was different than every other beer. Even though
Heineken was marketed with prestige and gentility in mind, its potential for growth was limited
because specific knowledge was prerequisite for consumption.
Beginning in the late 1950s, Heinekens ads began shifting away from prominent and explicit
references to Dutch culture. These signifiers of Dutch origin were replaced by signifiers of
European origin more broadly in order to appeal to a more inclusive audience. One ad (Figure 4)
shows a Heineken bottle that is being transported to an unknown location (presumably the
United States) in a rowboat. The ad reads, Heinekens Beerthe unhurried Dutch treat,
turning the relative inefficiency of rowboat travel into a source of pride.20 In this ad, Heineken
was portraying the beer as a carefully crafted luxury, and images of Dutch culture beyond the
Heineken bottle itself would have been superfluous to that goal. Another ad (Figure 5) depicts a
bottle of Heineken within a ships porthole, as if it were on its way to the United States on a
first class [trip] from Holland. In the distant background is the ads only Dutch signifier, a
windmill that almost goes unnoticed at first glance. All other mention of internationality relies on
the name Holland only, rather than on visual or cultural imagery. The vague nature of the ad
shows Heinekens desire to continue using perceptions of foreignness while avoiding the
didacticism that comes with being too Dutch.21 This ad ran throughout the country, and it
received slightly modified copy in each region. For example, when it ran in The Los Angeles
Times in 1957, it read: The West Coasts favorite comes first class from Holland.22 When it ran
in the Chicago Daily Tribune, the copy was modified to reference the Midwest rather than the
20

Display Ad 825 -- No Title, New York Times (1923-Current File), November 17, 1957, 114305722, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: The New York Times.
21
Display Ad 711 -- No Title, New York Times (1923-Current File), November 3, 1957, 114307204, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: The New York Times.
22
Display Ad 282 -- No Title, Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File), November 24, 1957, 167145341, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times.

Ross 8
west coast.23 In each iteration, the ad highlights the strength of the relationship between a foreign
product and various domestic geographic regions. While the specificity of the American qualities
of Heinekens ads increased, the specificity of the beers native European qualities decreased
during the same time period.
Along these lines, one notable ad (Figure 6) from the mid-1960s simply shows a pair of wooden
clogs and a bottle of Heineken. The image drops most pretensions to class and gender while
creating a clear ethos of foreignness around the beer. The ad is clean, simple, streamlined, and
bold. The strong use of negative space draws increased attention to the Heineken bottle that is at
the forefront of the image. The wooden clog, as a principal Dutch cultural artifact, is in the
background. While still prominent, the shape of the clog draws the readers eye toward the
bottle, which lies at the high point of the clogs design.24 Another mid-1960s ad even leaves out
the clogs, instead showing a bottle of Heineken resting inside of a tall-stemmed glass. While the
words HOLLANDS PROUD BREW rest below the image and the bottle has a large label that
reads IMPORTED, the ad is totally devoid of other overt references to Dutch culture.25
Another late 1950s ad is similarly lacking in the presence of Dutch cultural icons. The image is
simply a picture of a Heineken bottle with copy that reads: Theyre still making masterpieces in
Holland26 Such an ad relies on the assumption that Americans would recognize Holland as a
superior place for beer manufacturing. The simplicity of this ad might mean that Heineken was
looking to appeal to a larger consumer base by eliminating the more confusing marketing
elements. This sanitization may be the product of the changing character of xenophobia in the
23

Display Ad 225 -- No Title, Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963), October 20, 1957, 180253781, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune.
24
Display Ad 154 -- No Title, New York Times (1923-Current File), August 8, 1965, 116952030, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: The New York Times.
25
Display Ad 33 -- No Title, The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973), May 12, 1965, 142672594,
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post.
26
Display Ad 248 -- No Title, New York Times (1923-Current File), May 4, 1958, 114353730, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: The New York Times.

Ross 9
United States. The cartoonish nature of earlier ads demonstrated a willingness to expose oneself
to foreign cultures, yet pejoratively streamlined them so that the Dutchness of the product
might be more easily expressed.
The characteristics of kitsch and cute that were consistent throughout Heinekens early postwar
ads are not too dissimilar to the domestic beer television ads that were common at the time. A
YouTube search for 1950s beer ads yields several examples of musicalized cartoons from
brewers such as Rheingold, Black Label, and Ballantine. However, there is another distinct trend
in domestic beer advertising that emphasized familial bonding and homegrown masculinity. As
in the case of Betty Draper from Mad Men, women of the era purchased food and drink at the
local supermarket for their husbands to consume once they arrived home.27 The beers they
purchased were produced domestically, for the most part, and beer manufacturers created ads
that reflect a highly gendered dynamic. Corzine writes,
For men, the ads summoned them to drink, be manly and be American. Good times were
waiting. For women, the ads represented a symphony of complications and
contradictions. They were being offered a ticket into a world heretofore belonging to
men, but the price of admission was steep. Sure, women could drink, but the
advertisements also delimited the place and manner of the act.28
As Corzine notes, domestic ads in the postwar period linked beer with gender, nationalism, and
social policing of who could drink under what circumstances. For example, domestic breweries
were emphasizing the importance of their products to the well being of womens husbands as
early as 1940, linking domestic happiness to the presence of a particular beer. One Budweiser ad
paints a portrait of a happy husband through the image of a man reading a newspaper and

27

Corzine, Right at Home: Freedom and Domesticity in the Language and Imagery of Beer Advertisements, 19331960, 846.
28
Corzine, Right at Home: Freedom and Domesticity in the Language and Imagery of Beer Advertisements, 19331960, 844.

Ross 10
smoking a cigar while drinking a beer.29 This man is the epitome of relaxation, connecting
Budweiser to manliness and leisure, as well as to domestic contentment. This is typical for
domestic beer ads throughout the postwar and early Cold War periods.
Heinekens advertising began to take on similar qualities to these domestic marketing tactics. For
instance, as Heinekens Dutch characteristics grew less significant in the beers advertising, its
appeals to American nationalism grew. Heineken delights the U.S.A. every day! is the claim
of one late 1950s ad30 This statement is a reminder to previous Heineken consumers that they are
familiar with the beer and liked it in the past. It is also an appeal to potential new consumers who
might be drawn in by claims that the beer is appreciated by their American friends and
neighbors. Printed during the height of the Cold War, this ad would have a great impact on those
who were concerned for the safety of their country. Another ad (Figure 7) that was widely
circulated for the 1958 Brussels Worlds Fair is similarly related to Heinekens attempts to
position the drink as an integral part of American culture. In this ad, Heineken is described as
being the only European beer served in the American pavilion of the Worlds Fair in large
letters above the image. Only directly below that text, in italicized characters and much smaller
type, does the ad acknowledge the importance of the beverage to the Netherlands by
characterizing it as the only beer served at the Netherlands Pavilion!31 In the context of the
American market, it was important for Heineken to depict itself as an American commodity, even
as it remained an imported product.
Tied into these appeals to nationalism are subtle hints at nostalgia. An ad from the late 1940s
claims that Heineken is of the same high quality that made it Americas most popular imported
29

Portrait of a Happy Husband (Budweiser, 1940), http://brookstonbeerbulletin.com/beer-in-ads-576-portrait-of-ahappy-husband-by-a-smart-wife/.

30
Display Ad 272 -- No Title, Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File), August 16, 1959, 167485644, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times.
31
Display Ad 233 -- No Title, Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963), September 14, 1958, 182175758, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune.

Ross 11
beer as in the past.32 In linking these two qualitiesnationalism and nostalgiathe ads
attempt to recall a longer past than was reality. Heineken had only been in the United States for
approximately 15 years at the time of this ads publication, yet the ad attempts to make the beers
presence seem much more historical than it actually was. Still, in an age of massive national
insecurity, with World War II still a recent memory and the Soviet Union posing an ongoing
threat, the past would have seemed almost quaint and relaxed. The ad alleges that Heineken has a
traditional popularity within the United States. In the process, the reader might be reminded that
his parents and grandparentsprobably his father and grandfatherhad drunk Heineken and
enjoyed Heineken for the same reasons that he might, if only he were to try it.
As in domestic beer ads, nationalism was closely linked to masculinity. By the early 1960s,
Heineken was attempting to adopt this more masculine image by focusing on more realistic
pictures of men, as opposed to the cartoonish figures of an earlier era. The men featured in these
ads were incredibly clean, almost absurdly so. Chiseled jawlines, high cheekbones, and stern
faces dominate these images to create a sense of elite polish. Whereas some male-gendered
products relied on depictions of rugged athleticism to reinforce associations with masculinity,
Heinekens men look varnished and dapper. One striking ad (Figure 8) from the mid- to late
1960s shows a man wearing a well-pressed suit reading a newspaper and drinking a bottle of
Heineken beer. The significance of the image would not be lost on the male reader, who could
imagine himself looking just as in control. At the same time, the ad depicts leisurely activity that
is calm and relaxing. Just as in the 1940 Budweiser ad, the man is depicted reading a newspaper.
The ads copy invites the reader to join in this relaxation, commanding him to Take a little more

32

Display Ad 99 -- No Title, New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962), November 14, 1947, 1322180779, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: New York Tribune / Herald Tribune.

Ross 12
time with Heineken.33 This ad tells the reader that perusing a newspaper while drinking a
Heineken is the key to being that man.
Of course, the ad relies on the assumption that many would want to be that man. As a result, it
closely links Heineken and prestige. The subject of the ad is wearing a full suit, in contrast to the
1940 Budweiser ad whose subject is sitting in a chair with his suit jacket not shown. The
Heineken ad seems to be for the man who is taking a break whereas the Budweiser ad is intended
for the man who is done for the day. Notions of prestige also come from the text of the ad, which
emphasizes Heinekens lengthy aging process and how the beer is imported from Holland. As a
beer intended for elites, Heineken was more expensive. In Washington, D.C. in 1974, a case of
Heineken cost $10.99, which is the equivalent of $52.32 today.34 The only people who could
afford to drink Heineken were those who could afford to frequent the upper class establishments
that van Munching had lobbied when Heineken was first imported into the United States. In this
sense, the ad in Figure 8 implies that only a select few could be the man shown.
These appeals to nationalism, nostalgia, masculinity, and prestige were not universally well
received. A 1977 piece by Peter A. Jay summarizes this pushback:
The name of the bar doesnt matterNow it has fake Tiffany lamps, and the clientele,
mostly young and with plenty to spend, drinks Heineken or chablis-on-the-rocks instead
of National Bohemian. If it were magically transplanted to some other place where there
are large concentrations of students or well-aid government workersnobody walking
in off the street would notice anything odd.35
Describing the loss of specificity and regional culture in an Annapolis bar, Jay is disdainful of the
increasing gentrification he sees in Annapolis. One expression of this gentrification is through
33

Display Ad 115 -- No Title, Chicago Tribune (1963-Current File), July 12, 1964, 179530472, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune.
34
Display Ad 12 -- No Title, The Washington Post (1974-Current File), October 3, 1974, 146109424, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post; Inflation Calculator (The Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.),
http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm.
35
Peter A. Jay, The Heineken Generation: The Name of the Bar Doesnt Matter., The Sun, April 1, 1977,
http://search.proquest.com/docview/541144128?accountid=15172.

Ross 13
the alcoholic beverages that people in Annapolis were choosing to consume. Jays use of
Heineken as a cursory example of this gentrification is interesting in the context of Heinekens
marketing in this era because it demonstrates the extent to which that marketing was successful.
Jay did not need to explain what Heineken was or who typically consumed it; he could safely
assume that his readers would associate the beverage with an elite clientele and particular upper
class social spaces. Jays piece also demonstrates how the very characteristics that Heineken used
to appeal to consumers might alienate them. For instance, Jay writes, Annapolis, since it
became hip as well as historic, is not what it was.36 This evokes nostalgia similar to that in
Heinekens ads, yet perceives it in a negative light as a result of dissatisfaction with social
change. The rise of Heineken in Jays bar is an example of that change.
Perhaps coincidentally, the other beer that Jay mentions as Heinekens more working-class
alternative was manufactured by a company that also produced an upper class beer called
National Premium, which competed directly with Heineken. First brewed by the Baltimore-based
National Brewing Company in 1936, National Premium was always intended to be the more elite
cousin to National Bohemian. In the 1940s, National Premium sold for 15 cents per bottle,
whereas National Bohemian cost 10 cents per bottle.37 By the 1970s, the National Brewing
Company, like most smaller brewers, had attempted to expand in order to stay relevant. The
brewing industry was well into a national consolidation, and many small and regional breweries
that had survived both stagnant demand and the national giants power seized on merger as a way
to gain strength through diversity.38 The National Brewing Company purchased an olive oil

36

Ibid.
The Story | National Premium (National Premium, n.d.), http://www.nationalpremiumbeer.com/the-story/.
38
Maureen Ogle, Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer (Orlando: Harcourt, 2006), 244.
37

Ross 14
company, Arizona Brewing in 1966, and Carling brewery in 1975.39 National Brewing also
emphasized the diversification of its product line through advertising.
A series of three National Premium ads from 1969 demonstrates the position that premium
domestic beers found themselves in. The first (Figure 9), printed in The New York Times in
January, explains a taste-testing contest that National Brewing supposedly held to compare
National Premium to three of the leading import beers, including Heineken. The ad is large and
text-heavy, but the text is broken up by a very prominent bottle of National Premium and a
stemmed glass that is presumably filled with the same. The text in the ad begins using ornate
language to highlight the beers prestigious nature and mentions its domestic character outright:
Whereinour proud premium brew from the U.S.A. comes to grips with the imported
beers40 Heineken had positioned itself as a Dutch product that was intertwined with American
identity. In this ad, National Premium highlighted its domestic nature in order to appeal to the
readers sense of patriotism. In a sense, National Premium had an advantage in marketing
Americanismit was actually American. The ad repeatedly claims that the participants in the
taste test preferred National Premium to each of the three imports, which included Lowenbrau
and Tuborg in addition to Heineken. The participants allegedly chose National Premium or
insisted they liked it as well as Heineken, although there is no external source that can
corroborate the ads claims.
The next ad to appear (Figure 10), from September 1969, draws upon the results of this taste test.
This ad features a prominent image of the same National Premium bottle and glass from the
January ad, but this time they are located at a harbor. The tagline of this second ad is, National

39

Ibid., 244-245.
Display Ad 302 -- No Title, New York Times (1923-Current File), January 19, 1969, 118551441, ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: The New York Times.
40

Ross 15
Premium missed the boatand came in first, referring to the results of the taste test.41 The ad is
possibly a response to Heinekens boat-themed ads from the late 1950s. In both examples,
geography and travel are used, but to different ends. In Heinekens case, travel is supposed to be
prestigious. In National Premiums case, travel is ridiculed. The ad plays on the notion that
inherently linking foreignness with prestige is illogical. If a domestic beer can be as good as or
better than an import beer, then the import beer is not improved simply by being from a different
country. National Premiums ad asks the question quite bluntly: Does a beer need ocean passage
to be a truly fine beer?42
In some ways, the third National Premium ad from 1969 (Figure 11) contradicts the implications
of the second. Published in The Washington Post in October, this final advertisement claims that
National Premium is so good that it should be exported.43 Such a statement relies on the very
relationship between internationality and prestige that National Premium had combatted in the
earlier ad. However, making this claim allows National Premium to create a strong argument that
the beer is an American drink. The ad claims Europe will have to wait. National Premium has
an obligation to American palates. The ad is telling readers that they should purchase National
Premium because of its quality and because other people demand it, which is not unlike how
Heineken tried to appeal to Americans sense of patriotism by alluding to a common bond that all
Americans supposedly share.44
The marketing of National Premium implicitly relies on the previous work of Heineken in
linking a product to various aspects of society, including class and prestige. Where the two differ,

41

Display Ad 459 -- No Title, The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973), September 7, 1969, 143654640,
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post.
42
Ibid.
43
Display Ad 514 -- No Title, The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973), October 12, 1969, 143658767,
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post.
44
Ibid.

Ross 16
however, is in how each approaches the topic of internationality. By the late 1960s, Heinekens
approach is to present a streamlined image of Dutch culture and use representations of it to
signify heightened taste. On the other hand, National Premium as a domestic beer had to present
itself as a homegrown product. National Premiums marketing strategy necessarily undermined
Heinekens by attempting to weaken the link between importation and prestige. However,
National Premium could also appeal to a sense of American nationalism in ways that Heineken
could not. The success of National Premiums strategies was limited. National Premium was sold
to various brewers several times through the 1970s and 1980s before production stopped
completely in 1996. Production was revived in 2011, although the beers popularity remains
limited.45 Heineken, of course, continued production and importation throughout.
Between 1945 and 1970, the marketing tactics that Heineken used changed from trivialized and
pejorative cartoons into more mature expressions of leisurely masculine and refined upper class
identity. As domestic beer ads changed to portray the relaxed average man, Heinekens ads
instead grew to depict Heineken beer as an incredibly important product. This pretentious quality
was not without backlash, as Jay described in the late 1970s. But it still bore powerful
implications for the rest of the premium beer industry, including the National Brewing Company,
which overtly and explicitly attacked Heineken in order to increase market share during a period
of turmoil within the brewing industry. The Heineken Company acknowledged that it would
never be able to attract all Americans, but rather those who appreciated refinement and
cosmopolitanism above violence and brazenness. Heineken would never be seen at a Super Bowl
party or a baseball game, but rather at the dinner tables of those who wanted to experience
something new. Betty Draper from Mad Men is just one such person.

45

The Story | National Premium.

Ross 17
Appendix of Images

Figure 1

Figure 2

Ross 18

Figure 3

Figure 5

Figure 4

Figure 6

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Figure 7

Figure
8

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Figure
9

Figure 10

Figure 11

Ross 21
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Ross 24
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