A fine selection of ad characters from Warren Dotz, who seems to have cornered this particular icon market. The book continues the theme of his two previous titles but this time most of the characters (and there are more than five hundred) are shown as they appeared in their original setting, so the pages show ads, labels, packaging and more.
The sixty-two categories are arranged alphabetically with a light-hearted appeal, for instance: Flower power; Happy hour; Not-so-super heroes and a spread with a nice touch: Nasties, featuring four bad guys: Mr Coffee Nerves (Postum) Gumout (fuel additives) 24-hour Bug (Pepto Bismol) and Skimpy Wiring (Kennecott Copper). The editorial really doesn't need much text so each listing has a few generalized words but it's kept to a minimum because the artwork provides the interest here. Having said that I thought the design was rather too flamboyant with colored background shapes and a few spreads that have tone graphics added behind the character graphics. for me, these ad characters were interesting enough visually to not really need any extra eye candy. I much preferred the straightforward look of the earlier 'Meet Mr Product' book, to me 'Ad Boy' is really son of 'Mr Product'.
Fans of Americana and popular culture will find this a useful addition to their collection and if you like this sort of material check out What a Character!: 20th Century American Advertising Icons by Dotz. This really is a book of ad characters with a difference because it featured actual advertising figurines rather than just two dimensional artwork. Though its not the only title to cover the subject I think it is clearly the best and like Meet Mr. Product: The Art of the Advertising Character it looks a treat, too.
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