28. March 2023
Like no other, this vibrant ad for the trifecta of Victor Sassoon’s hospitality empire, symbolizes the unprecedented real-estate boom and architectural splendor of Shanghai in the early 1930s. Join us on a journey through the history of the three edifices, all of which still house hotels today.
17. October 2022
-“Gee, honey look there’s a dragon in the sky!” -“Yay!” A classic example on how symbolism in marketing differs between the West and East-Asian countries. While in the culture of the former dragons are depicted as evil, in China they are traditionally seen as friendly and the bringers of good luck. A fact the historic Yutai flash light factory (裕泰电筒厂) from Shanghai cleverly used for its “Dragon head” brand (龙头牌).
10. October 2022
My Dear, or Měilì (美丽牌) meaning “beautiful” in Chinese, was the most popular Chinese cigarette brand out of Shanghai during Republican China. Since its inception it was famous for the attractive, confident and modern “new women” featured in its advertisements, ubiquitous across billboards, magazines and newspapers. Its Chinese slogan 有美皆备，无丽不臻 literally means “everyone wants the beauty because without beauty there is no completeness” but in more creative...
07. August 2022
In the autumn of 1930, the national government of Shanxi province established the Jinhua Cigarette Factory (晋华卷烟厂) in the city of Taiyuan by merging several smaller private tobacco producers. The state-owned enterprise produced cigarettes throughout the 1930s until November 1937, when the Japanese army occupied Taiyuan and took over the operations. It remained active under the name “No 13 Factory” until the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War after which it was nationalized again...
02. May 2022
The American Safety Razor Company was a personal care brand founded in 1906 by a merger of the Gem Cutlery Company & Ever-Ready and was a principal competitor to Gillette for over a century. The Ever-Ready brand had been created in 1905 and razors were continued to be sold under that name until the early 1960s.
08. March 2022
The 1930s marked the first “Golden Period” of Chinese cinema and catapulted its key performers to superstardom. In 1933, the newspaper Star Daily conducted China's first public poll for the most popular movie stars with Hu Die “Butterfly” Wu (胡蝶) as the runaway winner with 21,334 votes, more than twice as many as the first runner-up Chen Yumei, and almost three times the votes her friend Ruan Lingyu (阮玲玉) received. Hu Die was crowned China's first "Movie Queen", but Ruan...
01. February 2022
Happy Chinese New Year from the M.O.F.B.A.! 恭贺新禧! Brought to you by BASF Indanthrene - the bluest of blue since 1901.
03. January 2022
First launched in 1934 the brand was produced and advertised by the O.C. Swann Chewing Gum Co. in Shanghai and distributed by 'Linson & Company' as sole agents. The mastermind behind O.C. Swann Co. (Chinese name 大通行) was in fact Chinese food entrepreneur Lin Shengfu (林笙甫) - founder of the notorious Start's Chocolate shop opened on 751 Bubbling Well Road in 1932. The inspiration for his chewing gum brand Swann's was undoubtedly of questionable origin: the design and color scheme...
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