Thursday, December 13, 2012

1904-1906 Argus, sauce of the Age

In the period 1904-1906 Vasco did some advertising work for Blogg Bros 'Argus Sauce'. There was considerable outrage in Melbourne newspapers about one poster that depicted Federal politician George Reid in an unflattering way. Even though Reid 'lent himself to caricature', this one apparently went too far. Victorian Premier Thomas Bent ('bent by name, bent by nature') was outraged and threatened to have the posters removed from railway property. The above Argus Sauce postcard has been found but its historical context is not clear. The offensive poster featuring Reid has not been seen but it was later reported that Blogg had them amended. It may be the only instance where one of Vasco's drawings was regarded as offensive. Blogg himself was an intersting figure who made it into the papers often. And there seems to be some intriguing interplay between his sauce brand and the titles of the two main Melbourne papers, the Age and the Argus - 'Agus, sauce of the Age' was one of Blogg's advertising slogans.   

No comments:

Post a Comment