New improved Gillette Advertisement

When the New improved Gillette was introduced, Gillette needed a new improved advertisement too. After all, the ads for the Old Type was, well, old.

A new improved Gillette ad, likely from the early 1920s
A new improved Gillette advertisement

While my source for this advertisement don’t give date, there are a few points that can give us a lower and upper estimate on when it was printed.

For starters, the detailed drawing in the middle refers to a patent from 13th January 1920 – which means that the ad cannot be older than that. Likely it is at least a year younger, given that it usually takes time between getting a patent and getting manufacture set up. The patent, by the way, is US patent 1,328,024.

Another source states that the New Improved Gillette was introduced in 1921, which agrees with the patent date and time to manufacture. And the same source states that the New – which is not the same as the New Improved, was introduced in 1929.

And the same source has another page, where I found a 1921 Argentinian advertisement for the New Improved Tuckaway. That ad has a very similar diagram of the shave head. So similar, in fact, that it has to come from the same source. And that means the two ads most likely are close in time.

In other words, 1921 or thereabouts.

So there you have it. A new improved Gillette advertisement for the New Improved Gillette razor from one hundred and two years ago. So what does the ad actually say?

As we all know, the main difference between the Old and New Improved is the base plate. The New Improved baseplate is thicker and is flat on top. The Old baseplate is thinner and fully curved on top. The changes were slight, so the ad instead focused on other things.

Highlights includes, uhm, that is shaves. Or as the ad copy states it:

…performing its daily function of shaving perfectly…

Some poor, underpaid copywriter

Priced at 5 US dollars and up – or 85 USD / 79 € / 69 £ / 930 NOK / 11,772 ¥ today – the New Improved Gillette was not cheap. So the prospective buyer would be happy to know that it would indeed shave.

One thought on “New improved Gillette Advertisement

  1. Pingback: New improved Gillette Advertisement - Razors n Blades the shave that saves

Leave a Reply