Burma-Shave: One of the Most Successful-Ever American Billboard Campaigns

Still remembered with fondness, the Burma-Shave rhyming slogans were one of the most effective billboard campaigns ever put to use along American highways. It worked well for the company from 1927 through 1963.

Burma-Shave sold a brushless shaving cream that came in a tube. The jingles and billboard campaign along America’s highways was successful, bringing the company to the number two position among shaving creams.

What It Looked Like

Each ad was actually six red boards with black lettering, to be read sequentially. These were posted along well travelled roadways, spaced for easy reading. The last sign was the company name, Burma-Shave.

Having the billboard broken up into a series of signs with short slogans worked perfectly when car speed was slower. Reading the slogan and getting to the punch line was all rage among drivers and passengers.

 

Two famous examples are:

Prickly pears

Are picked

For pickles

No peach picks

A face that prickles

Burma-Shave

 

Substitutes

Resemble

Tail-chasing pup

Follow and follow

But never catch up

Burma-Shave

 

Why the Burma-Shave Campaign Endured

Today Burma-Shave is remembered more for its advertising campaign, less for its product. The signs were a national pastime from 1927 through the 1950s. They were posted until 1963, but by that time the driving experience, and increased speed, was much different. Sales slowed down, the company was sold in 1963 and the ads were stopped.

 

Here is a look at the three reasons it endured and sold successfully for decades.

 

It fit the driving environment of the times. Families out for a Sunday drive in their Model A were delighted to come across a Burma-Shave jingle. It was part of the fun of hitting the road. During the 1930s and 1940s vacations by car became more common, but were still enough to be an adventure. Travelers found a reassuring constancy from one new part of the country to the next by looking out for the slogans. Car speeds, even on highways, were in the 20 to 40 m.p.h. range, slow enough for easy reading.

 

It appealed to consumer’s sense of humor. The original sayings were basic ads, like “Save the modern way/No brush/No lather/No rub-in/Big tube 35 cents—Drug stores/Burma-Shave.” But the writers soon added humor and a national craze was born. Here is one of the first examples of wit: “Every shaver/Now can snore/Six minutes more/Than before/By using/Burma-Shave.” It became a national game to try to be the first to spot a new jingle.

 

It capitalized on its position as a national pastime. The company originally set out two to four new sets of signs each year. When they caught on, Burma-Shave was adding up to 19 sets of new signs annually. They even started including a free book of jingles with each purchase.

 

It would be hard to come up with another outdoor ad campaign that lasted as long and made the impression that Burma-Shave did. It is still part of the national consciousness more than 50 years after the last sign was put up.