1980s Ad Concepts for Squirt Soda (14 pics)

In 1988, when I was six years old, my mother worked in the soda business for Squirt & Company. One day the creative team at her office was throwing away a batch of draft ad concepts. My mom grabbed the discarded sketches and brought them home for me.

I remember being absolutely enamored by the ideas and colors depicted in these sketches. It made me feel really special to have an "inside glimpse" into potential advertising campaigns. This was the first time I had ever thought about the concept of a "rough draft" or considered creative iteration.

I have held onto these pieces for nearly 30 years, and they have survived a half dozen cross country relocations. Today I found the drawings neatly folded in an old Sunglo folder deep inside a box at the back of my closet. I decided to scan a few sketches and share them here on Steemit.

Unfolding each piece of thin drawing paper today evoked some of the same excitement I experienced when I first received these sketches. It seems silly to have held onto these pieces for so long, but it also feels comforting to revisit them and think about the impression they left on my developing mind.

Here are a few observations I made today as I reexamined these sketches:

• You don't see many painter hats around these days
• Making Diet Squirt a female seems slightly sexist
• Many of the Squirt can's recreational activities feel like anachronisms
• Hot spiced Squirt sounds really awful

I hope you enjoy the pictures.