Back in the 1970s, as with today, people were obsessed with inflation and the high cost of groceries (yes, that was a real word, even back them; so was “affordability“). The main focus of the advertisements back then seemed to be meat – – meat, meat, meat – – since that was considered the truest of foods and the one whose price rise was most obvious. I’m not quite sure what the technical definition of meat was when it came to Dinty Moore stew, but I’m relieved to state that I never had the experience.
This meat fetish existed not just in print ads but also television commercials, including this one from Mason Reese, a constant presence in early 1970s advertising. Mason nasally-declared in this ad your family could enjoy “four meat sandwiches for under a dollar” by mixing deviled ham (again, let’s not explore the origin too deeply) with God-knows-what, including, yes, pineapple.
As a side note, even as a very young child, I considered Mason Reese to be one of the weirdest humans I had ever laid eyes on, and, decades later, I can report to you that things didn’t get any better.
