Jump to content

Burma-Shave.


Recommended Posts

This program's users / are quite adept / at wordsmithing / on the / Internet / Burma-Shave

Hello and welcome to another Overflow game! Has anyone ever heard of Burma-Shave (Wiki this)? Read that article, if you haven't.

Burma-Shave was an early 20th-century American company that made shaving cream, best known for its innovative advertising campaign: several (usually six) signs, arranged on the side of a road so that a passing motorist could read them; usually, they took the form of cute, eye-catching couplets, with the title "Burma-Shave" on the final sign. After over 600 different sign sets in 44 of the 48 contiguous United States between 1925 and 1963, Burma-Shave became a household name- making it one of the most effective ad campaigns of the 20th century.

And it's making something of a comeback. See, the webcomic xkcd posted a comic today:

twitter.png

(The tooltip reads "If long tooltips / Cut off for you / Then upgrade from / Firefox 2 / Burma Shave")

So;

Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

Write one. Or two. Or twenty. Ideally, they should advertise Paint.NET, but really, anything goes. Just try to be clever, but above all, have fun with it!

Rules of the Road signs:

-They must follow all forum rules. No cursing, etc.

-You must post a couplet with a rhyming scheme.

-Must be fairly short.

Here are a few to get you started:

Some original sign sets, advertising Burma-Shave:

Riot at / Drug store / Calling all cars / 100 customers / 99 jars / Burma-Shave

Don't stick / Your elbow / Out so far / It might go home / In another car / Burma-Shave

A Man, a Miss / A Car, a Curve / He Kissed the Miss / And missed / The curve / Burma-Shave

Considered for signs, but the campaign was ended before they could use it:

Listen birds / These signs cost / Money / So roost a while / But don't get funny / Burma-Shave

A Barack Obama ad, handmade by a supporter:

Time for change / Let's shift gears / Vote for the guy / With big ears / Obama08

An ad for Reminisce Magazine:

Would be more fun / To go by air / If we could put / These signs up there / Reminisce Magazine

And mine, that I posted as my Facebook status:

David thinks / that, just for fun, / he'll only speak / in rhyming pun / Burma-Shave

Let's see your creativity!

 

The Doctor: There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior... A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.
Amy: But how did it end up in there?
The Doctor: You know fairy tales. A good wizard tricked it.
River Song: I hate good wizards in fairy tales; they always turn out to be him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MattBlackLamb is / your friendly forum sheep / the less of him you eat / the more he will bleat

That made me chuckle Peter :D

dA

Son, someday you will make a girl happy for a short period of time. Then she'll leave you & be with men that are ten times

better than you can imagine. These men are called musicians. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because I don't want / a hothead in the / secondary seat I will vote / Obama 08

I won't be voting, as I'm not American, but that doesn't really scan with the rhyme... Not that it's that great :P

dA

Son, someday you will make a girl happy for a short period of time. Then she'll leave you & be with men that are ten times

better than you can imagine. These men are called musicians. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...