Old School Design: Gatorade and the NFL

I have recently come into possession of a big pile of old Sports Illustrated issues from the late 1960's and early 1970's. These old SI magazines are like having a time machine in the palm of your hands. These old issues are loaded with great photography and old advertising. I'll be bringing you some of the more interesting things I find in them over the coming weeks.

I have written before about the old Gatorade NFL bottle lids. Those classic NFL lids were a great way for Gatorade to sell me more Gatorade as a child. I spent way too much time and my Dad's hard earned money collecting these old NFL collectibles. Gatorade has always been connected with the NFL and other pro and college sports. Gatorade and sports are like peanut butter and jelly. This classic ad appeared in this NFL preview edition of SI way back in September of 1969.

This classic ad is a great visual from the good old days of the NFL. Two things make it great, the old school glass Gatorade bottle and the old school team pennants on the bottle. It is hard to remember when Gatorade was packaged this way, in glass bottles with a pressure sealed metal lid. The Gatorade Brand logo and packaging look featured here brings back so many memories of downing this tart treat during little league games as a kid. This classic ad even pre-dates the NFL helmet lids that came out a few years later in the early 1970's. The image is a great way to travel back in time to when things were a bit less complicated than they are today. This is a truly great old school ad.

I'll have many more great images just like this as I make my way through some of these old magazines. Until then, enjoy!

Just a quick reminder, you can now follow Sports Design Blog on Twitter. Hop over and follow me there so you can stay up to date with all that goes on at Sports Design Blog!

Comments

[Murph]

My older brother was playing High School football at the time those Gatorade NFL Helmet caps were coming out. I also remember searching through the shelves for missing teams.
Also, I sent away for the cardboard display and still have it with all the teams still on it. I was going to say "complete set" but I noticed my collection has an older Bears helmet with the plain white "C" on it. I could take a photo if you were interested.

[Murph]

Oh...and the old white and blue Rams helmet as well. I wonder how many variations there are?