Check Out The First Ever Soda Ad. The Best Part? It Was For Moxie.

It's a true rite of passage for Mainers.

In my mind, there are two kinds of Mainers. Ones who drink Moxie, and ones who don't. Then there's the lesser-known third group, which are posers who say they like it, but never actually drink it like, ever. But really, the two main subgroups are what divides Mainers the most. As far as soda goes...

I remember my first sip of Moxie. My grandfather let me try his when I was just a wee lad. And like most 6-year olds, I kinda hated it. But for some reason, I kept going back for more. I imagine that's how smokers start out. They think it's revolting, but for some reason keep trying anyway, til the next thing you know, you're totally hooked.

Turns out, they were innovative in advertising as well.

I was cruising around online and came across this article from NPR. Thanks to the fact that thousands of recordings are entering the public domain for the first time, meaning they are no longer subject to any kind of copyright, all sorts of new recordings came to light. There are other interesting recordings in the article too, but let's talk Moxie.

It turns out, Moxie made the first recorded "advertisement" for their product. Although, it's not like what we're used to when we think of modern commercials. These days, most spots are 15, 30, or 60 seconds long. For the most part. This was pretty much a three-minute song about how awesome Moxie is.

Sadly, there was no way to just embed the audio, but follow this link and scroll down to the commercial. It's clearly marked and is not hard to find.

Who am I to argue with a three-minute commercial?

All of this is because of the invention of the phonograph, at the time. And companies had hoped this new technology could help move their products, just like today. But it's fascinating to think that a recorded advertisement was ever a new thing. We take it for granted so hard at this point, that it's hard to conceive of the before times.

Remember, you'll have to scroll down through the article to hear the ad, but it's amazing. If you love oldey-timey things, this will be right up your alley. Enjoy!

Fun? Corinth? Heck yeah!