The Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising

Unfortunately I’ve not been in England in several years.. but next time I go, I will definitely visit The Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising which is located in the Notting Hill section of London.

The Museum was opened by and is managed by consumer historian, Robert Opie, who at the age of 16 saw the need to record the history of the products around us.  He has built the collection to all aspects of daily life – toys, magazines, technology, travel, souvenirs, fashion and design.  He comments on the site:

‘When the thousands of pieces of our social history are assembled into some giant jigsaw, the picture becomes clearer as to the remarkable journey we have all come through’.

It’s interesting that over the years he has built the sponsorship of the Museum to include such well known brands as Kellogg’s, Cadbury Trebor Bassett, Twinings, pi global, Vodafone, McVitie’s and Diageo… many or most of which are European brands.  He also has a number of what he calls “Brand Sponsors” such as Nestlé, United Biscuits, Marks and Spencer, Premier Foods, Tate and Lyle. (again, a number of European brands).

The current exhibition at the Museum is to celebrate the 250 years of Guinness.  The exhibition highlights the very best of Guinness advertising, from posters and TV commercials to drinks trays and beer mats. He tells us that it was the genius of a Mr. John Gilroy with his menagerie of zoo animals that became the memorable face of Guinness posters.

An exhibition in January was sponsored by a company called Tesco, a UK-based international grocery and general merchandising retail chain, and focused on the topic “Waste Not Want Not”. It looked at how, during the war years, Britain had to conserve on everything from energy to commodities and raw materials… and the lessons learned from that. Of course recycling paper was a part of that… and Ephemera was certainly a part of the exhibit.

There are not a lot of pictures on the Museum site, but a blog entitled “Ragged Roses” did a review of the Museum recently… and you can see several of her picture from the Museum on the blog by clicking here.

Will I see you in England for an upcoming exhibition?

I’m Tom Murphy and thanks for helping me give Ephemera the encore it deserves.

Tom

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