February 28th, 2016

Lipton Tea Ads

by Brian Walker, Greg Walker and Chance Browne

Lipton Tea ad by Dik Browne, April 23, 1950.

Another account that Dik Browne did for the Johnstone and Cushing art agency was a series of comic-strip format ads for Lipton Tea. These ran from 1949 to 1952 and often starred couples – Ned and Nancy, Charlie and Jane, Peggy and Phil – or colorful characters like The Suffering Senator, Hot-Tempered Hank and Diamond Don.

Lipton Tea ad by Dik Browne, May 21, 1950.

On his blog, “The Fabulous Fifties,” Dutch comics historian Ger Apeldoorn writes; “The Lipton Tea ads are a prime sample of what Johnstone and Cushing were good at, giving a friendly face to the product with ‘true to life’ stories and characters. In this case they were drawn by Dik Browne (with some possible help by Gill Fox who was often imitating Browne), so what’s not to like.”

Lipton Tea ad by Dik Browne, March 1951.

Here is a link to more Lipton Tea ads by Dik Browne: http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/search?q=tea+total

Lipton Tea ad by Dik Browne, March 27, 1951.

The style that Dik Browne used to illustrate Hi and Lois, beginning in 1954, is evident in this early advertising work.

– Brian Walker