Burning Bright

It may be the Year of the Dragon in the Orient, but along Madison Avenue 1964 has clearly become the Year of the Tiger. From elephants to foxes, animals have long helped admen to peddle their wares, but the tiger has roared onto the advertising scene with irresistible force, turning up as a prop for everything from rented autos to hair oil. Says Martin Baker, an account executive for Doyle Dane Bernbach: "It's almost as if ads are giving up sex for tigers."

Humble Oil is pushing its gasoline sales with pictures of a huge tiger and the advice: "Put a tiger in your tank." U.S. Rubber is using a tiger to stress the clawlike grip of its tires. Revlon is backstopping its pitch for an antidandruff preparation with a feline-voiced gal, lounging on a stuffed tiger, who makes every man sit through the commercial by crooning: "I want a word with all you tigers--you men know which ones you are." Kellogg's tigers are puffing vim into breakfast food on the fronts of cereal boxes. Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Co. of Fort Worth advertises its campus slacks by picturing them worn by a tiger, and another manufacturer of slacks, Thomson Co. of New York, shows a tiger skin with a girl's head. Faberge has added a "Tigress" nail polish and lipstick to its "Tigress" perfume, which is advertised with a tiger-stripe background.

Admen track the origins of the fad to Britain, where a Humble affiliate used a fierce tiger to introduce a premium gas. In the U.S. the trend has been helped by collegians who for years have been referring to any really swinging types as "tigers." As the psychologists see it, the tiger is a symbol of virility; as the admen see it, it is a surefire gimmick: sales of U.S. Rubber's tiger-paw tires have almost doubled since it began its campaign, and tigers now absorb a third of the company's $6,000,000 tire-ad budget.

The tiger has roamed into unexpected territory. Hertz uses it to symbolize its dominance in the car-rental field, and Britain's Rootes Motors has just brought out a new $3,400 sports car called the Sunbeam Tiger, with the slogan "Grab a Tiger by the Wheel." Gimmick manufacturers are selling countless cloth tiger tails, priced from 18-c- to $1, to department stores. Humble dealers have sold thousands of tiger-tail tips to customers, most of whom clip them onto gas tanks. This fall Humble is ready to introduce napkins, clothing, and trick-or-treat bags with the tiger theme on all of them.

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