Kids growing up in the 1960s and 1970s were lucky to get a choice of vanilla, strawberry or chocolate flavours for their ice cream or lolly, let alone a tub of Ben & Jerry’s Blondie Brownie or a stick of Magnum Ghana Cocoa to scoff down. As these deliciously retro posters and print ads for Wall’s ice cream and popsicles of yesteryear so admirably show…
Dr. Who and the Space Raiders fight the Daleks!
Image Source: Dalektricity
Do you think unlikely pop culture mashups are something new, invented by the Buzzfeed generation to share with your mates on Twitter and Facebook? Guess again. This out-of-the-world combo of a Wall’s Sky Ray orange and raspberry flavoured ice lolly and the Daleks appeared as a full-colour page advert in the Eagle comic back in 1967. A Dr. Who picture card, part of a collectible series, was given away for free with every Sky Ray popsicle sold.
Wall’s Ice Cream Tub and Choc Bar
Image Source: Dodo Posters
Dodo Posters are selling this genuine Wall’s Ice Cream vintage advertising poster printing from the 1950s for £120.
Wall’s Product Range Sign
Image Source: DoYouRemember.co.uk forums
In a strange quirk of fate, the introduction and immense popularity of the Cornetto eventually led to the downfall of Wall’s classic frozen desserts like the Dark & Golden ice cream bar and Orange Frutie lolly. The UK’s taste buds – and ice cream manufacturers’ branding and marketing – just got increasingly more sophisticated from the 1990s onwards, as the nation’s constant search for the next taste sensation began. Meanwhile, the cheaper own-brand products from supermarkets like Tesco and Sainsbury’s started to hit Wall’s profits at the other end of the ice cream and lolly sector in a double-whammy of woe.
Luckily for Wall’s, the company has been owned by the huge Unilever group since 1922, so that even today, the archetypal tub of Wall’s vanilla soft scoop ice cream continues to rub shoulders with the brand’s sexier Magnum, Carte D’Or, Viennetta, Solero and Cornetto spinoffs.
Wall’s The Incredible Hulk Ice Lolly
Image Source: Dez Skinn
The Incredible Hulk TV show was literally a smash hit in 1979. This Hulk ice lolly by Wall’s was one of over 180 products, officially licensed from comic book company Marvel, being sold in the UK at that time.
Win Your Own Real Hovercraft
Image Source: Those We Left Behind
Buy a lolly, win a hovercraft! Yep, that makes perfect sense. Great to see another great name from British 20th century childhood in this nostalgic Wall’s promotion though – Airfix model kits.
love all the old walls memorabilia as it is dear to my heart 😉 not related but I wish I was so I could get lots of free ice cream lol
Oh wow, such memories! I remember them so clearly. Nothing so good as a Wall’s choc ice back in the day, or a Sky Rocket when the sun was too busy melting everyone else’s ice creams! Only bad thing is now I’ll have to nip out to the shop cos you’ve got me some serious cravings!
The ‘Dr Who: Revisitations 3’ DVD contains PDFs of all the Wall’s Dr Who material and an accompanying telly advert. It’s on the extras disc for ‘Tomb of the Cybermen.’
Many thanks for passing on this Dr Who DVD info, Pete.
The Wall’s Product Range Sign!! What a blast from the past 🙂
I genuinely think stores/shops should think about bringing retro advertising like this back – the fond memories alone could incite a purchase for old times sake.