Until the Millennium! (1930)
Monday, March 15, 2010 at 8:44AM ;)
The November 24, 1930 Jefferson City Post-Tribune (Jefferson City, MO) ran this advertisement for an insurance company which assured readers that there would be no need for their services in the future. But until that day comes -- when traffic officers have nothing to do but knit, the flaws of human nature have vanished and automobiles glide silently and safely -- buy Aetna insurance!
Some day traffic officers will have nothing more to mind than their own knitting! Some day the modern automobile will glide silently, swiftly, hither and yon, marvelously protected by undreamed of devices for comfrot and safety. Some day the flaws in human nature will vanish as the morning dew before the rising sun, SOME DAY, but until the millennium -- ATENAIZE ! !
The AETNA COMBINATION AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE POLICY protects you ALL WAYS -- ALWAYS. No matter where an accident may occur or a claim develop -- an AETNA representative, of whom there are 25,000 from COAST-TO-COAST, is there to look out for your interests.
Let us explain this special feature of AETNA COAST-TO-COAST SERVICE TO YOU! ! ! YOUR LOCAL AETNAIZERS -- THE MEN WORTH KNOWING
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Reader Comments (8)
Terrible customer service. I tried dialing 1200, ended up getting a recording. *tsk tsk*
I suspect that by the term "millennium" the ad writers are not referring to the year 2000/2001, but rather to the theological meaning of the term (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millenarianism). While having safe cars in the 21st century might be imaginable to people in 1930, the fact that the writers say "flaws in human nature will vanish as the morning dew" makes me suspect that they were thinking of a supernatural event.
Hey Jonathan, I had that same thought, but I think the references to flaws in human nature could have been in reference to human eugenics. Religious thought of this period isn't my specialty though, so you very well could be right.
"Aetnaizers"? Better than "Aetnazis", maybe, but still...
My guess is they're talking about the future, not the rapture -- I think an Xtian talking about the 2nd coming wouldn't think that afterwards there'd still be cops (even knitting ones), nor a need for something as material and clunky as an automobile.
So, did anyone in the 19th c. ever think to ensure against horse-tramplings, wheel-manglings, or railway accidents? I'd hate to think that Casey Jones's moment of indecision when faced with the Western Mail would've left my family bankrupt, but apparently that's the case. And God forbid I try to cross Main St. when the 4:00 omnibus is headed for Watertown, and a wheelman shoots across the avenue at 15 miles an hour.
New technologies = new opportunities for profit.
Actually I'd say new technologies = new opportunities for injury = need for new responses. Some are kind of blood-money money-grubbing, but a lot of the protections we take for granted today (worker's comp, OSHA, etc.) arose from 19th century industrialization and increasingly gruesome accidents (and callous robber baron responses).
I agree with Jonathan on this one. This sounds an awful lot like postmillinealism, a theological view of the end times that predicts that the world will get better and better until finally there are 1000 years of peace and tranquility, after which Jesus would return. This view almost completely disappeared from Christianity after World War II, but it was very common at the time of this ad.
Wutzke, you're reading today's predominant Evangelical view of the end times into it. When this ad was published, it would have made perfect sense to most Christians as talking about the period of time just before Jesus returns.
I like the typo: ATENAIZE!!!.