The Book of Guinness Advertising

by Brian Sibley

AT LAST! GUINNESS ADS BROUGHT TO BOOK!
Celebrating over fifty-five years of amusing and entertaining Guinness advertisements, with such memorable characters as the toucan ('Just think what toucan do') and the ostrich who swallowed his keeper's Guinness glass and all!
This book tells the fascinating story of how and why Guinness advertising first began in 1928, and looks at the ways in which it has changed and developed over the years and around the world.
Recalled in these pages are the famous Guinness strong-man carrying his girder, the lumberjack who felled a tree at a stroke, the pelican who carried a week's supply of Guinness in his bill and the little girl called Alice who had many strange adventures in a Guinness wonderland.
Almost every aspect of Guinness advertising is recorded here, from immortal poster slogans like 'My Goodness My Guinness!' and 'I've. never tried it because I don't like it' to witty television commercials featuring the talking toucan and the Friends of the Guinnless.
Illustrated throughout with hundreds of pictures (in colour and black & white) including many examples of original artwork and unused designs. Among the famous artists and illustrators whose work is pictured are Ronald Searle, Rex Whistler, Edward Ardizzone, H.M. Bateman, Antony Groves-Raines, Eric Fraser, Emett, Thelwell, Erte, Hoffnung, Giles and the man who, for over twenty years, epitomized Guinness advertising John Gilroy.

221 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1985

About the author

Brian Sibley is an English writer, broadcaster, and award-winning dramatist.

The author of over 100 hours of radio drama and hundreds of documentaries and features for the BBC, he is best known for his acclaimed 1981 radio adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, co-written with Michael Bakewell, as well as dramatizations of C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast novels, and Richard Adams’s Watership Down.

Sibley has also written numerous original plays for radio, presented popular BBC programmes including Kaleidoscope and Talking Pictures, and produced documentaries on figures ranging from Lewis Carroll and Ray Bradbury to Julie Andrews and Walt Disney.

His contributions to broadcasting have earned him accolades such as the Sony Radio Award and the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Adaptation.

In print, Sibley is the author of many acclaimed film “making of” books, including Harry Potter: Film Wizardry, The Lord of the Rings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy, and Peter Jackson: A Filmmaker’s Journey, as well as companion volumes for The Hobbit films, The Golden Compass, and Disney classics. His literary works range from Shadowlands to children’s books like The Frightful Food Feud and Osric the Extraordinary Owl, with stories appearing in official Winnie-the-Pooh collections.

A noted Disney historian, Sibley has contributed essays to The Walt Disney Film Archives and recorded DVD commentaries for classic films. He is the editor of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Númenor, winner of the Tolkien Society’s Best Book award in 2023.

Sibley has served as President and Chair of The Lewis Carroll Society and is an honorary member of The Magic Circle, the Tolkien Society, and The Children’s Books History Society.