Three frogs atop each others' shoulders seek White Star Coffee

This old White Star Coffee ad seems to have come from a contrafactual Jazz Age in which Chairman Mao's graphic designer moved to America to work for a commercial illustration firm.

Contest Entry: White Star Coffee

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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The Snowden Principle

sing it, baby

They really should think about adding a fourth frog.
- irksome
  
  Three frogs indicates “some frogs”. Two would be a pair of frogs and four would still be “some frogs” but would be one more than is necessary to convey “some frogs” and would therefore be infuriating.
  
  For more information, see: Ernie Bushmiller.
RebNachum

“THREEEE FROOOOGS in the FOUNNNN-TAIN…”
Inventorjack

Related? http://www.flickr.com/photos/musely/4695892377/
- T Nielsen Hayden
  
  InventorJack: They share common ancestors. When that print was made, Western artists had for some time been studying Japanese prints, which have a history of fun with frogs. My favorite example: Kuniyoshi Utagawa’s print of frogified heroes of the Kabuki theatre.
Shart Tsung

“frogs, frogs, jolly old frogs, fa la la la la la”
adamnvillani

If Budweiser ads taught me anything, it’s that if three frogs like something, it must be good.
YarbroughFair

It took reading through 13 comments to finally find one that focused on the beauty of this advertisement. I know a bidding war would ensue if it came up for auction. Love this ad.
YarbroughFair

Actually, the ad does make sense. The frogs don’t have enough energy to leap and jump and now rely on cooperation and teamwork to “reach the stars”. Also, frogs/toads are highly regarded in many cultures.
phisrow

“Coffee: It keeps the running dogs running!”
desiredusername

Frogs sat around a puddle
And gazed at heavens high
Frog teacher pounding into skulls
The science of the sky.

He spoke about the heavens
Bright dots we see there burning
And men watch them, “astronomers”
Like moles they dig for learning.

When these moles start to map the stars
The large becomes quite small
What’s twenty million miles to us
They call one foot, that’s all.

So, as those moles did figure out
(If you believe their plan)
Neptune is thirty feet away
Venus, less than one.

If we chopped up the Sun, he said
(Awed frogs could only stare)
We’d get three hundred thousand Earth’s
With still a few to spare

The Sun helps us make use of time,
It rolls round heaven’s sphere
And cuts a workday into shifts
“Forever” to a year

What comets are is hard to say
A strange manifestation
Though this is not a reason for
Some idle speculation

They are no evil sign, we hope
No reason for great fright
As in a story we got from
Lubyenyetsky, great knight

A comet there appeared, and when
It rays were seen by all
The cobblers in a tavern
Began a shameful brawl

He told them how the stars we see
So many, overhead
Are actually only suns
Some green, some blue, some red

And if we use the spectroscope
Their light tells, in addition
Those distant stars and our Earth
Have the same composition

He stopped. The frogs were overwhelmed.
Their froggy eyeballs rolled.
“What more about this universe
Would you like to be told?”

“Just one more thing, please tell us sir”
A frog asked, “Is it true?
Do creatures live there just like us
Do frogs exist there too?”

Do Frogs Exist There too?

Jan Neruda- 1878
hungryjoe

This is a beautiful graphic. It doesn’t make me crave coffee (more), but I would pay cash money for the ad itself.

See how unattainable purity is, even for frogs…
neurolux

The top frog has a creepy little human hand, complete with opposable thumb. Caffeine speeds up evolution too!
Anonymous

This reminds me of yertle the turtle.
Anonymous

I love random shit like this.
Clifton

“Pure”? Why that’s it!

Pure anhydrous caffeine sounds like it might actually make this morning salvageable.
hungryjoe

This is a beautiful graphic. It doesn’t make me crave coffee (more), but I would pay cash money for the ad itself.

See how unattainable purity is, even for frogs…
Roger Wilco

how funny, just came across this while perusing the LOC digital archives. Here is the entry: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/99472458/

If you have the time there is a mountain of cool stuff in there…WPA posters, TVA photographs and fantastic political cartoons. I particularly like this one: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2011645733/

My, how little things have changes. A lot of the collection is in the Public Domain BTW.
Anonymous

I guess coffee mesmerises the hipnotoad.
T Nielsen Hayden

I am in perfect sympathy with those frogs.

Coffee!

Coffee right now!
Anonymous

And I’ve got the perfect cup to drink it from…
jtegnell

They look like they’re about to start crying.
Mister44

â€œMine! All mine!â€ croaked the frog,
I’m king of the swamp, I’m king of the bog.
I’m king of the pure, I’m king of a star,
I’m king of the fowl flying afar.
And Iâ€™m the king of the reeds, oh, marvelous me!
For I am the ruler of all that I see!â€
Connie H.

What you don’t see pictured is the frog underneath the bottom frog, and so on. Because it’s frogs all the way down until you’ve had your caffeine.
chimera

The precursor to Three Wolf Moon?
facetedjewel

‘Froggy went a-courtin he did ride, uh-huh…’
desiredusername

I had to read through n comments to find one that met my criterion of x. What an x image!