This is a picture of a Cracker Jack advertisement poster which appeared in The Poster magazine's "Special Design Number," page 26, in September 1926. The magazine features reproductions of outdoor advertising, including some ads in color. After an introduction to the section entitled "Outdoor Advertising Progress in 1926," 64 pages of outdoor poster panels and painted display ads follow, three to a page. The ads reproduced in the magazine are more wide than tall, suggesting, along with the information in the introduction, that the advertisements presented were used on billboards. Other advertisements include Beech-Nut Fruit Drops, Coca Cola, Livingston's Rye Bread, Maxwell House Tea, Oh Henry!, Orange Crush, Palmolive, Shell Gasoline, Tappan Gas Ranges, and Waterman's Pens.

An ad such as this is extremely helpful to Cracker Jack collectors. It shows the type of Cracker Jack packaging at the time, as well as the version of Sailor Jack and Bingo in use around 1926. And it shows us one of the prizes that was being distributed in Cracker Jack boxes then. Can you find the prize? Look again at the poster before scrolling further.

The prize is an airplane, located right under the end of the baseball bat. The propeller appears to be spinning, as if the plane were about to fly off the ad.

The ad's appearance in The Poster also is helpful in determining the date of another Cracker Jack related collectible. One version of Angelus Recipes, an undated booklet promoting The Cracker Jack Company's Angelus Marshmallows, has this same ad on the back cover.

The ads continues Cracker Jack's association with baseball. Notice that the boy in the ad is certainly playing for the right team: his baseball cap has "CJ" on the front.

Thanks to Arva Moore Parks
for providing the image from The Poster.