Signs of the Times
March 1976 Signs of the Times Promoted an Advertising Campaign
The fair housing initiative made for an unusual cover.
- A Latin American Signshop’s Journey
Contributor Ben Allen — also a reporter for chemicals manufacturer Rohm and Haas Co. — traveled to Costa Rica for a look inside the Central American nation’s largest sign company. Founded in 1936, Neon Nieto was seeing rapid growth as Costa Rica entered a period of great economic development, which resulted in greater demand for aesthetically unique signs. As company founder and president Cecilio Nieto explained: “No longer is it enough for a sign to just send out a plain message. It has to say something about the character of the business being identified and do so with a certain Latin flair and style.” His descendants run the company these days. - Function Over Form
As begun last month, we are diving into the personal collection of Tod Swormstedt, founder of the American Sign Museum (Cincinnati) and a member of the family that ran Signs of the Times for four generations. In the midst of an extensive archive encompassing nearly a century, the March 1976 cover stands out as one of the most unusual.
In April of the previous year, the Outdoor Advertising Association of America launched a public service advertising campaign to promote Fair Housing, displaying 1,000 poster panels across the nation with the message “Fair Housing… an Ideal for… Americans.” An article inside the issue details more about the campaign and the reception to it. While a noble pursuit, it left the magazine cover certainly eye-catching but not exactly aesthetically pleasing.
Mars Bravo: The Most Interesting Name in the Sign Industry
Mars Bravo is not the kind of name you hear very often in the sign industry — the kind of name more likely to follow, “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage…!” In this episode, Eric interviews Mars to find out about her start in the sign industry and her ideas for the future, first with how she got her name.
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