I stumbled upon this ad today, from Onoto, most probably published around 1917-18. It shows then German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, holding an Onoto pen within his teeth, and behind him George Clemenceau. Clemenceau became President du Conseil (the highest executive office of the 3rd Republic) in late 1917, declared "I came to make war" and fought (and imprisoned for treason) those who spoke of negotiating peace with Germany. He had already won the nickname "The Tiger" in his earlier days in politics for his fierce debating style.

The ad reads "Comme Clemenceau, l'"Onoto" ne fuit pas", which means "Like Clemenceau, The "Onoto" does not run away/leak." (The French verb for running away also means to leak.)I thought this was a nice piece of wartime propaganda.

Great bit of historyDenis. Try taking out adds like that today

Now I know why my vintage Onoto's have teeth marks

Gary

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Chewing BHR as a food replacement in WWI ...

In thinking about the ad, I'm wondering why von Bethmann-Hollweg has the Onoto between his teeth instead of Clemenceau. My initial thought is the picture associates Onoto with the wrong person, plus the pen is in a position of submission - it looks like the Chancellor is about to snap the pen in half. Maybe that's what they meant, even though things looked bad, the Onoto was there to stay?

Not sure, and I have to recheck my history, but by late 1917 the European powers had pretty much fought themselves to a state of an exhausted stalemate. Not to say that the Germans didn't try the big push in early 1918.

Great ad, btw.

weepstah

Same here... However, the exact time of the publication may hold a clue, i.e. if the balance of power has already tilted against Germany at the time of publication, then it makes sense, because it implies that the pen will be saved .

Thanks a lot Denis for posting it.

It's true that by modern standards the ad is odd. By by wartime WWI standards, it's not that astonishing :

- Ads always aim at inspiring hate of the ennemy (see how cruel that big evil German looks ?);
- We're always winning the war, whatever happens on the front.

Add to that the grip of censorship. And then again, wartime propaganda usually defies common sense. The main message at the onset of WWII was "we will win because we are the strongest".

I think the pen symbolically represents Alsace and Lorraine, the two regions occupied by German for almost half a century at the time, and the main objective for the French.

Here is another example of wartime illustration in the same fashion.

Denis, interesting point! That certainly would make sense. Being an English company, I would have expected to see France in the gaping maw of the German tyrant, and an English knight wielding an Onoto lance coming to the rescue. But I guess that wouldn't sell too many pens to the French To be honest, I still struggle with this ad because of Clemenceau's furtive, bemused appearance in the advertisement.

It's a fascinating ad - thanks to you, Antonios and wimg posting these! Great stuff.

Hey weepstah, Denis, Antonios,

I didn't post a thing . Honours go all to Denis and Antonios! Thanks to both of you!

Warm regards, Wim