Remembering When Cocktails Were Just Soup – Gastro Obscura

IN THE DOG DAYS OF the summer of 1955, hundreds of magazine editors, columnists, and radio broadcasters around the United States received an unusual cool-off care package. The contents included an ice bucket, a set of tongs, and a can of Campbell’s beef bouillon. To avoid any confusion, the gift basket also contained a recipe booklet instructing what to do with the soup: Pour it into an over-sized rocks glass and sip it like an Old Fashioned.“For a summertime drink, it is low in calories—less than 30 calories per generous serving,” enthused a company report at the time. “It is inexpensive… It is especially valuable to athletes and golfers in replacing salt lost through exercise. Best of all, it is downright delicious.”Don Draper might have snorted at the idea of a zero-proof libation, but Campbell’s took their “Soup on the Rocks” campaign completely seriously. In August 1955, the company rolled out a splashy ad with a color illustration of its “cocktail” in LIFE magazine. More ads followed, along with promotional gifts of Soup on the Rocks to actors and athletes, including the entire Chicago White Sox and Brooklyn Dodgers. The drink appeared on menus from the Brown Derby in Los Angeles and Sardi’s in New York.

Source: Remembering When Cocktails Were Just Soup – Gastro Obscura