EVERY BITE A DELIGHT AND OTHER SLOGANS...

EVERY BITE A DELIGHT AND OTHER SLOGANS by Laurence Urdang and Janet Braunstein, with Tina K. Speagle and Ceila Dame Robbins, illustrations by Terry Colon (Visible Ink Press/835 Penobscot Building/ Detroit, MI 48226-4094: $15.95). This amusing compendium of American advertising slogans reveals just how many have entered the popular vocabulary: “You’ve come a long way, baby”; “melts in your mouth, not in your hand”; “So round, so firm, so fully packed.” It’s interesting to note how shifts in public perception have eliminated such lines as “Not a cough in a carload” (Old Gold cigarettes); “Wholesome sweets for children” (Laura Secord candy), and “The beer that made the nineties gay” (Potosi Brewing Co.). But this anthology would be more useful and valuable if the authors had dated the entries and chosen advertising artwork for the illustrations, instead of Terry Colon’s amateurish cartoons. The old Aunt Jemima pancake flour slogan, “I’se in town, honey,” sounds unpleasantly racist today, but the ugly picture of a stereotypical black cook that accompanied the words would be considered even more outrageous.