Advert from 1940’s for Monark’s new ‘beauty bicycles’ [beautycyklar], as they were called back then. The sign says The New Fashion.Selling bicycles as practical but gorgeous lifestyle accessories and not as sports equipment. A fine example of what I talk about in my travelling circus… um… lecture series… about marketing urban cycling.“The lines of the lady’s jacket match the lines of the bicycle…” or so they tell us at 0:22.
Monark is one of the grand old brands in Swedish bicycle history.
Good old Charlie Norman sings a ‘beauty song’ about beauty bicycles. Brilliant vintage advert from the 1950’s.
An advert for Monark’s Traffic School, from the 1950’s. I love that kid-sized cargo bike. They have them at my son’s school, too.
An animated advert from the 1950’s. From the days before Culture of Fear.
Here’s the boxer Ingemar Johansson - national hero - in a 1950’s advert for Monark Bicycles. Interestingly, and unusally, in this advert they bang on about the health benefits of cycling - on a Monark, of course. Which fits well with the period in which the film was made and the focus in advertising on athletes like Ingemar, who were role models for an entire nation. Adverts with athletes often emphasised health and vitality.
Oh and here’s another Monark film relating to cyclesport.
