Kerosene and gasoline

History

A diffused glow cast by a lamp, around which revolves a homely scene; the atmosphere is meditative, protective.

At the end of the 19th century and in the first decades of ours, this was how kerosene and the lamps that used it were advertised.

The oil lamp was presented as an efficient instrument at the service of the family, solidly embedded in tradition.

A good deal more incisive and disruptive were the messages of its direct antagonist, fast on the rise: the electric light bulb.

But when in the ‘Teens these same kerosene companies began to promote the sales of gasoline, the message obviously had to be different, at a good distance from the intimacy of the home and the values of tradition.

Since the public identified the automobile with modernity and (especially in Europe) with social distinction, these had to be the focal points of gasoline advertising, and the same went for lubricants.