My Goodness, Guinness…It’s a Kangaroo!

For much of the 20th century, Irish brewery Guinness used kangaroos for its advertising.

There was apparently no particular reason that advertiser John Gilroy selected kangaroos for a famous series of ads featuring exotic animals that the brewer used from the 1920s through to the 1960s and still common today.

The kangaroos in the ads were notorious for sneaking away a pint of stout in their pouches.

In addition to posters, the kangaroos featured in early TV ads, adorned coasters and were used for Carlton Ware figurines and even a salt-and-pepper shaker.

The advertisements ran under such copy as “Guinness is Good For You,” “My Goodness, My Guinness” and “Ask for a Baby Guinness.”

Guinness even ran a competition to name a joey born at Adelaide Zoo.

Archive Fact Sheet: Gilroy and Animals
How the Guinness Toucan Became the Brewery’s Most Iconic Mascot

Cop A Gander At These Rippers Too...

  • |

    Chiba Company Rapt To Choose A Roo For Wrapping

    Kangaroos are the choice of a company symbol for packaging-materials trading company Kawawa Co., Ltd. from Nagareyama, Chiba Prefecture. Kawawa chose to use a kangaroo to symbolize their operations because it represents “the spirit of wrapping,” according to the company’s website. Although the company has nothing to do with Australia, it chose to represent itself with the country’s national symbol because its pouch is a natural metaphor for wrapping, carrying with care, and protecting what’s inside. Even beyond the company’s official explanation for using a kangaroo logo, the choice is very logical for Japanese commercial design. The pouch representation is perfect for packaging. A kangaroo’s pouch is one of the…

  • |

    豪のクリスマス・ソング：Twelve Days of Christmas Aussie Style

    　クリスマス・ソングと言えば恐らくまずこの「クリスマスの12日間」を思い浮かぶ人が多いだろう。 　それで、珍しいがオージー版もあるんだ。 　曲の流れやメロディが伝統的な曲と同じだが、「梨の木のヤマウズラ」などじゃなくてもらう物がコアラなどオーストラリア独特なものだ。 TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS AUSSIE STYLE On the 12th day of Christmas My true love sent to me 12 parrots prattling, 11 numbats nagging, 10 lizards leaping, 9 wombats working, 8 dingoes digging, 7 possums playing, 6 brolgas dancing, 5 kangaroos, 4 koalas cuddling, 3 kookaburras laughing, 2 pink galahs, And an emu up a gum tree An Aussie Chrissie （オーストラリア独特な英語によって物語れている物語） Strine Dictionary

  • | | | |

    Kangaroo Cooking…Roo Meat: It’s Tasty if Ya Cook It!

    Japanese have been legally eating kangaroo for longer than most Australians. Kangaroo meat was imported to Japan and being served in Tokyo restaurants from 1988, five years before meat from the national symbol was legalized for consumption by Australians in all states other than South Australia, where kangaroo could be eaten legally from 1980. (Indigenous Australians had continued eating kangaroo, a traditional food, regardless of the ban.) Despite the head start, kangaroo meat never really kicked on in Japan, despite its reputation for being a healthy, high-protein, low-fat alternative to beef or pork. RooMeat was promoted in Japan as being a preferred choice of athletes and models, but the “stars”…

  • A Kangaroo Started From A Whisper That Now Shouts Out Loud

    Kangaroo House in Kyoto is a free school for kids who don’t want to attend formal classes and named because of a child’s whisper “to be a kangaroo so I can hide in Mum’s pocket,” according to a report on the organization. Kangaroo House got its name from a child’s remark: “If I were a kangaroo, I could jump free and hide in my mother’s pocket when anxious.” Kangaroo House markets itself as a “mother’s pouch” for anxious kids: lessons by day, emotional charging by heart. Operators chose the kangaroo motif to signal a place that protects, carries and recharges worried children–literally invoking the pouch as a comfort metaphor. NPO…

  • Kangaroos Have a Proud History Adorning Japanese Marushi Bicycles

    Maruishi Cycle Ltd. is a prestigious bicycle manufacturer perhaps best-known today for its vintage models that until late in the 20th century also included penny farthings. Maruishi continues to make fine touring bikes in Japan. The company’s history dates back to 1894, though it has been Chinese-owned since 2006. Of greatest interest for Kangaeroo readers, though, is that Maruishi’s symbol throughout its history has been a kangaroo! Why Maruishi chose a kangaroo remains a mystery, though its cycles are renowned for their luggage-bearing capability, which probably goes some way toward providing an explanation. Although current Maruishi kangaroo displays appear largely limited to bicycle decals and store signage, marsupial images once…

  • カンガルーの玉袋が不足している！

    　オーストラリアの定番おみやげとなっている「カンガルーの玉袋」が不足している。 　この数年、洪水、間伐その他の気候変動によって行っている現象がカンガルーの数に影響を与え、本体が少なくなってれば玉袋も当然稀となる。 　オーストラリアの有数カンガルー玉袋製造者であるジョン・クルーガー氏によると激しい天気になるとカンガルーがもっと安全である内陸へ逃げ狩りづらくなる。 　気候変動による激しい天気の頻度が高くなっている。 Kangaroo Scrotums Are the New Victims of Global Warming（英語）