Fifty years ago today World War II had been over for almost 15 years, and the baby boomers had been born. At home, we were running around our kitchens hiding from our Moms. At school, we were huddled under our desks, knees pulled up to our chins, hiding from the incoming A-Bombs. The cold war was hot, hot, hot.
Nixon and Khrushchev, the guys with the red phones and secret codes, were huddled at an exhibit of the typical American kitchen at a trade show in Moscow. With the S.O.S pads right there on the counter, and front and center in the famous photo taken by William Safire, who was there that day as a young press agent for one the show’s exhibitors.
The dialogue between the two most powerful guys in the world, as reported in Safire’s column today, went something like this,
Nixon: “I want to show you this kitchen. It’s like those of houses in California. See that built-in washing machine?”
Khrushchev: “We have such things.”
Nixon: “What we want to do is make more easy the life of our housewives.”
Khrushchev: “We do not have the capitalist attitude toward women.”
I love the juxtaposition, these guys playing house, and a box of S.O.S pads is there (maybe its really Save Our Society), at least metaphorically, to save the day.
Anyone know who designed that S.O.S box in the late 50s?
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About Richard Shear
Richard Shear is a Founding Principal and Creative Director of The Shear Partnership. He founded the firm, in 1993, to establish a design organization focused on strategic design excellence and the hands on interaction and management of the creative process.
He brings over 25 years of international consumer brand identity experience, with a wide range of clients such as Ahold, Coca-Cola, Hasbro, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Pernod Ricard and Procter & Gamble. He began his career with Lois/Chajet Design Group, a joint venture of the legendary advertising art director George Lois and the British design manager Clive Chajet. In his next design management position at Lippincott & Margulies, he learned the complex skills of international corporate identity.
During the late eighties he was a Creative Director and Partner at Peterson & Blyth, one of the premier package design firms of the time. Richard is a current Board member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts’ MetroNorth Chapter, past President of AIGA‘s Brand Design Association, President of the Package Design Council and a member of its Board of Directors. He is a graduate of Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, has written widely on the vital role of design and the creative process in the retail marketplace, and has been a guest lecturer at colleges including FIT, Trinity College and Tyler School of Art. He is a nationally ranked masters bicycle racer.
Richard, it would be a few years before Nixon would have a red phone and be privy to launch codes — they were probably in Eisenhower’s office.
Dan, You are absolutely right, and thank goodness!
Hi Richard–wow great minds think alike. (me & you, I mean–not Nixon & Khrushchev) I spent way too much time searching in vein for a color close up of that version of the S.O.S box. It’s not the usual vintage version that you see.
Hi Randy, I did notice that you had picked up on the same article in the Times, and yes I couldn’t find that version of the S.O.S box either. Wonder who designed it?
I must not be busy enough because I found time yesterday to look some more and I did find some color illustrations of this box…
http://waybackvintageads.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=3075228
Still don’t know who designed it. (Not that this stopped me from speculating about it today on box vox.)