Advertising
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Hey, look at this pretty picture of a waterfall. Now, go buy our product.Businesses all over the world
If you’re looking for a method to gauge the popularity of waterfalls, you need not look farther than how they are used in advertising campaigns for products that have no direct connection to the waterfalls being used to hawk them.
When I take a shower, the soap I use comes from a package that has a picture of a waterfall on it. I recently drank wine from a bottle that had a drawing of a waterfall on the label. And I regularly drink beer from cans that have illustrations of waterfalls—North Carolina waterfalls—on the labels.
As tourist destinations, waterfalls are regularly featured to entice visitors, sometimes with humorous twists. A 2023 campaign by Visit North Carolina, the tourism arm of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, shows a family behind the veil of Dry Falls on Cullasaja River, while the voiceover says, "Somewhere else, there's a family on vacation posing in front of a waterfall that's powered by a hose. For real, visit North Carolina." Clearly, this is a jab at North Carolina’s neighbor, Tennessee, although it’s uncertain which of the state’s waterfalls it refers to, Rock City or Ruby Falls. (The waterfall at Rocky City is totally fake, while the flow at Ruby Falls is supplemented.)
The “For Real” campaign includes several other notable clips, including the two below that feature Silver Run Falls and Dry Falls. Interestingly, I can’t find the one that mocked Tennessee. I wonder if they pulled it after all the flak they received.
As a card-carrying member of the North Carolina Waterfall Geeks Association, I’m intrigued by the use of the state’s waterfalls to sell products, services, and tourism. Instead of coins or stamps, I collect waterfall ads.
Businesses have used North Carolina’s waterfalls to draw tourists since at least the second half of the 19th century. Today, these kinds of campaigns are inexhaustible and the modern ones are not part of my geeky collection, the videos above notwithstanding.
The image gallery features some of the North Carolina waterfall-related items I’ve collected. The captions describe the advertisements, but one campaign warrants further mention. I learned about the Kool cigarette ads from Gregory Plumb’s Waterfall Atlas of the United States. When Congress banned cigarette advertising on television beginning in 1971, magazine ads increased substantially. The Kool campaign from the 1970s featured waterfalls from across the country, with the taglines stating how smooth and cool the cigarettes are. I’ve tracked down seven of these Kool ads that feature North Carolina waterfalls, and I suspect there are more, as I’ve seen a couple of Kool ads with waterfalls I can’t identify but suspect are in the state. The collection contains all seven original ads, plus one from the Tennessee side of the Smokies, all of which were removed from the magazines.
In addition to the beer labels included here, I have three other beer cans from western North Carolina breweries featuring waterfalls that I suspect are in North Carolina but have been unable to get anyone at the breweries to confirm and tell me which falls it is. Do you know? One is Lower Falls IPA from Highland Brewing. (Just the name, no illustration of waterfall.) The other two are from Lazy Hiker Brewing Company, both with waterfall illustrations on the label. One is Trail Candy tropical IPA and the other is Lazy Tangerine Wheat.
All the items I’ve collected are held by Waterfall Keepers of North Carolina Library & Archives. Do you know about other product promotions featuring North Carolina waterfalls? I’d love to add them to the library’s collection.
Advertisements and products using North Carolina waterfalls
