1969 21x10' 7Up UnCola "Wet Un Wild" Yellow Submarine Billboard Poster Ed George

Description

Giant 21' x 10' 7Up UnCola unused vintage paper billboard poster
Title/Nickname:    "Wet Un Wild"
(a.k.a. "Yellow Submarine", "Green Submarine")
- - - Please check out the other 7Up UnCola posters and billboards that I have for sale from this same era (1969 - 1975) and ad campaign. - - -
Illustrator:               Ed George
Rainlap Code #:     69-9  (located on the back side of upper left panel A1)  This was the ninth billboard image out of about 54 used to introduce "The UnCola" to the USA in 1969.
Year:                      1969
Number of Panels:  12
(each panel is 43" wide x 59" tall with 1" overlaps at interior edges to shed rain water)
Assembled Size:     21'-1" x 9'-9"      (= 253" x 117", or 643 cm x 297 cm)
Copy Number:         2 of 2 in my collection.  This may be the holy grail for 7Up UnCola collectors.  It's exceedingly rare (they all are), but it's also one of the most remembered and representative of the 60's era.
Printed Signature:    No signature.
Ed worked in-house
at the J Walter Thompson [advertising] Co. in Chicago, and as such, he was not allowed to add his signature.
Condition:                MINT CONDITION for the original 11 panels.
The top left corner Panel A1 was missing when I acquired it, but it's been professionally scanned and reproduced in 2020 using my premier copy #1 as a "go-by".
There are NO touch-ups of any kind on the front or back and t
here are NO instances of paper being spliced into the panels
of this copy
.
This billboard:
Images 1-3 are Photoshop re-creation of what some really lucky viewers could possibly have seen months before the Woodstock Festival in August of 1969.
The actual double billboard structures in the backgrounds of images 1 & 2 are located in the trendy "Crossroads" area south of downtown Kansas City, MO.  The vintage
"3
0-sheet"
structures
are the same size and proportions as my vintage paper billboards so they make excellent digital backdrops for displaying my billboard collages.  The background in Image 3 is my high school auditorium and is intended to give viewers a sense of scale.  It's BIG!
Image 4 is a photo collage
of my full size premier Copy #1*.  In reality the colors match perfectly across all 12 panels, but the light meter on my camera is easily tricked causing some variation from panel to panel in these collages.
Image 5 is the same as Image 4 above, but shows the where the upper left
Panel A1 was missing when I acquired this billboard.
Image 6 is the professional scan used to reproduce the upper left Panel A1 using the identical panel from my premiere copy #1* as a control panel for color and size.
The replacement panel is printed on Epson Matte paper.  The texture and color does not match 100%,
but f
inding vintage blank paper over 50 years old was simply not an option.  That said, the replacement panel is still an amazing reproduction.  Please bear in mind that billboards have always been meant to be viewed at a great distance where any minor imperfections are not noticeable.  The reddish stain on the scan was removed before printing.
Image 7 is the "Rainlap Diagram" printed on the back side of Panel A1 from my premier copy #1.  The reproduction panel does not have this rainlap diagram which shows the installer where each panel was to be pasted to the plywood structure.  The panels overlap to shed rain like shingles so that they'd last the 30-90 days they were intended to be displayed.
Images 8-11 show 4 different billboard and poster offers* with expiration dates between 12/31/69 and 6/30/74 making this image available to the general public in various sizes.
Image 12 is a cover for The Beatles 1968 "Yellow Submarine" album which was very popular at the time this award winning ad campaign was introduced.  In reality, the 7Up submarine is actually green and the background is yellow, but the connection to the audience was still made by simply using recognizable graphics, color and next to no text.
Each of the 12 offset lithographically printed paper panels (6 panels wide x 2 tall) is 43" wide x 59" tall with 1" overlaps strategically placed to shed rain water when mounted per the rainlap diagram (Image 7) printed on the back side of upper left Panel A1.  The panels are VERY vibrant, well preserved and do not appear to ever have been displayed.  Small initialed registration marks can be seen in the corners of the individual panels if you look closely.  Those helped the printers properly align the paper as it passed over each of the Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black (CMYK) ink rollers.
"The UnCola" story:
My listings come from the largest, one-of-a-kind collection of 7Up UnCola posters and billboards in the world.  To learn more about this award winning ad campaign, search for in-depth articles by Collectors Weekly (Collecting 7Ups Most Beautiful Hallucinatory Billboards), Dangerous Minds (The UnCola 7Up And The Most Psychedelic LSD Friendly Ad Campaign of All Time) or DJ Food's (7Up The UnCola Posters) blogs.  Alternately, search <7Up UnCola> on flickr dot com and you'll quickly find out more about these art competition winning advertising images issued in the late 60's & early 70's:
These outdoor ads (billboards) were commissioned by the J. Walter Thompson [advertising] Co. of Chicago (JWT) between 1969 and the mid-1970's.  I consider them the "Midwest Mad Men".  Most of the 54+ extremely colorful billboard & poster images were illustrated by invited outside freelance artists who were allowed to sign their names on the originals if desired - not all did.  If their design was selected, they received ,000 for the final artwork.  My collection includes at least one each of over half of the billboards and only my duplicate copies are being offered for sale.  A few images were produced in-house at JWT, and never with the artist's name on them.  JWT wisely chose to invite only up and coming artists and not well known graphic stars so as not to let their notoriety overshadow the 7Up product itself.  FYI - Peter Max did NONE of the 7Up posters, contrary to popular belief.  This famous ad campaign increased sales by 30% in a short time and rescued Seven Up from near bankruptcy.  Since then they've lost their fizz.
Many of the artists have gone on to great fame in the graphics community Milton Glaser (I [heart] NY logo) (Mad Men final Season 7 poster; co-founder of Push Pin Studios), Seymour Chwast (co-founder of Push Pin Studios) with Isadore Seltzer (Push Pin), John Alcorn (Push Pin), Barry Zaid (Push Pin), Kim Whitesides, Jacqui Morgan, Simms Taback (1st Happy Meal Box in Smithsonian & Caldecott Honor for children's books), Skip Williamson (underground comics), Robert Abel (1st Tron movie animations), Charlie White III (permanent collection at MOMA), John Craig, Ray Lyle, Heather Cooper, Nancy Martell, Roger Chouinard, Pat Dypold, Bob Taylor, Tom Kamifuji (original rainbow logo for Apple), Bill Bosworth, Ed George, Joanne _ and probably several others.
From time to time Seven Up offered other billboard and poster images to the general public for prices ranging from {{detail_product_description}}.50 to .50 for posters and .50 up to .50 for billboards.  My collection also includes a number of billboard & poster offers that helps me to pin down issue dates.
Check out this recent 69 second 7Up Vintage Limited Edition Art Series video that features several 7Up UnCola images from my collection:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd8EonCcyAs
0:31      "Butterfly & Bottle”
0:33      "The UnUsual”
0:35      "UnCanny In Cans”
0:36      “See The Light”
0:40      “# Un In The Sun”
0:41      "Wet Un Wild”
Check back regularly to see my rotating stock of other poster offerings, including many more smaller 7Up UnCola posters.
- - - Please note that ALL of my images are "All Rights Reserved" and are posted for educational purposes only.  Please do the right thing and contact me in advance if you wish to discuss the use or reuse of my images and provide a link to my originals.  I would also ask that I be given a "first look" at any 7Up UnCola billboards or posters before you market them to the general public in return for my extensive investment in time, money and research, including interviewing some of the surviving artists.  Thanks, and enjoy. - - -
This is a vintage item and is not in perfect condition.  Please view all of my high resolution photos and contact me if you would like to see any more.  Shipping will be to verified addresses only.  A Delivery Confirmation may be required.  International sales will be shipped via eBay's Global Shipping Program only.  International buyers are responsible for all import fees, taxes and customs delays and I will not mark this as a "gift" to circumvent import fees.
Local pick-up in Dallas, TX is OK (contact me before paying).
* = As a clarification, this listing is for one billboard only consisting of 11 original panels and one reproduction Panel A1.  All other objects included in the listing photos are for reference only unless noted otherwise.  Shipping will originate from U.S.A. Zip Code 75287.