Glittering Prize

From June 1980, this vintage comic book ad is sure to be familiar to comic book readers of this era. "Earn famous name Prizes or Cash" by selling cards & gifts! I was never sure what it was that you would be selling if you "enrolled" in the Olympic Sales Club-- it says "cards & gifts." And you were suggested to sell them to "Anyone's a prospect.... friends, neighbors, relatives...." Grandma, I gonna be callin'!

It always sounded suspicious to me, even as a naive 14-year old. But boy, those prizes were sure cool looking! You could tell which were the really great prizes- by how many boxes you needed to sell to get them. The range went from 'Bike Generator Light Kit (7 boxes) up to the big kahuna, the "Huffy Thunder Trail Bike" (65 freakin' boxes). I can tell you I had my eye on some of these winners:

• Emerson 8-track player with AM-FM Radio (sell only 15 boxes)- portable, way worth it- 8-track goes into the side. Plus a radio!!
  
• Centuri Electric Launch Rocket Set (sell only 10 boxes)- a steal at only 10!
• G.E. Turbo Hair Dryer (sell only 11 boxes)- just kidding, I didn't really want this, I had a big comb in my back pocket then.
• G.E. Cassette Recorder Player (sell only 25 boxes)- sweet prize, very steep at 25. And thats 25 boxes, I mean how many cards "or gifts" are in a box!! Man...

So for a quick review of this ad. The printing is bad as usual, the images are small and muddy. The text listing the number of boxes to sell is so small, you have to guess at some of these. All on a bright yellow background. But, boy those prizes were still desireable, no matter how crappy the illustration are!

The Olympic Prizes or cash ad- click here.