Girls Packing Soap

Girls Packing Soap


One of the earliest films showing off a brand: three women pack Vinolia soap into boxes

This pioneering film by Charles Goodwin Norton was one of the earliest films with a branded product at its centre. Norton ran his own stationery shop in St Pancras, London, and a had a fascinating sideline in making his own films, which he had screened to the royal family at Buckingham Palace and Cowes. His films frequently feature his family and are a charming blend of pioneer filmmaking and early home movies. The identity of the girls in this film, though, is unknown. Whether the Vinolia soap company was involved in the promotion is also not clear; what is certain is that this is one of the oldest surviving examples of a British product promo.


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Pioneers of Screen Advertising

Almost from the dawn of film, advertising was a part of the filmgoing experience. This collection showcases some of screen advertising's earliest steps, as companies learnt to mimic the evolving forms of film comedy, drama, documentary and animation with the careful addition of their product as co-star.
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16 videos in this collection

One of the earliest surviving British adverts
1

The Spirit of His Forefathers

A gentleman cyclist learns the error of his ways in one of the earliest surviving British film advertisements.
2

Rudge-Whitworth - Britain's Best Bicycle

3

Girls Packing Soap

4

Changing Hues

5

Trojan Car Advert

6

Mr.........Goes Motoring

7

Cinema Commercial - Candy Cushions

8

The Tale of the Amp-lion

9

The Boy Who Wanted to Make Pictures

10

Looking Ahead

11

Does Your Wife Know?

12

Ransomes Trolley Buses

13

Barbara's Secret

14

Transporting Loads - With or without Roads

15

Sound Advice

16

The Economist

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