Once again, an ad from yesterday — late 1971 in this case — caught my eye during my ongoing Silver/Bronze Age reread.
Iron-on patches had become popular in the 1960s as a way to individualize your clothing and show you weren’t just a tool of the establishment, even if you were wearing a generic denim jacket from JC Penny’s. Here’s some examples.
Ah, the symbols of the era: the Playboy bunny, the ankh, peace, Woodstock.
A somewhat quirkier mix on the bottom half of the ad. Though you’ll notice in both photos that ecology is popular as a symbol, just as it was a big theme for “relevant” comics.
With patches like these we were free to be, you and me.
Oh, yeah. I remember patches, both the iron-on and traditional, sew-on varieties. Very much a mark of coolness – or a desperate attempt to be cool.
One that caught my eye and made me think, though, is the STP patch. I remember how seemingly ubiquitous the STP logo was on not only patches, but also stickers and even t-shirts. I’m not entirely sure why a motor-oil brand logo was so popular back then.
I was curious about STP, so I found this on Wikipedia:
In 1970, STP CEO Andy Granatelli founded the STP Formula One Team. Mario Andretti was hired to drive.
Around this time one of my prized peices of clothing was a Bardahl Oil jacket, which perhaps existed because of their sponsorship of a winning hydroplane.
Did the early 70s oil crisis kill this trend?
Anyone got a clue? I’m afraid i don’t.
I’m certain the popularity of the STP logo in particular was indeed tied to racing and sponsorships (i.e., the logo was prominently featured on many racecars of the most popular drivers). And I don’t think either of the oil-shocks in the ’70s – the earlier one or the later one during the Carter admin – had any effect on the STP logo’s popularity. Like I said, I particularly recall seeing it on stickers (placed on notebook covers, folders or binders) and on t-shirts – and the period I’m talking about is from about 1975/76 onward. There were even jokes about what the letters stood for, the most popular in my school being “sticky toiler paper.”
Love the joke, remember the brand, don’t remember the patches being common at my school. Which could be because memory is fallible, or because we were all about the football when it came to sports.