{"product_id":"guinness-kangaroo-gilroy-1950s","title":"Guinness Kangaroo 1950s | My Goodness My Guinness Gilroy","description":"\u003cp\u003eA kangaroo stands upright, a Guinness bottle tucked in her pouch. Opposite her, the bald little zookeeper bends forward in alarm, a bucket in each hand, his hat airborne, a joey peering from his apron pocket. Bold rust-red lettering fills the top third of the poster: 'My Goodness My GUINNESS.' The background is plain cream. The composition is complete in four figures and a slogan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe zookeeper was a self-caricature of John Gilroy (1898–1985), the English illustrator who produced nearly fifty poster designs for Guinness over thirty-five years working with the S.H. Benson advertising agency. Gilroy conceived the zoo-animal series after visiting a circus in the 1930s: the family of unruly animals grew to include an ostrich, a pelican, a lion, a crocodile, a polar bear, a gnu, a toucan, and this kangaroo. Each design held to the same visual grammar: five or six flat colours, a clean white or cream ground, and a single gag resolved before the slogan was needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe kangaroo variant circulated through the 1940s and into the 1950s as part of what became one of the longest-running advertising campaigns in British history. Gilroy's illustrations were adapted for press, outdoor hoardings, postcard sets, and, from the mid-1950s, cinema commercials. The zookeeper's expression of mild existential distress, reproduced across every medium, became one of the most recognised faces in British commercial art.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReproduced as an archival print from the original artwork held in the Guinness Archive. A considered choice for anyone who follows the history of British graphic design or the advertising tradition that Guinness built between the 1930s and 1960s.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Vintage Poster Archives","offers":[{"title":"A4","offer_id":63909615534457,"sku":"VPA-13386-A4","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3","offer_id":63909615567225,"sku":"VPA-13386-A3","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A2","offer_id":63909615599993,"sku":"VPA-13386-A2","price":34.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"50x70cm","offer_id":63909615632761,"sku":"VPA-13386-50x70cm","price":39.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A1","offer_id":63909615665529,"sku":"VPA-13386-A1","price":44.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"70x100cm","offer_id":63909615698297,"sku":"VPA-13386-70x100cm","price":59.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A0","offer_id":63909615731065,"sku":"VPA-13386-A0","price":69.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0994\/1139\/4937\/files\/Drink-Guinness-MyGoodness-Kangaroo-Zookeeper-1950s.jpg?v=1783449279","url":"https:\/\/vintageposterarchives.com\/products\/guinness-kangaroo-gilroy-1950s","provider":"Vintage Poster Archives","version":"1.0","type":"link"}