Burma Shave

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A brand of shaving cream that was popular in the U.S. from the 1920s to the early 1960s. The product was one of the first brushless shaving creams to enter the market, and it became a cultural icon after a long advertising campaign in which signs erected along highways created a series of humorous rhymes designed to capture the driver's attention. For example, in the following verse, each line was posted on a separate sign, leading to the final sign carrying the brand name:

Within this vale
of toil
and sin
your head grows bald
but not your chin
Burma Shave

The innovative advertising technique became known as "burmashaving" and is still imitated still today in various marketing and political campaigns.

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"Burma Shave, 1960s, February 2, 2006" by Roadsidepictures is licensed under CC BY-SA.

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