257. HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM DEL MONTE, Christmas Ads, 1936-1967

DEL MONTE HOLIDAY AD, 1955

The DEL MONTE brand of canned and bottled food products has been around since 1886, and its history is intertwined with the pineapple industry in the Philippines. The named was used by a foods distributor that provided coffee to the Del Monte Hotel in California. The distributor used the same name to produce its canned peaches which were marketed by the California Fruit Canners Association (CFCA) in 1898, a group of  18 West Coast canning companies.

The Cannery of CFCA was built in 1907 and by 1909 was the largest fruit and vegetable cannery in the world. In 1917, it acquired pineapple farms and a cannery in Hawaii and added canneries in Florida and the Midwest, as well as in the U.S.-owned Philippines, in 1926.

 

DEL MONTE CHRISTMAS AD, ca. 1935-36.

The Philippine cannery, called Philpack, was headed by Harry White from 1926-1938, who steered it through start-up years. In Bukidnon, experimental plots were planted with pineapple crowns, until mechanical farming using U.S.-made tractors and trucks modernized the process.

Early DEL MONTE advertising featured products that were imported from the U.S.—cling peaches, cherries and fruit salad—all promoted during the holiday season from the late 1920s thru the ‘30s.

 

DEL MONTE CORPORATE CHRISTMAS Ad, 1961

The War closed down the Philippine cannery but was rebuilt soon after, using surviving pineapple crowns to restart the business anew. Slowly, but surely, the Company gained new packing lines.

It was in the 1950s that Philpack opens its Sales and Marketing offices in Intramuros, Manila, that resulted in more effective, and more professionally done advertising and promotions. Not only did the Cannery expand with a new can plant, but also was equipped with  new processing lines for tomato, papaya and tuna, and a seaport.

 

DEL MONTE PINEAPPLE JUICE, New Year Ad, 1965

By 1967, DEL MONTE products includes fruit juices, catsup, pineapples of different cuts, tomato sauce and even sardines, all actively advertised in magazines and dailies.

On this spread are an array of omnibus Christmas ads featuring DEL MONTE products  spanning the first 40 years of DEL MONTE in the Philippines.

DEL MONTE PINEAPPLE, Print Ad, 1967