Said to be one of the oldest surviving Guinness advertising signs in Britain, this veteran Guinness is Good for You billboard lurks in an alley off one of Dundee’s busiest streets. Now, largely concealed from view, it was restored and stands as a reminder of times when advertising rules were less taxing.
The ghost sign, hand-painted on the gable of a building at 204 Perth Road, is believed to date from the 1920s. Guinness has long been been famous for its advertising and the advert may be an original by the firm’s legendary artist John Gilroy.
The Guinness is Good for You campaign began in 1929 after market research found drinkers felt good after a pint of the Irish stout. Historically doctors prescribed it to nursing mothers, post-operative patients, and blood donors as a source of iron. It also contains small amounts of barley-derived antioxidants, folate, and fibre.
Whatever the health benefits and claims (the current owner of Guinness, Diageo, say ‘we never make any medical claims for our drinks’), the slogan was the basis of the first Guinness advertsing campaign and, almost a century on, it remains a phrase that trips off the tongue and has been enshrined in breweryana. The slogan was originally coined by Dorothy L Sayers, an English crime novelist and playwright.
The sign which, over time, had fallen into disrepair, was restored by Stephen Knight, who lives in the block, partly to raise funds for the charity Retina UK. It is now obscured from view by a neighbouring block of more recent housing but can be viewed from an alley which runs below it.
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