one born every minute
This rather extraordinary piece of advertising comes from the Ringling Museum of the Circus in Sarasota, Florida. It makes the exotic claim that the:
Ringling Bros' $20,000.00 Animal Feature: Last of his kind, human eyes will never behold another. Last chance to see the last specimen - when he is gone, the giraffe will be extinct. [The] only giraffe known to exist in the entire world. Secured at the cost of a fortune, shown at each exhibition of the largest menagerie on Earth.
Aside from an interesting display of poor font-spacing and selection that will probably never be seen again in modern advertising, this poster made a preposterous assertion - even for the days of PT Barnum. Needless to say, it followed through another very American tradition, and ended up in litigation instigated by the Ringling Brothers' competitors. Rather unsurprisingly, it lost on the grounds of false advertising, and the judge ordered all copies of the poster destroyed. Miraculously, three copies managed to survive the purge, and this print remains on display - an exciting memento of the ridiculous excess of a bygone era.
After all - snake-oil like this would never sell today.
And if you believe that, I've got a rare investment opportunity in the Brooklyn Bridge that I'd like to sell you...