Jonathan writes:
I’ve previously written about the Coca-Cola campaign of 1978, which coincided with the release of the original Star Wars in Japan. You can find that post here. I’ve made some running changes to the post since it was published to make a few minor corrections and add information about a few aspects of the campaign, so check it out if you are so inclined.
There’s quite a bit of material from this promotion that I am still actively collecting, especially advertising material. As part of that pursuit, I recently picked up a publication called Refreshing Wife, Summer Edition (No. 3), published on 20 June 1978.
The back cover of this publication features a very early advertisement for the Japanese Star Wars Coca-Cola campaign.
The Refreshing Wife advert predates this one from the pages of the 1978 Weekly Shōnen Magazine issue 27, published on 2 July 1978, by nearly 2 weeks.
The advertisement is similar in composition to the so-called “Blowdry Luke” poster and the tri-fold flyer published by the Kinki bottler. But, there are some notable differences.
The poster and flyer are similar to one another, but the information presented at the bottom differs. The larger scale of the poster allowed for the inclusion of detailed information about the available prizes that wasn’t possible on the smaller flyer.
The composition of the advert is different from that of the poster and the flyer. Rather than showing images of 13 bottle caps, the advert shows only 9 bottle caps, with the Luke Skywalker bottle cap in the 12 o’clock position, rather than the Princess Leia bottle cap. Most of the bottle caps (or crowns) shown on the advert are a subset of those from the poster and the flyer, however there are some differences. The advert includes the Stormtrooper and Star Destroyer bottle caps, which are not included on the poster or the flyer. Additionally, the C-3PO bottle cap on the advert is the alternate pose C-3PO bottle cap, not the one that is featured on the poster and the flyer.
The information included at the bottom of the advert is not bottler-specific, which suggests that this publication may have been intended for more widespread (national), rather than regional, distribution. The bottom of the advert is stamped with identifying information for the retailer that presumably distributed this particular copy. The information in the lower left corner of the advert notes that there are “lots of chances to win.” The R2-D2 AM Radio lottery is featured in the lower right corner, without specifics about available quantities that were included on the various bottler-specific versions of the posters.
I can’t blame you if you don’t find the minutiae of these differences all that interesting. But, take a good look at Luke in the comparison below. What I didn’t realize, until I had the advert in hand and was able to examine it in detail, is that the advert features an earlier version of Luke. The artwork was apparently reworked between the printing of the advert and the printing of the poster and flyer, with Luke receiving a complete makeover!
It’s debatable whether or not the reworking of Luke’s face and hair in the poster is an artistic improvement. But, without the reworking, we wouldn’t have the infamous “Blowdry Luke” poster that we all know and love.
The pose and composition of Luke’s body seems to be consistent between the renditions, however, it appears that the poster image was reworked to enhance shadows. There are some differences between the poster and the flyer image, but I chalk those up to differences in printing methods/quality.
While staring at this image of Luke, it dawned on me that, although Luke is obviously holding a lightsaber above his head, he also has a lightsaber strapped to his belt. Long before the Revenge of the Jedi Teaser Poster, the lightsaber that Luke is wielding is red! I suppose his father’s blue lightsaber is the one that is strapped to his belt.
To round out this discussion, here is an image from the Hokkaido Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Ltd. - 25 Year History retrospective book, which was published in 1988:
This image features the early rendition of Luke from the Refreshing Wife advert, but in a composition that is consistent with the poster and the flyer. The retrospective book was published by the Hokkaido bottler long after that fact. It is possible that this image was taken from an archival image that shows an early composition that wasn’t actually produced. So far, I haven’t found or seen images of the poster or other paperwork from the Hokkaido bottler. But, I am intrigued to find out. So, if you’ve got a poster or other paperwork from the Hokkaido bottler, please let us know!
