Bert & Harry Piel Beer Mascots

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In the 1950s, Piels had a very successful television advertising campaign when the Young & Rubicam ad agency created Bert and Harry Piel, the fictitious animated owners and pitchmen for the brewery. United Productions of America animated the spots, while the character voices were provided by the comedians Bob and Ray. Harry (Bob Elliott) was tall and soft-spoken, always calming down the short loudmouth Bert (Ray Goulding) whenever something went wrong.

The Bert and Harry commercials aired from December 1955 until 1960. In the 1960s, the brewery ran advertisements featuring New York City journalist Jimmy Breslin.

Like most regional breweries – including its New York competitors Ballantine, Schaefer, and Ruppert – Piels was facing an influx of national brands such as Schlitz, Pabst, and Budweiser.

These brands, backed by massive advertising campaigns, began infiltrating Piels' primary sales territory and slowly overtook the market. This was coupled with a disastrous 81-day brewery strike in 1949 that allowed out-of-town brewers to establish a foothold in New York City and helped to end the Piels dynasty.

An August 8, 1988, article in Sports Illustrated on beer and sports suggests the popularity of the Bert and Harry ads actually hurt Piels sales because people liked the ads, tried the beer and found out they did not actually enjoy it. Many of the Bert and Harry signs, trays and coasters with slogans (Harry: "Beer anyone?", Bert: "Piels everyone!") are now collectors' items.

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