Scanning Around With Gene: Matchbook Wisdom on Traffic Safety

Regular readers will undoubtedly note that I’m a bit obsessed with safety messages. I’ve written about a very funny and gruesome booklet called “It’s Great to be Alive,” another on the dangers of bicycle riding, and a third on general safety messages for kids. These booklets all show rather chilling images of kids getting maimed and killed as a result of dangerous behavior. We can argue the effectiveness of this type of negative message, but it seemed to be the norm a few decades back when abject fear was an important teaching tool.

This week I came across a more positive bunch of advertising matchbooks from Wayne’s Grill in New Castle, Indiana. Apparently Wayne was a big promoter of traffic safety – there were over 30 different matchbooks in the collection, each with a unique message. You don’t see many places giving out matchbooks these days, but for many decades almost every eating and certainly every drinking establishment had free matches for their smoking customers. You wouldn’t want to find yourself trying to enjoy a good meal without being able to light your cigarette. Click on any image for a larger version.

The messages on these matchbooks are pretty basic ones of traffic safety and courtesy. But I like the artwork, which is done by several different artists, and would have been “stock” images from the matchbook manufacturing company.

It does strike me (no pun intended) a little odd that many of the images are clearly targeted to children, who aren’t suppose to play with matches, and hopefully weren’t yet smoking cigarettes.