The value of advertisements, whether broadcast over the radio or read on print, inevitably reflects the historical developments occurring in a place at the time the commercials were made public. In the town of Davao, product announcements were a giveaway in terms of the kind of progress the locality was experiencing years before it became a city in 1937.
In 1930, in particular, at a time when the crude prototype of the television was still a rare commodity in residences, Davao already acquired some kind of sophistication. In offices, the use of better writing tools other than pencil and ball pen was slowly advertised.
H.E. Heacock Co., with a branch in Davao, was proud of its bestselling Heacock fountain pens, which were offered in three classes (Special, Automatic, and Señorita) with prices ranging from PhP3.00 to PhP4.00. Owning a piece of this signature tool, however, could only be through cash on delivery (COD). For ink, the advertised brand was Waterman; this was before the popular Quink, a Pinoy invention, became the most preferred name.
But fountain pens were not the only articles the Heacock establishment sold. It was also famous for its Elgin wristwatch, described as “the gift that keeps on giving.” This was before we knew there was Tugaris, Citizen, and Rolex reached Philippines shores.
In its print ad, the timer was introduced as “a very intimate possession. To trifle with the selection of such a companion for the one you delight to honor is to miss all the precious significance of its purpose—enduring accuracy and endearing charm.” The Elgin watches for men came in pocket or strap, while the ladies with ribbon or bracelet.
The Heacock list of items also included Kienzle wall clocks, which featured the iconic pendulum of a grandfather’s clock. These were advertised as follows: “Their fine movements are guaranteed for accuracy. Their cases are beautifully finished in walnut color, and with beveled glass fronts. They are the ideal clocks for your home.”
On the other hand, the famous American farm tool, the McCormick-Deering tractor, was already a fixture in some agricultural estate devoted to abaca. Sold locally by MacLeod and Company’s Davao branch, the tractor and its steel cultivator “can plow a hectare of land in about three hours.” This meant savings in terms of “man labor, interest, depreciation, fuel and oil.”
Another important farm tool popularized that same year was the McCormick-Deering corn planter, which was a more effective and efficient than the old method of seeding a corn farm, which used a pointed stick and the manual propagation of the ears. By using the new implement, instead of spending “from six to ten days planting corn,” labor time was drastically reduced to a couple of days only.
MacLeod promoted this product as a “farm equipment [that] will make your plant fast and accurate… [and the] quantity of seeds planted can be regulated and distance between hills can be spaced evenly.” It also sold International-brand trucks, known as the “king of the highway.”
The McCormick-Deering equipment was also sold locally by the International Harvester Company, which had a branch in Davao town.
Long before Mikasa brand invaded the local sport scene, hardcourt players only knew of one basketball brand, the Spalding. It was exclusively distributed by Brias Roxas, Inc, which had two branches in Davao as provincial sub-agents. These were separately managed by Pedro S. Carriedo and the Utoomall Naroomall.
For gun aficionados, C. Alkan, Inc. had a Davao store. It exclusively sold the L.C. Smith brand, “the gun that speaks for itself” and was advertised as the winner of the Grand American Handicap and the Grand Canadian Handicap.
Aside from the Winchester shot shells the store was offering, it also had different shotgun models, such as Ithaca, Lefever, Remington, Eibar, Stevens and Iver Johnson. Also displayed on the store’s gun racks were the Winchester rifles, Colt, Smith and Wesson revolvers and pistols.
In contrast to today’s amenities, there is not much difference in the tools that were already popular in 1930. Though the fountain pen has become more of a museum piece, expensive writing tools like Mont Blanc can be bought at a princely sum, some of them decorated with real diamonds and wrapped in gold mints.
In modern farms, the tractors still rule the farms and rice fields but their steel plows come in various sizes, with each size used for specific tilling tasks. In the countryside, the carabao continues to exist as the beast of burden, which reminds us that modernization is indisputably connected to personal wealth than individual progress.
In the Philippine sport scene, the king of balls in the islands now is the Mikasa. You find that brand proudly changing hands on courts, whether in volleyball or basketball. There are, of course, lesser known brands, but these are products that politicians buy as giveaways.
Talking about guns, the gunsmith industry has experienced unbelievable growth through the decades with the invention of lighter, more sophisticated, and more lethal weapons. In recent decades, brands such as Glock, Beretta, Bushmaster, Browning, Mossberg, Walter PPK, and Ruger, to name just a few, have emerged, mesmerizing and fascinating our minds.
