CHRISTMAS CALENDARS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27570, 12 December 1950, Page 2

CHRISTMAS CALENDARS

Curious Selection Of Subjects The season of gift calendars is again upon us. Shops and garages, merchants and wholesalers are once again filling the mail with these seasonal advertising gifts or handing them over the counter to customers. The most curious feature of this custom is that, considering the amount of money the calendars must cost the senders, most of them are aesthetically tasteless, poorly printed and quite unrelated in their subject to the businesses concerned. Just where the alleged art works which appear on most calendars come from is a matter for interesting speculation. Most of them rival old-fashioned chocolate box tops in their conception and execution, and it is easy to imagine the artists who are responsible living up to the old idea of an artist’s life—starvation in a bleak garret. Business men may be reluctant to consult their wives in matters pertaining to their respective enterprises, but the selection of the annual calendar picture is one thing in which they might well seek feminine aid. It is hardly to be expected that expensive photographic calendars of the type which sometimes come from overseas firms could be sent out by small local businesses. But there is no reason why an attractive photograph might not be used as the calendar picture if nothing of merit is offered by calendar salesmen in the form of artistic reproductions. It might also be thought that firms would make some endeavour to link their calendars with their wares.