George Thomas Wilson's Comments

Hi again...here's my posting on the Buy/Sell/Trade page of the Forum...

===========

I am looking for a one-page ad I saw in a National Geographic that was delivered in Brazil in February 1975. I always remember it as being in an October 1974 issue, as delivery by boat mail was always delayed. In an effort to find that ad, I ordered back issues of NG from Aug-Dec 1974, but the ad is not in any of them, leading me to think there may have been special issues for sending internationally. I know some magazines printed on thinner paper when sending overseas. If that's the case, the advertising may have also been targeted for international purposes.

The ad is a one-page, full-color ad by the Portuguese National Tourist Board. It is the photo of a woman in a white, two-piece bathing suit on a sandy beach with cliffs in the background. I would later identify that image with a beach in the Algarve, Portugal's southern tourist attraction. The Carnation Revolution had just overthrown the Fascist Regime on April 25, 1974, and tourism took a big hit due to the resulting uncertainty in the economy and society that resulted. The Tourist Board was trying to regain the trust of tourists with this ad.

It was not the image that interested or interests me, it's the three large words at the top of the page, "Portugal, Come Hither". As an eventual consequence of those words, we spent 40 years in Portugal. Now, back in the US, I am writing the story of our 45 years in Brazil and Portugal, and that page plays a very important part of our story. Any leads are very appreciated.