"Shine, Sir?" Kiwi Boot Polish advertisment
In this groundbreaking early cinema ad, Boot Room staff at London’s Imperial Hotel depart to join the Army, leaving the hotel short-staffed. Two boys offer to tackle the guests’ footwear. Thanks to the Kiwi Polish bought for them by a kind Australian soldier, they polish and buff their way into employment.
"Shine, Sir?" Kiwi Boot Polish advertisment
In this groundbreaking early cinema ad, Boot Room staff at London’s Imperial Hotel depart to join the Army, leaving the hotel short-staffed. Two boys offer to tackle the guests’ footwear. Thanks to the Kiwi Polish bought for them by a kind Australian soldier, they polish and buff their way into employment.
Year: 1916
Length: 04:09
Production Company: The London Press Exchange Ltd
Catalogue Reference: 5908 Kiwi Shoe Polish: Shine Sir: Advertisement
Location: London, United Kingdom
Tags: Cinema, Advertising, Kiwi Boot Polish, London, Australia, New Zealand
During World War One many companies linked promotional campaigns to ongoing conflicts. For example, a May 1916 newspaper advertisement titled “A Soldier’s Tribute” claimed that Dr Morse’s Indian Root Pills were, “part of his equipment at the front”.
But Shine, Sir? was groundbreaking - one of the earliest advertising campaigns produced for the cinema. William Ramsay, owner/founder of the Kiwi Polish company, believed that members of the Australian armed forces in London were walking advertisements for his famed ‘Kiwi Dark Tan’ boot polish, and the film capitalises on this.
The ad shows how quickly and easily Kiwi polish can transform dirty shoes into footwear shining like new. Why, a child could do it! In addition, it suggests that the slouch-hatted, spur-wearing Aussie soldier is a positive influence for a pair of grubby-faced street urchins when he buys them each a Kiwi shoe-cleaning kit.
The shoeless young boys get to work on a pile of dirty boots in the hotel basement, impressing the hotel manager who gives them a job. They have become productive and disciplined employees, standing up straight with their shoulders back, wearing neat uniforms and marching in unison as they leave the hotel manager’s office.
In other words, they are now well on the way to becoming future defenders of their country, thanks to the intervention of an Australian soldier - and the effectiveness of Kiwi Dark Tan boot polish, of course.
This cinema advertisement was made by the London Press Exchange, an agency that opened in 1892
"Shine, Sir?" Kiwi Boot Polish advertisment
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00:00
Intertitle: Shine, Sir!
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00:02
Intertitle: “Can’t clean boot? I’ll show you something that will clean them for you! Come along and I’ll introduce you to ‘Kiwi’!”
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00:08
An Australian soldier talks to two ‘street urchins’ outside the service door to a hotel.
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00:13
The soldier takes the boys to a shoe store and buys them a tin of Kiwi Shoe Polish
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00:29
The boys return to the hotel
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00:33
Intertitle: “Show me what you can do….If you make a good job of it – the job’s yours!”
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00:38
In the hotel manager’s office the boys rejoice at being given the opportunity
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00:53
Intertitle: Some job!
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00:56
The manager takes the boys to an area with boots to be shined. The boys start rapidly shining.
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02:26
Intertitle: The surprise of his life!
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02:28
The manager arrives as the boys finish shining
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02:40
Intertitle: “Boys, you and ‘Kiwi’ are the goods! I’ll give you a pound a week each!”
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02:46
The manager thanks the boys
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02:54
Intertitle: Pay Day
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02:55
Manager’s office. The boys enter wearing hotel uniforms. The manager pays the boys. They salute respectfully and leave.
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03:28
Intertitle: Kiwi (“Kee-Wee”) is the Australian polish that came over to help
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03:35
The camera zooms in on the lid of a tin of Kiwi Boot Polish
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03:55
The Kiwi emblem becomes animated. The words ‘Kiwi! Kiwi! Kiwi!’ comes out of its beak