pooh for president

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Vintage Ad #173 - Vote for Winnie!
1980. A crowded field in the US presidential race. For the Democrats, president Jimmy Carter, whose popularity was sagging badly in the wake of inflation, the Iran hostage crisis and other bumps in the road. For the GOP, Ronald Reagan, former movie star and governor of California. On the independent side, John Anderson, a moderate Republican who had lost in the spring GOP primaries. For the children and department stores, Edward Bear, aka Winnie the Pooh, Disneyfied classic children's literature character.

Things were going well for the Pooh campaign, with polls suggesting he might be the spoiler. However, when Pooh's nationality was discovered to be foreign, any votes cast for him were tossed out.

But seriously...is anyone else mildly disturbed by the colour of Pooh's eyes, or the hypnotic effort he has on most of the children in this picture? Only the boy to Pooh's right shows the slightest sign of skepticism/resistance (it's hard to tell the expression on the reporter's face). Heck, I might have fallen under his spell, since I'm sure I had one or two pieces of Pooh clothing from Sears around that time...

Source: Ebony, August 1980

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