Red Lion the Motorists' Choice

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Text on Button VOTE FOR RED LION THE MOTORISTS' CHOICE
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Red illustration of a lion's head in the center of the button surrounded by red and black text

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VITACHROME INC. L.A. & S.F.

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The oil company Gilmore Oil Company of Los Angeles developed an advertising campaign in the 1930s using the Red Lion to promote their product.  The oil company was founded by Arthur Fremont Gilmore in 1905, after discovering oil on his dairy farm.  The advertising campaign focused on the different colors of gasoline, which was the first time an oil company advertised gasoline by its color.  Dye is added to gasoline to indicate whether or not it was high-sulfur and low-tax, while clear gasoline was untaxed. Red Lion gas first appeared on the West Coast in the 1920s and remained until the 1940s.  

Catalog ID AD0447