1969 · Watch
Rolex
If Taming Oil Well Fires Were Your Job
This entry in J. Walter Thompson's Rolex series swaps a glamorous setting for danger: oil-well firefighter Red Adair and his crew working a blowout, with the gold Day-Date set against an orange field tuned to the color of the flames. Where the rest of the campaign rented borrowed prestige, the Adair ad uses a real professional whose job punishes any equipment that fails. The headline 'If taming oil well fires was your job, you'd wear a Rolex' makes endorsement the argument rather than aspiration.
