The now legendary and defunct Burma-Shave advertisements were developed in 1926 by Allan Odell, the son of the founder of the Burma-Vita Company.
Burma-Shave was a new product, the first brushless shaving cream, and in the 1920s it was difficult to sell.
But when Odell saw a series of roadside signs for a filling station, he decided to transfer the idea to his product.
The first six signs, spaced 100 feet apart, appeared on U.S. Highway 65 near Lakewell, Minnesota, in September 1926 and read: Chin Up / Face / The War / Is / Over.
By the 1960s, over 7,000 sets of signs were seen across the country, with jingles provided by national contests. Odell’s favorite was:
Within this vale
Of toil and sin
Your head grows bald But not your chin.