Vintage Ads

Alberta's Homework Hotline was a service provided in the 80s and 90s to students who could call in and talk to a teacher. It aired on the long-defunct Access channel which was a homegrown educational channel that aired educational TV from other networks in addition to provincial programming. There was a very memorable "Homework Hotline, Homework Hotline" jingle that went with some of the commercials, but this was the only one I could find on YouTube.

Zellers is a defunct Canadian discount retailer. Hundreds of Zellers stores were replaced with Target, only for Target to vacate a few years later. It's a tale of corporate failure that will be taught in B-school for ages!

Anyway, Zellers had a mascot named Zeddy who was kinda like a Care Bear Cousin. He appeared in animated form and was always ready to help you save money!

Zeddy also had a corporeal form and, as Zellers was winding down, they had a little fun with an Adopt Zeddy campaign:

The Hudson's Bay Company has been a Canadian institution for hundreds of years, but this is my vintage. My mom worked at The Bay and lots of our clothes and household goods came from there.

Smithbilt Hats is a Calgary, Alberta company that probably doesn't need to advertise much. After 100 years, the factory is still located in Southeast Calgary and is the official supplier of white hats for white hatting ceremonies. I found this vintage ad on their Twitter. I would guess this ad is from 1950 as Calgary was founded in 1875.