#Paris #vintage #commercials (#Suze, #Eclipse, #Pigalle)

Paris doesn't change much over the time, but it does. If you look at the walls, you'll find a lot of old commercial that have either faded or have been covered by graffitis.

Here is a nice example, near Pigalle (Rue des Martyrs / Bd Rochechouard):

This one seems to have a nice history: it was for CREME SUZE, an old brand of shoe polish tins

You can still guess the round blue face, taking most of the wall space :)

By the way, Creme Eclipse must have been a big advertiser in the 19th century, as I found another monumental ad for their brand on Boulevard des Batignolles right here (Google map / see this archived post).

Also, you can see the name "DUFAYEL" below the painting: this was the name of the contractor for all Paris advertising walls untill 1900. JC Decaux's predecessor, if you like.

So the commercial is pretty old, over 110 years ago at least.

As I checked on the web, I found this blog. The author is a hunter of these old commercials, and I must say she did quite a great work.

She took a picture of the same wall in 2008.

- there was no graffiti: so yes, definitely, these walls are now disappearing. That's probably why American call them "Ghost Ads" :)

- the author found out that there were 2 ads superimposed. This other one is for SUZE, a French spirit: not easy to find though... Yes, if you take a close look at it: the monumental black letters on the top part of the wall

As this brand was created in 1889, the ad could only have been painted between 1889 and 1900, date when Dufayel's contract was terminated.

If you want to know more about these walls, you can read this post