MAD Magazine 1968 #2

MAD Magazine (Sweden)

Updated: February 14th, 2022

Country:

Sweden

Consecutive Issue Number:

Published:

1968

Sale price:

2:25 SEK

Format:

Magazine

Ian Craig doesn't sound very Swedish, does it now? It took a bit of research before I got a grip on who this is – and no, it isn't the cricket player. I also found out that this is a cover that originated with UK MAD Magazine. The reference to Hong Kong and Mao may go in two, maybe three different directions.

In 1968 there was a outbreak of flu in HK (later called the Hong Kong flu), caused by the H3N2 virus. It spread and killed between one million and four million people globally (sounds vaguely familiar, doesn't it). Also, in '68 Vice President Richard M. Nixon announced that he wanted to establish a new relationship with the People's Republic of China during his presidential election campaign. Tricky Dicky later did visit China in '72. Hong Kong was furthermore at the time a British crown colony surrounded by the People's Republic of China on three sides, as in the picture. A lot of cheap stuff was/is manufactured in HK and exported worldwide. Hence the reference to "MAD(e) in Hong Kong".

The mock ad refers to the name change of a banana brand, from Fyffes to Chiquita (or “Quichita”, as MAD chooses to spell it). The company behind Chiquita went through a lot of changes and the brand name was later reverted back to Fyffes when the merger between the companies was nixed in 2014. Chiquita was a little later bought up by Cutrale of Brasilia and an investment company; Safra Group.