“Florida Orange Juice is Hazardous to Your Existence” poster
Frank T. Vetgen/West American Advertising, “Florida Orange Juice is Hazardous to Your Existence,” 1977. LGBTQ Poster Collection, ONE Archives at the USC Libraries.
Information via Days of Rage:
Florida anti-gay rights singer and brand ambassador for Florida Citrus Anita Bryant led a campaign in 1977 to repeal an ordinance in Dade County, Florida prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Historian Lillian Faderman writes that “movements can exist very well without a god but they can’t exist at all without a devil. Anita Bryant became the devil of the gay rights movement, and that really helped the gay rights movement organize and pull together” (Faderman 2016). National gay and lesbian political organizations were outraged and sought to protest Anita Byrant’s harmful rhetoric through national bans on orange juice, organizing actions such as cocktail protest parties serving anti-screwdriver drinks, and writing protest songs such as, “Don’t drink the orange juice / it might lead to all kinds of bigotry.” This black-and-orange poster highlights the plethora of “fruity” puns used in anti-Bryant campaigns during this era.
The headline is set in Gill Kayo, with the image credit to West American Advertising set in ITC Avant Garde Gothic.
