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Design Stories: Exploring Everyday Things

The Press Democrat. November 27, 1974. p. 05.

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Appearances in Print Advertisements 32 plain 7745 2025-04-03T17:27:31-04:00
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Explore a comprehensive timeline and physical map featuring all 18 referenced advertisements, showcasing their placement in historical and geographical contexts.
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Appearances in Canadian Print Advertisement
The earliest documented appearance of the General Electric RM110 phonograph in the Canadian market we could find was in a Canadian Tire ad on December 9, 1969 (fig. 7). Interestingly, it was not listed under its model name at the time. In fact, the RM110 naming convention only appeared in three known instances: first, in The Ottawa Journal on February 12, 1970 (fig. 8); then, in a “Simpsons Day” promotional ad in The Toronto Star on November 15, 1971 (fig. 9); and finally, in an undated CGE Home Entertainment Centre catalogue (fig. 11). These were the only confirmed print advertisements that explicitly referenced the RM110 model name in Canada, though the phonograph itself appeared in additional advertisements under alternate branding.

In the following year, the RM110 phonograph reappeared in a Simpsons-Sears catalogue section of The Vancouver Sun on November 14, 1972 (fig. 10), this time rebranded with Mickey Mouse imagery and marketed as the ‘Mickey Mouse Phonograph.’ Under this name, the record player saw its widest circulation, appearing in approximately 100 Sears advertisements throughout the 1970s. Despite featuring little to no CGE branding, it was also marketed under alternative names, such as the ‘Kid-Proof Phonograph’ (fig. 12) and ‘Kid-Proof Mickey Mouse Phonograph’ (fig. 13). A Hamilton Spectator advertisement from November 22, 1972 (fig. 13) explicitly stated that this model was “Made exclusively for Simpsons-Sears by General Electric,” confirming that the various Sears-exclusive ‘Kid-Proof Phonograph’ models bearing the same design were indeed produced by General Electric as the RM110 phonograph. Beyond its initial appearances, the CGE RM110 resurfaced approximately 30 more times in Canadian advertisements, primarily in Canadian Tire ads under various names, including “CGE Record Player,” “CGE 2-Speed Mono Player,” and “CGE Mono Tote”—each accompanied by the listing number 34-9320 (fig. 14, fig. 15, fig. 16).
Broader Market Reach in the United States
In contrast to its seasonal and limited advertising in Canada, the equivalent U.S. model, GE V211, had a much stronger market presence, enjoying thousands of appearances year-round in various newspaper ads across the country, under various names including (but possibly not limited to): “Child’s Portable Phonograph” (fig. 17), “Youth Phonograph” (fig. 18), and “Recordmate” (fig. 19). The first documented appearance of the V211 in the U.S. market was on February 13, 1969, in a Woolco advertisement listing products from “The GE Small Home Appliance Show” (fig. 20). However, this listing lacked product imagery, making it difficult to confirm the exact model. The first verifiable appearance with an image was in the Ironton Tribune on April 9, 1969 (fig. 21).
Model Number Confusion and Variations in Design
Throughout its advertising history, there were numerous occasions of misattributed model numbers, the RM110 and its US equivalent V211 was misattributed to a very similar model. Notably, a visually similar model featuring a different speaker design—with radial perforations instead of horizontal perforated stripes—was sometimes incorrectly labeled as the RM110/V211. In at least one known U.S. advertisement, this radial speaker model was instead labeled as the V181 (fig. 22), suggesting that multiple variations of the design were in circulation, possibly produced for different retailers or specific consumer segments. This pattern of model number inconsistencies reinforces the likelihood that CGE and GE marketed the same core product under different names and slight design variations to cater to different regions, retailers, and consumer demographics. Additionally, the limited appearance of the RM110 in Canada may also be attributed to CGE’s weaker presence in the Canadian consumer market, which likely led the company to license its products to Canadian firms for distribution and marketing. At least in the case of this record player, this strategy appears to have been a key factor in its branding and retail placement.
Addendum: Similar Model by Heathkit
During the initial research for this phonograph, we came across several models of Heathkit phonograph that looks very similar to the General Electric model. Attached here is one such case from a Heathkit catalogue in 1969. This further proves the case that this phonograph was similar marketed to capture existing trends at the time, particularly that of marketing to the emerging children market.
Case Study No. 2: Plastic Materiality The focus on sturdiness and indestructibility in Fig. 23 was not unique to the above advertisements, as similar messaging can be found across multiple ads promoting the record player. One notable example is Fig. 19, where the product appeared in the U.S. market under the name “General Electric ‘Recordmate’ Phonograph No. V211” in the Press Democrat on November 27, 1974. The full ad copy reads:
GENERAL ELECTRIC
“RECORDMATE”
PHONOGRAPH NO. V211

THE PERFECT PARTY PACKAGE FOR YOUNG SWINGERS—THE GE RECORDMATE MONAURAL PHONOGRAPH HAS A STRONG DOUBLE WALLED POLYETHYLENE CASE THAT YOU CAN CARRY ANYWHERE. PLAYS 33½ AND 45’S. (fig. 19)
Once again, the product’s sturdiness is highlighted, this time attributed directly to its “polyethylene case.” Therein lies the dichotomy and contradictions of the product’s plastic materiality—a material whose name is “a metonym for artificiality and inauthenticity”, and ultimately “impermanence”—and its aspiration for a long-lasting “indestructible” lifespan (Cope 2022). In her 2022 dissertation, Angela Cope discusses how plastic commodities “quickly encounter devaluation”—a process in which “new objects replace the former before the end of their useful life”—despite itself being “a material that, paradoxically, never goes away” (Cope 2022). This tension is evident in the product’s marketing—while it attempts to distance itself from disposability, its classification within the children’s market reinforces its ephemeral nature. Perhaps the repeated emphasis on the record player’s durability may, ironically, stem from anxieties about plastic’s inherent transience, leaving the product forever doomed to the many attempts to resist devaluation.