1936 Mickey Mouse Globe Trotters Club Map of the World advertising Sliced Bread!

This is a 1936 Walt Disney Mickey Mouse Globe Trotters Club pictorial map of the world issued as part of the first advertising campaign for sliced bread - that's right 'Sliced Bread'! The map depicts the world from the Americas, across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, Africa, and Asia, to Australia and the Pacific Ocean.

Mickey Mouse and the First Advertising Campaign for Sliced Bread

In many ways, living in today's hyper-commercial society, it is hard to believe that advertising for something as ubiquitous as sliced bread had a genesis. Here we have an example of that beginning, in the form of a map created to be part of the first advertising campaign for sliced bread. Created during some of the hardest years of the Great Depression, this clever campaign was aimed at children. The campaign centers on a race around the world between Mickey and the Big Bad Wolf. In order for a child to follow along with Mickey on his adventure, they would need to ask their local grocer for a mail-in application. Then, members would receive a button emblazoned with 'Mickey Mouse Globe Trotters Club' and an image of Mickey himself, along with a game board much like this one. Each game board features twenty-four blank rectangles along the top and bottom borders, where children could affix their 'globe trotter' trading cards that were included with specially marked loaves of bread. The present example is unique, as the banner in the upper left quadrant does not bear the name of a certain product. Every one of the few examples we have been able to locate bears the name of one advertiser or another.

A Closer Look at the Map

Numerous vignettes adorn the map, as Mickey and the Big Bad Wolf walk, fly, ride, and sail across the world, including two large portraits along the bottom border. Mickey has a fantastic voyage, traveling by steamship, gondola, camel, elephant, horse, and rickshaw. Accompanied by a kangaroo, Mickey is illustrated hopping across Australia with springs on his feet. Misfortune, however, seems to follow the Big Bad Wolf throughout his trip, as he is chased by a king cobra, gored by a bull, and shot at by a cannon. He is also cooked as part of a native tribe's stew, which references an intriguing point about the depiction of blacks. Highly racist illustrations of blacks appear in Africa and Southeast Asia, illustrating them with large, red lips and only wearing grass skirts. The native in the South Pacific is illustrated in much the same manner, with only a top hat as a difference. Here, the Big Bad Wolf and the native are seen riding a large turtle.

The logo of the Mickey Mouse Globe Trotters Club is situated in the upper right corner, and portraits of Minnie Mouse, Goofy (called Dippy the Goof), Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, Pluto, and Mickey himself. The verso is also full of content, including information about numerous countries and their bread-eating and -baking habits. Several vignettes of Mickey and the Big Bad Wolf's trip are also present, as is a letter from Mickey to the newest member of the Mickey Mouse Globe Trotters.

This map was copyrighted by Walt Disney Enterprises and first appeared in 1936. We have been able to locate one example in an institutional collection at the Newberry Library and it is rare on the market. It would make a wonderful gift for anyone who loves Disney or early advertising material. The current example is likely a proof since it does not bear any specific advertising in the banner in the upper left quadrant.