One of my favorite cases at the SFO exhibition is the “Robots” featuring the Mido Watch Robot among many other mechanical men. Companies that made nuts and bolts, timepieces, appliances and computers gravitated toward the robot as a a symbol of accuracy, strength and reliability. Of these advertising inventions perhaps my favorite is the little known Sidal Robot.

Sidal, a German manufacturer of aluminum, made aluminum rods, disks and sheets. Their robot showed off their ability to mold, assemble and transform aluminum into things of beauty. Although most of the reviewers of the exhibition concentrated on the ad icon classics like Tony the Tiger, it’s the little known ad characters that are some of the most fun. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the Sidal robot has three arms!