Some of the best vintage finds come with stories you’d never expect—like the time Hormel, the Minnesota-based food company, turned cans of chili into a college football collector’s dream.
In 1953, Geo. A. Hormel & Co. launched a nationwide promotion that gave shoppers more than just dinner. Attached to the cans of Hormel Chili Con Carne and Hormel Tamales, customers could find mini felt pennants featuring the official seals and school colors of 96 American universities. Picture it: a towering 10-foot-tall display of Hormel cans topped with a football-shaped sign encouraging customers to “Collect College Pennants!”
40 of the 96 mini felt pennants that Hormel included in their college pennant giveaway.
Once the in-store displays had whetted shoppers’ appetites for these colorful pennants, collectors could send away for more by mailing in 25 cents, along with either the key strip from a can of Hormel Spam or the printed can end from any Hormel brand canned food, including Chili, Tamales, Dinty Moore Beef Stew, Dinty Moore Spaghetti, or Mary Kitchen Corned Beef Hash. The promotion offered 16 different sets of six pennants each, fueling a nationwide craze that combined food, sports, and Americana in a way that remains irresistible to vintage collectors today.
Setting up the Hormel display in a 1950s grocery store. Note the mini college pennants rubber-banded to cans of Chili.
A Golden Age of Advertising and In-Store Promotions
Everything about the promotion of these Hormel Mini College Pennants reflected a simpler time when life moved at a much more relaxed pace. The advertisements touting the pennants, along with the order blanks for obtaining them, appeared in comic books and other publications or could be obtained in the stores where Hormel products were sold. The tone of these print ads drew upon an age-old, tried and true advertising technique of creating a sense of urgency for consumers and collectors as evidenced by calls to action using phrases like . . . Hurry! . . . Mail order blank today! . . . While supplies last! . . . Don’t miss out! . . . Start a new collection RIGHT NOW! . . . And of course the ads included the ever-popular prompt of . . . Be the first in your neighborhood to own a big collection of real college pennants!
1953 advertisement from the Independent Inquirer newspaper urging kids to mail in their 25 cents. A list of all 96 colleges and universities offered can be seen here as well.
The ads featured numerous drawings of clean-cut college types who offered creative ideas for displaying the pennants. These caricatures were shown with balloon text call outs featuring suggested uses for the pennants: collectors were urged to Make a belt! Decorate your room! Paste on a notebook! Sew to a sweatshirt! Hang on your bike!
Some of the mini pennants can still be found with the instructions on how to order more.
A Real Bargain – Then and Now
Back in 1953, Hormel’s marketing team knew how to sweeten the deal. Their print ads and towering grocery store displays proudly touted the value behind the offer: while mini felt college pennants typically sold for 15 cents each, Hormel shoppers could score a set of six for just 25 cents—a 90-cent value at a fraction of the cost.
Another example of a 1953 advertisement from inner cover of a Donald Duck Walt Disney comic.
The appeal of these pennants wasn’t just about the bargain. Then, as now, college pride ran deep. Just as today’s fans rally behind their teams during events like the upcoming NCAA basketball tournament and college football bowl games, collectors in the 1950s eagerly grabbed these colorful pennants to show off their school spirit.
Today, these mini felt pennants are a vibrant throwback to classic college spirit. Whether you’re decorating a den, creating a vintage sports display, celebrating your alma mater, or gifting them to a future grad., they remain a bold, nostalgic nod to college fandom and mid-century Americana. Shop our vintage Hormel Mini College Pennants here or browse more vintage college memorabilia to keep the spirit going.