Commercial advertising on Zippos began to appear in earnest in the early 1950's.  An interesting niche for collectors are designs which reflect advertising for  well-known, major brand names.  Most of the early designs were line-drawn and painted by hand.  In the late 1950's, etched designs began became more common place.

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See also Zippos for Coca-Cola, McDonalds and food brands,  Disney, Reddy Kilowatt,  Grumman, and automobile, aircraft, airline and oil companies.

1953 Zippo for "Xerox - Products for Xerography - The Haloid Company, Rochester NY"  The photocopier was invented in 1938 by the Haloid Company, which eventually changed its name to Xerox.  This Zippo lighter pre-dates 1959 when Xerox introduced its  Xerox 914 model which revolutionized the document copying industry.

1952-53 Zippo with a cute Kirby vacuum cleaner graphic and "Maid for You!!". The Kirby vacuum is named after James Kirby, an  inventor who built his first vacuum cleaner in 1906.

1954-55 Zippo for  Whirlpool.  Depiction is of an automatic washer.

1955 Zippo   with attached Westinghouse logo

1955 Zippo for Whirlpool "Wash Dry Iron Automatically".  The reverse reads  "Morley Brothers Distributors Saginaw, Michigan". Whirlpool Corporation's history dates back to 1911, when Upton Machine Company was founded in St. Joseph, Missouri by Louis Upton, to produce the first electric, motor-driven wringer washer..

1955 Zippo "Colgate Party"  Whether the party was at Colgate University or for Colgate Palmolive, the name most likely originated with William Colgate who began manufacturing soap in 1806.

1952-53 Zippo with a Westinghouse logo.  West6inghouse Electric Company was founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse, "the greatest living engineer" of his time.

1948-49 two-sided Zippo for Sperry Corporation.  In 1908, the American inventor Elmer Ambrose Sperry patented a gyrocompass in the US. and founded the Sperry Gyroscope Corporation in 1910 which became a major  force in aviation and aerospace instrumentation industry.

1954-55 Zippo for  Sheraton Hotels.  The company acquired  its first hotel in 1937 and was so successful it became the first hotel chain listed on the New York stock exchange.

1951 Zippo for  Service New Jersey Bell Telephone Co. "Before you dig call Telephone Repair" The Company was part of the Bell System, or "Ma Bell" until its break-up in 1984.

1953 Zippo with a box of Kleenex Tissue.  Kleenex facial tissue was invented by Kimberly & Clark in 1924.

1958 Zippo with the Procter & Gamble logo and "Procter & Gamble Spotlight Award". The Company began when  William Procter and James Gamble start making and selling soap and candles in 1937. The logo consists of a bearded man's face on a moon surrounded by 13 stars. There has been some controversy about the logo by a few who claim that the image has Satanic origins.

Major Brand Zippos

1954-55 Zippo advertising Benjamin Moore Paints, a company which has been producing paints since 1883.

1951 Zippo for Singer & Co. "A Century of Sewing Service - 1851-1951". The first practical sewing machine was patented by Isaac Merritt Singer in 1850 who founded Singer & Company in 1851.