In September 1899 Britain was about to return to war in South Africa and Ogden’s leaped aboard the jingoistic wave. This frankly bonkers advertisement was a departure from their previous ones which incorporated a variety of visual styles, often with accompanying pun. Purists may question its inclusion, but a bayonet is integral to its gun. The concept of the bayonet carrying anything to great popularity seems wildly optimistic. Bayonets lack the technological sophistication of Maxim’s gun featured in 1897. Weapons of violent coercion designed for close combat, they represent the most basic of military technology. Hardly the aspirational market Ogden’s normally targeted.
Ref: Published in The Illustrated London News, Saturday September 9 1899, p. 367