Red Lion the Motorists' Choice

Red illustration of a lion's head in the center of the button surrounded by red and black text

The oil company Gilmore Oil Company of Los Angeles developed an advertising campaign in the 1930s using the Red Lion to promote their product.  The oil company was founded by Arthur Fremont Gilmore in 1905, after discovering oil on his dairy farm.  The advertising campaign focused on the different colors of gasoline, which was the first time an oil company advertised gasoline by its color.  Dye is added to gasoline to indicate whether or not it was high-sulfur and low-tax, while clear gasoline was untaxed. Red Lion gas first appeared on the West Coast in the 1920s and remained until the 1940s.