Here is a Playmate Beer Sign from the Sunshine Brewing Company located in Reading, PA. The Sunshine Brewing Company created Playmate Beer and malt liquor from 1967 to 1968 to keep up with demand and compete with other local malt liquor breweries. They used the name Playmate and a graphic of a sexy girls illustrated face on beer cans, labels and beer signs like this one.
Unfortunately when Sunshine advertised their new beer as Playmate they didn’t realized or didn’t care that they were violating a trademarked name owned by Playboy Enterprises (aka Playboy Magazine). Later that year Playboy filed a suit of copywriter infringement and sued the Sunshine Brewing Company. Playboy then went on to win the suit. Playmate Beer never made it to the shelves and was never really advertised to the public. Sunshine was issues a cease and desist order and we ordered to destroy anything and everything associated with the Playmate Beer name.
A good friend of mine who worked at the brewery at the time of the “Playmate Purge” told me he was assigned to the work detail that was tasked with destroying all in-stock beer cans. He said the can flats would come down a conveyer-belt where he and about 4 other guys would crush every can with a hammer then send them into a dumpster. Hammers were swinging and beer was flying!
Only a few 100 cans, many labels, and a very limited number of signs like this one made it out to the public. The signs and cans are very collectible and sought after by can and breweriana collectors alike.
This sign may be in rough condition but considering how hard it is to find anything with the Playmate Beer name on it is pretty hard to come by. A Playmate Beer Sign like this one would have been displayed on the bar or hung on the walls of bars and distributors. I know of only maybe 6 other Playmate Beer Sign in other local collections.