by Structured Settlement Watchdog
Did JG Wentworth ad team run out of Viking hats and resort to the noggin’ toppers of the “Loyal Order of the Water Buffalo”?
When reached for comment, Fred and Barney exclaimed in unison “How Hanna and Barberassing!”
Yabba-Dabba-DO! Watch carefully for the JG Wentworth chorus (see right below)
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Source: JG Wentworth YouTube Channel
But the JG Wentworth Ad Blooper Doesn’t End There
- The popular image of the Vikings is one of fearsome warriors wearing horned helmets. Many depictions of the Vikings display this particular attribute.
- However, there is only one preserved helmet from the Viking Age and this does not have horns. It was found in the Norwegian warrior’s burial at Gjermundbu, north of Oslo, together with the only complete suit of chain mail from the period. Source: National Museum of Denmark Copenhagen Denmark
- Horned helmets would also have caused problems on board the warships, where space was already at a premium. In addition, none of the contemporary sources mention Vikings wearing horned headgear. See Helmets (natmus.dk)
The “Doepler Effect”
Carl Emil Doepler created horned helmets for the Viking characters in a Wagner opera in 1870, and an enduring stereotype was born. See Did Vikings really wear horned helmets? | HISTORY, by Elizabeth Nix, also “Romanticized Viking Revival” Holman, Katherine (2003). Historical Dictionary of the Vikings. Oxford, UK: The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-4859-7.
Romanticized means “deal with or describe in an idealized or unrealistic fashion; make (something) seem better or more appealing than it really is. Source: Oxford Languages
While JG Wentworth’s Viking Opera ads are undoubtedly memorable, they are memorably inauthentic
“Viking warriors are associated with horned helmets in popular culture, but there is no evidence that Viking helmets had horns. The depiction of these horned helmets as historical is a fallacy that began in the 1870s“.-Wikipedia
The “Loyal Order of the Water Buffalo” depicted in the Flintstones cartoon series originated in the 1960s. Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes | The Flintstones | Fandom
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JG Wentworth Vikings Ditch Horny Head Toppers September 5, 2025