History of Advertising - in brief

As we have seen, an advertisement can be very simple, and simple advertising, eg

for events, has been around for a long as people have been trying to make money
out of attracting a wider public. Posters announcing an event were probably the first
form of advertising, and these date back to gladiatorial contests in Ancient Rome.
The first advertisements, however, which fit our full definition of advertising (ie paid
for, occupying space in a media form) appear in newspapers in the seventeenth
century. These tended to be straightforward statements of fact, without any fancy
typesetting or illustrations, and were often indistinguishable from the news stories
around them. As the eighteenth century wore on, the Industrial Revolution gathered
pace, and consumer goods became more sophisticated, manufacturers began to recognise that
they needed to create a need for their products. Many items were new to consumers, or were new
variations. Josiah Wedgewood, who manufactured pottery in England in the second half of the
seventeenth century, was particularly good at creating new markets for his wares through
advertising. He brought cups and plates into the budget and households of middle class families - a
much larger market than the wealthy aristocratic households who had previously been the only
purchasers of dinner sets.

The nineteenth century saw the skills of the advertiser come to the forefront, as ads began to mix
images and words, and adopt the techniques of language and layout that we are familiar with
today. With the proliferation of goods and services in this century, it became recognised that
advertising was an important part of business, and should be dealt with by experts in the field.
Most of the advertising agencies that dominate the global markets today were founded in the latter
part of the nineteenth century.

During the early part of the twentieth century, governments began to recognise the power of
advertising to get their message across to their 'consumers' (ie their citizens). This was particularly
apparent during the First World War, when advertising was used to enlist soldiers and enforce
government policies. We look back at some of these advertisements now and think of them as
blatant propaganda, or the deliberate spreading of ideas in order to further a cause. Many of
these ads use techniques of psychological manipulation which now seem to us crude and unfair,
deliberately setting out to frighten the target audience, or shame them into following instructions.
These posters assume a very specific power relationship between advertiser and audience, and we
notice that the advertiser assumes that they know best and are giving the audience information for
their own good. A modern audience has a more sophisticated approach to advertising and is more
sensitive to any attitudes which might be considered openly patronising. How do you think a
modern audience might respond to the poster on the right?

Click here for some analysis of a propaganda poster from 1916.

Advertising was a large, well established industry in 1914 and it continued to expand after the First
World War. Psychology was growing in stature as a science during this period, and advertisers
where quick to latch on to key ideas (the desire to 'belong', subconscious fears) in order to reach
their audience. As new ways of reaching a mass audience became technologically available
(cinema, radio) advertising was quick to latch on to new media and became an important way for
broadcasters to help fund their programming. Radio was an especially successful way to reach
audiences in the 1920s - between 1923 and 1930 60% of American families acquired a radio set.
The term 'soap opera' as we know it came into being as soap manufacturers sponsored domestic
radio dramas in return for frequent plugs for their product. Listen to some 1920s radio advertising
here.

After the Second World War there was both a boom in consumer spending AND a new medium:
television. Millions of dollars annually were poured into the coffers of advertising agencies as
manufacturers sought to inform newly prosperous consumers of the dazzling array of new goods
they could purchase (washing machines, vacuum cleaners, food mixers, TV sets...) that they never
 previously knew they needed. With the combined impact of image AND sound, it soon
became clear that brand recognition was much greater with TV than with radio and soon the
airwaves were full of programmes like Kraft Television Theater, Colgate Comedy Hour, and Coke
Time as advertisers scrambled to access this new wave of consumers. This is sometimes referred
to as the single-sponsor era, as the tv programmes were actually produced by the advertising
agencies and paid for by a single sponsor. The 1950s were bonanza years for advertising, and it
was at this stage that the men (mainly) behind the ads became media stars and shot into the
league of the super-highly paid. Men such as David Oglivy and Leo Burnett graced the covers of
magazines and were seen to have real power by the rest of the business world. Their theories of
advertising were seized on by agencies around the world, and much of their thinking is still part of
advertising practice.

As the 1960s began, the networks wanted more control over the content and style of
programming, and as TV became more sophisticated and production costs rose, single sponsors
began to struggle. NBC executive Sylvester Weaver came up with the idea of selling not whole
shows to advertisers, but separate, small blocks of broadcast time. Several different advertisers
could buy time within one show, and therefore the content of the show would move out of the
control of a single advertiser - rather like a print magazine. This became known as the magazine
concept, or participation advertising, as it allowed a whole variety of advertisers to access the
audience of a single TV show. Thus the 'commercial break' as we know it was born.

You will need to use the links below to help you find 2 print advertisements, from two of the
following three periods of history:

a) 1850-1900
b) 1901-1939
c) 1940-1970

Write a brief explanation of each advertisement and the lines of appeal it uses. Assess how
effective that advertisement would be in its own time, and then assess how well it would work
today. Explain why today's audience might react differently to the ad.

Useful Sites

• Ad*Access - database of advertisements published in US and Canadian newspapers and

magazines between 1911 and 1955

• AdFlip - large collection of print ads from 50s-80s

• Harper's Weekly - a selection of ads that ran in the magazine in the 19th century

• History of Advertising Trust (UK-based)

• History of Advertising - clear explanation of the roots of advertising

• Heinz advertising - a look at the way this company's advertising has developed over the
years.

• Kimberly-Clarke - follow the history of advertising feminine hygiene products and facial
tissues

• Tobacco Advertising of the 20th Century - search by year or brand

• Top 100 Advertising Campaigns of the 20th Century (list plus article - from AdAge)