[Mind] Games

HISTORY OF ADVERTISING 

  

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GREECE: posters for wanted slaves
  • merchants shouting out what they had to be sold
  • "FOR SALE" signs for property
  • pictures for stores (shoemaker=boot)

INVENTION OF THE PRINTING PRESS
  • posters 
  • handbills (flyers) 

FALSE ADVERTISING (beginning in 1750s)
  • advertisers would make "magnificent promises", claiming their product could do things that they really couldn't 
  • 1900s: Coca-Cola released and advertised as a medicine that would relieve headaches and keep you awake


HOT CROSS BUNS 
Many people know this familiar nursery rhyme. What most people don't know, however, is that this song began as an oral advertisement in Britain centuries ago. 

Creating the Consumer

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People were hesitant to buy items from companies, because it had been their job to make their own goods for a number of centuries. When products like soap and butter came out to be sold by the mass, it was difficult for people to begin purchasing these items they were so used to making on their own. One way companies made it easier on the would-be public was by putting a familiar, friendly face on their product. One example of this would be the Quaker Oats man. By having a man on their ads and products, the people would believe they were purchasing something from a trusted man. 

Industrialization's impact on advertising

With the invention of new forms of transportation, like the railroad, it was easier for the postal services to deliver mail, newspapers, and magazines. This made it easier for advertisers to put in magazine and newspaper ads and deliver junk mail. 
Photography became useful, because people would be able to see what the actual product looked like, instead of having a drawing done by an artist. 

Made you look : how advertising works and why you should know - Shari Graydon ; illustrations by Warren Clark.