Advertising Spending (US)Advertising Spending (US)1. 1880: $104 million; 1919: $1.4

billion2. Ad share of newspaper-mag

revenue 1. 1880: 44% ; 1920: 66%

3. Number of US Daily Newspapers:1. 1854: 254 2. 1900: 2,226

4. How advertise in so many local papers?

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Advertising AgentsAdvertising Agents

George P. Rowell New England,

1865- 1. line rates2. wholesaler of white

space 1. “space jobber”2. bulk buy for

lowest price

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Space JobbersSpace Jobbers1. Lord & Thomas

1. religious publications

2. J. Walter Thompson

1. magazines

2. exclusive access deals

3. “closed” contracts

4. Aligned with newspapers

5. Rebates, etc., if sell space full price

6. Buy space only w/ affiliated papers

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A.J. Ayer (N.W. Ayer A.J. Ayer (N.W. Ayer && Son) Son)

1. modern agency2. “open” contract

(1875)3. advertiser-oriented

service 4. commission system

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Ad Agent FunctionsAd Agent Functions1. knowledge of newspaper/periodical market2. lowest prices (rate card cutting)3. Media Buying:

1. researchers2. space-buyers3. checkers

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Ad Agent FunctionsAd Agent Functions1. Copywriting: little in late 1880s

1. advertisers “knew best” 2. freelance ‘advertising specialists’

2. Illustration 1. print shops/commercial artists

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Full Service Agency Full Service Agency (Today)(Today)1. Media Buying (Media Research)2. Copywriting/Art Direction3. Market/Consumer Research4. (Public Relations, Govt

Relations, etc)

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Ayer & Son: Full Service Ayer & Son: Full Service AgencyAgency

1. American Newspaper Annual 1880

2. 1900: 160 employees/12 depts

3. Account executives 1. copywriters, art directors

4. Clients: Hires Root Beer, Procter & Gamble

5. Legitimacy

6. Remedial market research

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SummarySummary1. Patent Medicines & Problem of Body/Mind

1. Modern Advertising: Symbolism/Market Data

2. Endurance of Patent Medicine Tradition2. P.T. Barnum3. Corporate Advertisers (Consumer Goods)

Kellogg’s, 4. Socio-Economic Change

1. Second Industrial Revolution2. Retailer-Manufacturer Power Struggle

5. Advertising Agents6. Full-Service Ad Agency

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Advertising History 1880s-Advertising History 1880s-1930s 1930s

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Ad Spending (US newspapers/mags)Ad Spending (US newspapers/mags)

1880: $39 mil1900: $95 mil1910: $202 mil1920: $528 mil(13-fold increase)

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Advertising –Chain of Advertising –Chain of CommandCommand

1. 1860s: Publisher>Agent>Advertiser>Consumer

2. ‘Modern’ (Today) Advertiser-

client>Agency> Media/Publisher>Consumer

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““Science” of AdvertisingScience” of Advertising

How demonstrate Ad’s effectiveness?

Tension: ◦ Science-Art◦ Research-Creative

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Copywriting: Reason Why Copywriting: Reason Why

1. John E. Powers (1890s) 2. Approach:

1. informative, rational, straightforward

3. Conscious deliberation and reason

4. “state firmly what the product does and how it will benefit the buyer.”

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Reason WhyReason Why

plain speech/direct reader

conversational styleemulate personal

rapport w/shopkeeperfrom focus on product

to userToday’s Examples?

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Psychology and AdvertisingPsychology and Advertising1. Outgrowth of

philosophy, late 1800s

2. mental processes, idea formation, behavior

3. empirical approach to know mind/brain

4. influence of science/medicine

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Order-of-Merit Order-of-Merit TechniqueTechniqueHarlow Gale,

(psychologist 1890s)

1. “what made ad noticeable?

2. Experiments: 1. Eye tracking2. buy fictional

brands 3. Subjects ‘order-of-

merit’ preference4. “Idealist” vs.

behaviorist

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Order-of-Merit Order-of-Merit (Behaviorist)(Behaviorist)1. H.L. Hollingworth

(1910s/20s)2. compare order-of-

merit rankings w/actual sales

3. “general laws” for copywriting

4. 1920s, dozens of studies

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Theory of SuggestionTheory of Suggestion

1. Walter Dill Scott2. The Theory of

Advertising (1904)3. consumer: non-

rational, suggestible to power of copywriter

4. persuasive techniques not information

5. ad aesthetics

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Scott/SuggestionScott/Suggestion

1. Women as more suggestible

2. 1920s: women --80% of consumption

3. Male advertisers & “emotional” women consumers

4. “irrational” women/ social prejudice

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John B. WatsonJohn B. Watson

1. J. Walter Thompson1. “University of Advertising”

2. Behavioral psychology to advertising◦ Blind-fold cigarette brand

recognition test

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Impressionistic Approach Impressionistic Approach (early 1900s)(early 1900s)1. Ernest Elmo Calkins2. appeal to reader imagination 3. beautiful ads penetrate “open

minds”4. colour, sensation, visual

splendor5. read magazines for diversion

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Aesthetics/ColourAesthetics/Colour

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Pears Soap (1890s)Pears Soap (1890s)

1. Soap as Commodity2. Thomas J. Barratt3. ”Any fool can make

soap”4. Godliness,

cleanliness, Pears

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Pears and High ArtPears and High Art

1. John Everett Millais2. “A Child’s World”

(1887)3. “Bubbles”4. “incomplete angels”

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Pears/”Bubbles”Pears/”Bubbles”

1. Barratt buys painting2. blur art/advertising3. children-innocence-

cleanliness-Pears4. Controversy5. Associative Transfer6. Pears/Middle-brow

Culture

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Art, Art, Advertising/ConsumerismAdvertising/ConsumerismPop Art (1960s)

◦A. WarholLow CultureHigh Culture

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Advertising, 1920s/30s Advertising, 1920s/30s (Marchand)(Marchand)

1. Capitalist Realism1. Socialist

Realism2. Ads as Historical

Evidence3. Mirror or

Zerrspiegel

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Parody (Socialist Realism)Parody (Socialist Realism)

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Advertising, 1920s/30s Advertising, 1920s/30s (Marchand)(Marchand)Therapeutics of

AdvertisingApostles of

Modernity

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Advertiser as Wise CounselAdvertiser as Wise Counsel

Listerine:◦ 1920: general

antiseptic $100k profit

◦ 1927 Mouthwash $4 mil profit

◦ new social/medical affliction (“halitosis”)

◦ heavy ad spending

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ListerineListerine

mini social dramas

dramatic realismvindicates use of

psychologyemotional appeal

over reason

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Worry Appeal/Scare CopyWorry Appeal/Scare Copy

Great DepressionJob loss fearsExamplesAdvertising during

Recessions?

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Interwar AdvertisingInterwar AdvertisingSocial Change:

urban/immigrationSocial Adaptation

◦ emotional/personal insecurities

◦ Listerine/’halitosis’◦ apostles of

modernity◦ conformity/

emerging ‘mass society’

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