The Jordan Car ad — One of the best examples of creative advertising copywriting in history.
Aside from personal ads and classifieds, mass advertising did not take off until the penny press era of the early to mid-1800s, when high-circulation newspapers allowed widespread access to consumers. This chapter surveys some of the agencies, their philosophies and approaches, and their tactics and use of imagery. It also surveys the history of public relations as a response to muckraking and as a way to speak for corporations in the marketplace of ideas.
Discussion questions
- Philosophy of Advertising: How did Horace Greeley’s philosophy of advertising influence advertising agencies in the late 1800s and early 1900s?
- Countering muckrakers: How successful were large corporations in countering the influence of muckrakers in the early 1900s?
- PR ethics: According to James Grunig, one of the main functions of an ethical public relations practitioner is to ensure a two-way symmetrical flow of communication. In other words, public opinion needs to be understood inside the board rooms of corporations. Can you think of instances where a corporation that listened to opinion weathered a storm of criticism, and instances where one that didn’t listen ended up losing shareholder value?
- Lousy copy writer: Why did David Ogilvy say he was a lousy copy writer? What was he good at? Why?
People & Events
Volney Palmer, George Reynell, J. Walter Thompson, N.W. Ayer, Thomas Lipton, P.T. Barnum, Ivy Lee, Edward Bernays, George Creel, Maurice and Charles Saatchi, Lee Clow, Helen Lansdowne Resor, David Ogilvy, Rosser Reeves, Leo Burnett, James Grunig
Interesting links
Advertising collections, museums and menageries
- Advertising Age — Ad history timeline - great place to start
- Duke University: Emergence of Advertising in America also Ad Access project
- Distortions of African American images: Bull Durham, and Uncle Toms Cabin (play)
- Library of Congress: The Emergence of Advertising and specific browse pages.
- Harpers Weekly advertising history
- Moss Kendrix — African American advertising agency and the “unholy trinity”
- PT Barnum’s American museum (Flash)
- Helen Landsdowne Resor — an early success in the advertising business.
- Edward L. Bernays — “scientific” public relations
- Vintage magazine advertising – Searchable by category (fuel, shoes, home, laundry etc)
- History of Advertising Trust (British)
- Top ad campaigns in history
- Early radio commercials
- Classic broadcast commercials
- Broadcasting and advertising (Duke University library)
- Plentiful content, so cheap – The future of advertising; how demand marketing is eating the lunch of publications and delivering poor content.
Patent medicine and other products
- Mark Twain’s 1905 letter to the manufacturers of the Elixer of Life. The person who wrote the advertisements is without doubt the most ignorant person now alive on the planet; also without doubt he is an idiot, an idiot of the 33rd degree, and scion of an ancestral procession of idiots stretching back to the Missing Link.
- Jordan car (“Somewhere west of Laramie there’s a broncho-busting, steer-roping girl who knows what Im talking about…” )
- Ivory Soap (Smithsonian advertising collection) Lux soap, 1916, compared to the same company in 1920 (note the difference in orientation to consumer)
- Betty Crocker reflects changes in women’s images over time
- Heinz products
- Coca cola
- Coke and Santa Claus
- McDonalds
- TV ads: the Flintstones for Winston cigarettes — And another Lucky Strike (1948) – and Doctors smoke Camels
- TV ad –I like Ike – Eisenhower campagin Ads Daisey Ad, Vietnam film
Current issues in advertising and public relations
- Big tobacco targets minority youth in California. April 23, 2012.
- Ten ways to craft your resume for ultra-short attention spans.
- Smithsonian’s fake ads controversy
- Adbusters — Turning advertising upside down.
- The Yes Men — Public relations on behalf of the victim.
- Corporate public relations is polluting the American psyche says Tracy Turner in this OpEd piece from May, 2012.
