06/09/2015 MIT32141 Advertising History, 1860-1920.

23-04-19 MIT3214 1

Advertising History, 1860-1920

23-04-19 MIT3214 2

Patent Medicines

1. Herbal compounds, tonics, liniment oils1. “Dr. Duponco’s Golden

Periodical Pills”2. “Hamlin’s Wizard Oil”

2. 1804: 80; 1860: 1,500 +

3. Gout, fallen arches, liver disease, etc.

23-04-19 MIT3214 3

Why Popular?

1. Commonplace illness1. Civil War veterans

2. Weak allopathic medicine

3. Homeopathic tradition (Women)

4. Rural society5. Magical Belief/

Irrational?

23-04-19 MIT3214 4

Advertising Oriented

1. ad-to-sales ratios: 40%+

2. national advertisers

3. pioneer brands/ trademarks

4. 1/2 newspaper ads1860; 1/3 -1890

5. “red clause” contracts

23-04-19 MIT3214 5

Patent Medicine Advertising

1. newspapers, trade cards, billboards, etc.

2. travelling medical shows

3. “modern” advertiser1. symbolism2. image/text3. sensationalism

23-04-19 MIT3214 6

Advertising Orientation

1. “Patent” for trademark protection

1. “printer’s ink on the bottle”

2. Alcohol

3. Pain-killers (coca/opiates)

“Trickster” and Patent Medicines

Here Today… Belief/Disbelief Real/False Liars; “Inventive and

Creative Cultural Force”

Treat Illness/Renew, Invigorate

23-04-19 MIT3214 7

Advertising/Truth

Daniel Boorstin: “Advertising befuddles our experience, not because advertisers are liars, but precisely because they are not… Advertising fogs our daily lives less from its peculiar lies than from its peculiar truths…The simple question, ‘Is it true?’ is as obsolete as the horse and buggy.”

23-04-19 MIT3214 8

23-04-19 MIT3214 9

Case Study: Lydia E. Pinkham Co.

1. Lydia E. Pinkham Co. 1875- 2. pleurisy root, fenugreek seed,

unicorn root, alcohol3. Vegetable Compound/Kidney

Pills4. Ad-to-sales ratio: 40-60%5. Sales peak, $3.4 mil (1925)

23-04-19 MIT3214 10

Why Successful?

1. “Age of the Womb”1. menstruation/

menopause/pregnancy

2. “ovaritis” “prolapsed uteris”

2. Weak allopathic alternative

3. “home doctoring”/ homeopathy

23-04-19 MIT3214 11

Psychological Problems (1900s)

1. “nerves,” jitters, “the blues”

2. Psychology

3. Psychic/physical health

4. Tempo of “modern” life

5. Women’s “tonic”

23-04-19 MIT3214 12

Pinkham– “Human Chemistry”

1. Advice Letters 1. 1929 -400,000 on file

2. Testimonial Letters

3. Customer Relations

4. Improve Advertising (copy research)

23-04-19 MIT3214 13

Patent Medicine/Market Research

1. Track diseases, illnesses, complaints

2. Information/Letter Brokers

1. Mailing Lists by Disease

2. Advertise/Sell Lists to patent medicine dealers

23-04-19 MIT3214 14

Patent Medicine/Market Research

1. Direct Mail

2. Database Marketing

3. Target Marketing vs. “Shotgun” approach

1. One-to-One Marketing

4. Two-fold Commodification

5. Marketing Capitalism

23-04-19 MIT3214 15

Patent Medicines Today?

hair-growth lotions Aromatherapy Chiropractic pain-relief bracelet others?

23-04-19 MIT3214 16

Examples www.infomercial-hell.com

23-04-19 MIT3214 17

P.T. Barnum

1. 1840s Sudder's American Museum, NY

2. Handbills, posters for Museum

3. Carnivalesque4. High-brow/Low-Brow

23-04-19 MIT3214 18

Barnum-Advertising

Promotional Spectacle: banners, brass bands,

gas lighting Advertising Perceived as:

insincere, false, deceptive

“Erase the Barnum image”

Authentic/artificial Sincere/Contrived

23-04-19 MIT3214 19

Endurance of Barnum Tradition

Carnival Fairs-Exhibitions Niagara Falls

‘museums’ Others?

Barnumesque Tradition

23-04-19 MIT3214 20

23-04-19 MIT3214 21

Patent Medicine Opponents

1. Professional Medicine (AMA/CMA)

2. Magazine Publishers

3. Corporate Mass Advertisers

Reasons:

1. Consumer Fraud

2. Public Health

3. Public Decency

23-04-19 MIT3214 22

“Modern” Corporate Advertisers

Campbell’s Soup (1869)

Procter & Gamble Ivory Soap (1879)

Coca Cola (1886) Kodak Gillette Social Legitimacy

23-04-19 MIT3214 23

Corporate Advertising, 1880-1920

1. Rising Population (US)1. 1880: 50 mil; 1920 106 mil.

2. Urbanization (2,500+)1. 1880: 28%; 1920; 51%

3. Higher Per Capita Income:1. 1880: $147; 1920: $639

2. discretionary spending

23-04-19 MIT3214 24

Second Industrial Revolution, post- 1860s1. Large-scale factory system

2. Coal replaces wood/water

3. Iron/steel industries

4. Economies-of-scale production

5. Capital-intensive/high fixed costs

6. Realization Thesis? Bonsack Machine (1880s)

23-04-19 MIT3214 25

Retailer-Advertiser Power Struggle

1. Manufacturer wrest power from retailer via branding/advertising

2. Product Substitution

3. Ivory Soap – Manufacturer Power1. Sunshine Biscuits

23-04-19 MIT3214 26

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?

23-04-19 MIT3214 27

Advertising Agents

George P. Rowell New England, 1865-

1. line rates

2. wholesaler of white space

1. “space jobber”

2. bulk buy for lowest price

23-04-19 MIT3214 28

Space Jobbers

1. 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

23-04-19 MIT3214 29

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

1. modern agency2. “open” contract (1875)3. advertiser-oriented

service 4. commission system

23-04-19 MIT3214 30

Ad Agent Functions

1. knowledge of newspaper/periodical market

2. lowest prices (rate card cutting)

3. Media Buying:1. researchers

2. space-buyers

3. checkers

23-04-19 MIT3214 31

Ad Agent Functions

1. Copywriting: little in late 1880s1. advertisers “knew best”

2. freelance ‘advertising specialists’

2. Illustration 1. print shops/commercial artists

23-04-19 MIT3214 32

Full Service Agency (Today)

1. Media Buying (Media Research)

2. Copywriting/Art Direction

3. Market/Consumer Research

4. (Public Relations, Govt Relations, etc)

23-04-19 MIT3214 33

Ayer & Son: Full Service Agency

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

23-04-19 MIT3214 34

Summary

1. Patent Medicines & Problem of Body/Mind

1. Modern Advertising: Symbolism/Market Data

2. Endurance of Patent Medicine Tradition

2. P.T. Barnum

3. Corporate Advertisers (Consumer Goods) Kellogg’s,

4. Socio-Economic Change

1. Second Industrial Revolution

2. Retailer-Manufacturer Power Struggle

5. Advertising Agents

6. Full-Service Ad Agency