The rise of advertising in the United States : a history of innovation to 1960

280 Pages·2012·1.47 MB·English

by  Applegate

The Rise of Advertising in the United States

A History of Innovation to 1960

Edd Applegate
THE SCARECROW PRESS, INC.
Lanham • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
2012
Published by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
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Copyright © 2012 by SCARECROW PRESS

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Applegate, Edd.
The rise of advertising in the United States : a history of innovation to 1960 / Edd
Applegate.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8108-8406-9 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8108-8407-6 (ebook)
1. Advertising—United States—History. I. Title.
HF5813.U6A733 2012
659.10973—dc23
2012018903
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America
This book is for Eva, Judy, and Carolyn.
Acknowledgments
Numerous individuals at colleges and universities,
advertising agencies, corporations, and organizations provided
valuable resources while I was researching and writing this
book.
I wish to thank the librarians at the James E. Walker Library,
Middle Tennessee State University, for their assistance in
obtaining specific articles and books. I wish to thank the
librarians at the following libraries for their help: Felix G.
Woodward Library at Austin Peay State University, Lila D. Bunch
Library at Belmont University, Stephens-Burnett Memorial
Library at Carson-Newman College, Charles C. Sherrod Library
at East Tennessee State University, Hartzler Library at Eastern
Mennonite University, Eli M. Oboler Library at Idaho State
University, University Library at the University of Illinois Urbana-
Champaign, The Kansas City Public Library, Library of Congress,
A. R. Wentz Library at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Gettysburg, Murray Library at Messiah College, Nashville Public
Library, Pius XII Memorial Library at Saint Louis University, St.
Louis Public Library, Martha M. Brown and Lois H. Daniel
Memorial Library at Tennessee State University, Angelo and
Jennette Volpe Library at Tennessee Technological University,
Waggoner Library at Trevecca Nazarene University, Burke
Theological Library at Union Theological Seminary, J. D. Williams
Library at the University of Mississippi, Bizzell Memorial Library
at the University of Oklahoma, Thomas Cooper Library at the
University of South Carolina, Lupton Library at the University of
Tennessee at Chattanooga, Health Sciences Library and
Biocommunications Center at the University of Tennessee
Health Science Center, John C. Hodges Main Library at the
University of Tennessee–Knoxville, and the Worcester
(Massachusetts) Public Library.
I wish to thank the staff at the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania for providing valuable information. I wish to thank
Pennsylvania for providing valuable information. I wish to thank
the director of the P. T. Barnum Museum, Bridgeport,
Connecticut, for information about P. T. Barnum.
I wish to thank the executives of Procter & Gamble (P&G),
Cincinnati, Ohio; the executives of Springs Industries, Inc.
(Springs Global), Fort Mill, South Carolina; and the executives of
the former N. W. Ayer & Partners advertising agency, New York,
for their kind responses to my inquiries (N. W. Ayer & Partners
advertising agency merged into the Kaplan Thaler Group).
Finally, I wish to thank my editor and the other wonderful
people at Scarecrow Press who worked on this book.
Introduction
This book examines several fascinating individuals who
were responsible for building or growing businesses, including
advertising agencies, from the earliest days in the United States
to the second half of the twentieth century. Each chapter
focuses on one or more personalities who worked in a particular
business and either employed advertising to promote the
business and product or produced advertising that helped sell
clients’ products and services. In some instances, some of these
individuals not only earned considerable fortunes but
contributed greatly to advertising’s development.
The first chapter discusses printers who published
newspapers and magazines in the American colonies. The
discussion focuses primarily on the differences among the
printers, their respective newspapers or magazines, and, of
course, the advertisements they accepted for publication.
Several examples of these advertisements are included and
discussed.
The second chapter examines three of the first advertising
agents—including Volney B. Palmer, George P. Rowell, and
Francis Wayland Ayer, who founded N. W. Ayer and Son—and
focuses on their contributions to the development of advertising
as a business.
The third chapter examines P. T. Barnum’s professional
career, especially the innovative contributions that he made to
advertising and marketing. Barnum, a master salesman,
employed outdoor advertising and promotion, among other
forms, to announce his attractions. In addition, he manipulated
publishers and editors of newspapers into running stories about
his upcoming shows.
The fourth chapter discusses Lydia E. Pinkham, one of the
first women in the United States to establish a successful
business as a result of using advertising effectively. Her “Lydia
E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound” was one of the most
E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound” was one of the most
popular patent medicines of its day. This chapter also discusses
the journalistic campaign against patent medicines, including
Pinkham’s vegetable compound, as well as the problems that
the Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine Company experienced under the
guidance of Pinkham’s heirs in the twentieth century.
The fifth chapter examines John Wanamaker, a retailer who
learned about the American consumer a century before Sam
Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart. However, few realize that in
addition to being an astute businessman, Wanamaker was one
of the first major department store owners to understand the
power of advertising. Indeed, the advertisements that appeared
in newspapers not only informed consumers about articles of
clothing but guaranteed their quality. Wanamaker also
advertised the policy of “money back.” He was the first retailer
to place a full-page newspaper advertisement in the United
States. In addition to using newspapers, he advertised outdoors
and on specialty items, such as pencils and balloons. Before he
retired in the early twentieth century, he had built one of the
largest department stores in the country.
The sixth chapter focuses on Albert Lasker and the Lord &
Thomas Advertising Agency, which Lasker eventually owned. It
also discusses the contributions that Lasker and the agency
made to advertising.
The seventh chapter examines the first 100 years of Procter
& Gamble, as well as the advertising of what eventually became
its best-selling product at the time, Ivory Soap. Specifically, this
chapter discusses the founding of the company by William
Procter and James Gamble, as well as the development and
advertising of Ivory Soap from the 1880s to the 1930s. Part of
the discussion focuses on Harley Procter, who advertised
successfully Ivory Soap, and William Cooper Procter, who
introduced several revolutionary concepts into the daily
management of the company.
The eighth chapter discusses Elliott White Springs, the
owner and president of the Springs Cotton Mills, and the
company’s advertising campaign of the late 1940s and early
1950s. Springs developed a controversial advertising campaign
based on its illustrations of scantily clad young women and the
based on its illustrations of scantily clad young women and the
accompanying blocks of copy that contained questionable
descriptive terms.
The ninth chapter examines Stanley B. Resor and his
influence on the J. Walter Thompson Company (now JWT), which
he headed for a half century. Resor created the first research
department in an advertising agency. He encouraged his wife,
Helen Lansdowne Resor, a copywriter at the agency, to write
emotional copy that appealed to women.
The tenth chapter discusses the historical development of
advertising as a discipline in colleges and universities from the
time that the first courses were offered to the second half of the
twentieth century, although emphasis is on the earlier decades.
Of course, since several courses were offered by faculty
members in psychology and many were offered by schools or
colleges of commerce or business administration, this chapter
discusses several psychology professors as well as the historical
development of marketing as a discipline. In short, advertising
as a discipline in institutions of higher education developed
primarily in departments or schools of journalism and
departments, schools, or colleges of commerce or business
administration, especially in the offering marketing.
The purpose of this book is to share some insight into the
lives of these individuals as well as some insight into their
contributions to advertising.
Colonial America and Advertising
Under Charles II, England occupied the Atlantic coast of
North America, from Canada to Georgia. Philadelphia, which had
been founded in Pennsylvania in 1682, became the greatest
river port in America. Parcels of land in Carolina became
plantations farmed by slaves. The chartered colonies became
Crown colonies, and governors appointed by the Crown replaced
proprietors or managers. The influx of Puritans and Cavaliers
increased the colonies’ population. Indians eventually lost their
land to others.
Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston
became not only the dominant colonial settlements but
marketing centers. Specific days of the week became “market
days.” Designated marketplaces were established on the village
squares for trading activities. As a result, these five colonies
controlled the economy, and each colony regulated wholesale
and retail trade.[1]
Large quantities of Southern commodities could be
processed and exported. Production in the North was on a
smaller scale but more diversified. What was produced could be
distributed to the various markets in America.[2]
Before 1700, retailing consisted of small shops owned by
craftsmen who made and sold specific goods and small stores
operated by colonists who would buy goods for resale. Between
1690 and 1720, in Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia, and
Charleston, specialty shops emerged primarily because of
increased urbanization and a higher standard of living. At this
time, the so-called Yankee peddler roamed the country,
competing against the more established merchants.[3]
Eventually, the older, more established merchants
attempted to have legislation enacted that would protect their
businesses. They also desired regulations that covered
standards, weights, and selling practices. The Yankee peddler
was an enemy to the merchant because he went to the