The Rise of Advertising in the United States: A History of Innovation to 1960
Author(s): Edd Applegate (Author)
Publisher: Scarecrow Press (UK)
Publication Date: 17 Aug. 2012
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Print length: 210 pages
ISBN-10: 0810884062
ISBN-13: 9780810884069
Book Description
In this unique work of scholarship, Edd Applegate surveys the key figures and events that transformed the American business landscape from its colonial beginnings to that Mad Men moment when advertising “went professional.” In The Rise of Advertising in the United States: A History of Innovation to 1960, Applegate traces how the explosion of newspapers in the American colonies laid the groundwork for the first advertising agents, leading to America’s first class of professional marketers. This entrepreneurial class of new white-collar professionals thrived on innovation in the quest for more publicity, larger clients, and greater sales. Some of the thought-leaders in what remained a novel, ever-changing form of communication include:
• P. T. Barnum, master of the advertising “gimmick” • Lydia Pinkham, queen of the patent medicine cure • John Wanamaker, progenitor of modern retail advertising • Albert Lasker, the formulator of “reason why” advertising • Stanley Resor, the consummate market researcher • Elliott White Springs, the groundbreaking purveyor of the sexual innuendo
Applegate records the achievements of these individuals and others up until 1960, when advertising underwent a remarkable change, becoming a post-war subject of study and scholarship in America’s colleges and universities. Written for those interested in learning about a select group of movers and shakers in this key area of American business, The Rise of Advertising in the United States should appeal to anyone interested in American business history.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Advertising is as American as apple pie, dating back to the 17th century and the arrival of the first printing presses in the American colonies, as Applegate (advertising and mass communications, Middle Tennessee State Univ.) recounts in this book. He notes that handbills, newspapers, and Benjamin Franklin’s own Pennsylvania Gazette gave advertisers a means to reach potential customers. The emergence of advertising agents in the 1800s made advertising more effective, helping businesses to write and format ads. Applegate describes products and stores that soon became household names–the power brands of their day. One of the first, Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, became the “surest remedy for the painful ills and disorders suffered by women everywhere.” John Wanamaker used advertising to turn his Philadelphia men’s clothing store into the largest department store of its kind in 1876, advertising “whole suits for three dollars.” As advertising grew, so did the nation’s manufacturers and merchandisers, including soap maker Procter & Gamble, known for its “soap that floats.” By the 1900s, advertisers agreed that “sex sells.” In the final chapter, Applegate traces the history of how advertising became a subject taught in US colleges and universities. Summing Up: Recommended.” —Choice Reviews
About the Author
Edd Applegate is professor emeritus of Middle Tennessee State University, USA. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in advertising and mass communications for more than 30 years. His numerous publications include The Rise of Advertising in the United States and Cases in Advertising and Marketing Management (with Art Johnsen). He has been honored with fellowships and grants from organizations including the Donald and Geraldine Hedberg Foundation, the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, the Annenberg Washington Program, the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center, the Gannett Foundation, the Missouri Commission on Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, among others.
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