Historical Advertisements
1950's Ice Cream Ad, Photo Credit: flickr user brianbutko
Part 1: Use of Primary Source Documents
Like 'em or hate 'em, advertisements have been part of newspapers and magazines from the beginning. In fact, publications as early as 1740 contain advertisements! Early ads contained no photos or illustrations, but as time passed graphics were added to the ads. With the invention of the camera, photography changed ads forever. For the first time, viewers were able to physically see the product they were buying before ordering. Flash forward to today and ads even have interactive components. Scan a barcode with your phone and you might receive a coupon or watch a video. Pop on a pair of glasses with red and blue foil and Pow! your viewing the ad in 3D.
While the products may have changed, the intention behind advertisements has not: they are designed to grab your attention and to hopefully sell something (a physical good or an idea) to their audience. The size of an ad, the colors, even its location in a newspaper or magazine are all made purposefully. In this assignment, you'll look at five historical advertisements and answer the following questions:
Extra Credit:
Based on what you've learned about advertising in the past, create an advertisement for a product 20 years into the future. Be sure to include the answers to the previous list of questions either in your ad or in a short paragraph attached to it.
Like 'em or hate 'em, advertisements have been part of newspapers and magazines from the beginning. In fact, publications as early as 1740 contain advertisements! Early ads contained no photos or illustrations, but as time passed graphics were added to the ads. With the invention of the camera, photography changed ads forever. For the first time, viewers were able to physically see the product they were buying before ordering. Flash forward to today and ads even have interactive components. Scan a barcode with your phone and you might receive a coupon or watch a video. Pop on a pair of glasses with red and blue foil and Pow! your viewing the ad in 3D.
While the products may have changed, the intention behind advertisements has not: they are designed to grab your attention and to hopefully sell something (a physical good or an idea) to their audience. The size of an ad, the colors, even its location in a newspaper or magazine are all made purposefully. In this assignment, you'll look at five historical advertisements and answer the following questions:
- What type of product is being advertised?
- What is the price of the product?
- If the product is still made, find the price of the item today. What's the difference with inflation?
- Where is this ad listed in the newspaper or magazine?
- Is there anything note-worthy or possibly controversial about this ad?
- What do you think reception would be like for this ad if it was placed in the New York Times or Time magazine today?
- Duke Libraries Digital Collection- Advertising from 1911 to 1955
- Duke Libraries Digital Collection- Medicine and Madison Avenue
- Industry Ads from the 1970s
Extra Credit:
Based on what you've learned about advertising in the past, create an advertisement for a product 20 years into the future. Be sure to include the answers to the previous list of questions either in your ad or in a short paragraph attached to it.
Part 2: Use of Google Maps
Many of the great advertising giants have the headquarters here in the United States. As you look at various ads, write down the names of the companies and their address. If the address is not available, use a search engine to find the headquarters of the company. You will use this information to create an "advertising giants" map in Google Maps.
To map the locations:
To map the locations:
- Go to maps.google.com and type in the address or city and state of your first company. For example, Coca-Cola's headquarters are located in Mid-Town Atlanta.
- Click on the letter that corresponds to the city (usually the letter A) on the map.
- Select save to map, you will need to sign in with your Google account.
- You'll be prompted to create a new map, select save.
- Once you've created your map, click edit to add a description and to rename your map.
- Underneath the name of the city, click comment and enter the company's name. You can also enter any notes about the company like "re-named to..." or "no longer in existence..."
- Add the rest of your locations to the map.
- When done, look for the small chain link in the top corner. Post the link to Blackboard and in the assignment dropbox.