The Advertising of Yesterday, Today

After reading William Leach’s essay, Facades of Color, Glass, and Light, and then viewing a commercial on television, one cannot but notice how little some forms of advertising have changed since their birth in the late nineteenth century. The birth of advertising in color brought about the first advertisements that rather than try to illustrate the product, tried to provoke emotion within the consumer. The “advertising cards” illustrated images that jumped out at the observer, and brought about a certain idea of the product being sold, rather than showing the product. In many ways this is identical to how companies will try to advertise their product in today’s world.

Many commercials on television and advertisements in magazines and newspapers simply try to evoke an emotional response out of the consumer that will influence them into buying the product. Many times it is almost impossible to figure out what product is even being sold in the commercials because they either do not mention the name of the product until the last few seconds, or the object is never even pictured. These advertisements simply try and make a type of commercial that make the consumer feel happy, laugh or interested in the mystery, so that the idea of the product will stay with them. This form of advertising is exactly what the advertising cards of the 1880s and 1890s tried to accomplish. Instead of depicting the actual product for sale, the cards tried to associate the particular business with ideas of fantasy, mystery or pleasure.