Old Time Advertisements

The Practice of Barn Advertisement

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I think we’ve lost some fun in this modern age before billboards. Really quite a few things but one was the colorful barn and store advertising in the 1950s that painters used to put on buildings for certain products. They were eye-catching and, the money they paid the owners was more than they had.

Permission to use from Flickrr.

Painters of such were known as “Wall Dogs.” Don’t ask me why. I get the wall part but dogs?

Whoever came up with the idea of using barns to tout products was pretty smart. The barns were just sitting there all plain and nondescriptive and ended up really different. Of course, it depended on the product too. One of the largest advertising to grace barns was Mail Pouch Tobacco. Painters put that on 20,000 barns in sixteen states. Quite a sales tactic. Plus, they gave the farmer free Mail Pouch tobacco for a year.

Lucky Strike cigarettes featured a smiling doctor on the ad. You sure wouldn’t see that anymore.

Photo by Gail Stephenson at Fine Art America

 

Photo Compliments of Pixabay

There were a lot more barn advertisements up north than down here in the south and I don’t know why that was. Maybe there were more painters up there. I read that one painter could do three barns in a day. Man, that’s fast! They didn’t do only barns either. They put their advertising on the sides of businesses as well.

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

 

By The original uploader was Pollinator at English Wikipedia. – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., CC BY-SA

The Highway Beautification Act brought this practice to a halt and they all disappeared. But the art is kinda catching on again a little bit, not products but murals. I noticed in several Texas towns, someone painted beautiful scenes on the sides of buildings in the downtown areas. They were so eye-catching.

As a girl, I always loved to read billboards as my family traveled across the country. My paternal grandparents lived in Southern California and each year we would make the trip to see them. Our route took us across the Mojave Desert. It took us hours to cross that scorching part of America and it was very boring. Then the Burma Shave company began to put billboards across there, spaced every mile or so, and they had the cutest sayings. Here are a few:

  • Does your husband / Misbehave / Grunt and grumble / Rant and rave / Shoot the brute some / Burma-Shave
  • A shave / That’s real / No cuts to heal / A soothing / Velvet after-feel / Burma-Shave
  • Shaving brushes / You’ll soon see ’em / On the shelf / In some / Museum / Burma-Shave

They were quite entertaining. Not as good as a barn though. Do you remember seeing some of these barns or signs when you went down the road?

 

Old-Time Advertisements

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And now a word from our sponsor…

Those particular words didn’t come into play until the radio, but advertising has been around since the beginning of mankind.  Cavemen painted billboards on rock walls. Ancient Romans printed advertisements for gladiatorial games on papyrus.

After the invention of the printing press, advertisements began appearing in newspapers and periodicals. Circulars were posted on chimneys, lamp posts, walls, wagons, fences—you name it.  Since painting the town with ads was considered a public spectacle, men with buckets of paste worked mostly at night.

According to the old ads, only women had body odor.

Ads were designed not only to sell products, but also to solve personal and social problems. In many cases, people were oblivious to such personal shame as body odor or halitosis until some thoughtful marketer pointed it out.

Sense and Sensibilities

Looking back, I can’t help but laugh at some of the strange wording used to avoid offending customers.   During the 1800s the word limb was used for leg and white meat for chicken breast.  No one dare mention pants or trousers in polite company.  This posed a challenge for marketers. 

The Scott Company was so embarrassed at having to advertise toilet paper during the 1880s they customized the paper for their clients. The Waldorf Hotel became a big name in toilet paper. When a customer walked into a general store and requested a roll of Waldorf, no questions were asked. 

Speaking of toilet paper, Northern Tissue advertised “splinter-free” toilet paper in 1935.  If that doesn’t want to make you go “ouch” consider this: the “cure” for a certain male condition currently blasted nightly from the TV was, in the early 1900s, thought to be electric belts.

The westward migration spurred advertisements for real estate, investments and tourism.  

In 1860 the Pony Express advertisement in California read:

Can you imagine seeing an ad like this today?

“Wanted. Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over 18. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.”

The Civil War created a great need for clothes, shoes and ready made food and advertisements during the era reflected the new consumerism. 

Writers hear a lot about “branding” today, and we can thank the patent medicine companies of yesteryear for that.  By touting exotic ingredients, producers could distinguish themselves from competitors.  Other companies followed suit and slogans like the “soap that floats” became increasingly popular. 

It’s Wonderful, Amazing, Spectacular!

Not that long ago, a girl could be somebody, as long she was a secretary.

 Exaggeration was the order of the day and no one was better at reeling off adjectives than Richard Sears.  Eventually, Sears toned down the ads and was said to have concluded: “Honesty is the best policy. I know because I’ve tried it both ways.”

Honesty didn’t come easy for some advertisers and reform was needed. 1892, the Ladies’ Home Journal announced it would no longer accept patent medicine ads. The bogus potions were costing Americans millions of dollars per year and were coming under heavy attack by commentators and consumers.

In our factory, we make lipstick. In our advertising, we sell hope.”-Peter Nivio Zarlenga

Women purchased most of the household goods and so it made sense to have women create the ads.  As early as the 1900s, advertisers welcomed female employees.  The first advertisement to use sex was for Woodbury soap and was created by a woman.  Tame by today’s standards, the advertisement featured a couple with the message “The skin you love to touch.”  Not only did this raise eyebrows, but it promised sex, romance and love to anyone savvy enough to buy the product.  It worked:  Sales skyrocketed.

Studying advertisements is a great way to learn the customs, concerns, prejudices and history of earlier times.  I shudder to think what future generations will learn from ours.

What are your favorite or least favorite ads?

Read Margaret’s books and they will make you younger, wiser, thinner and rich! 

(Sorry, after reading all those old-time ads, I couldn’t resist!)

 

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