Advertising in Victorian England, 1837-1901

Beskrivning

Titel: Advertising in Victorian England, 1837-1901
Författare: Diana & Geoffrey Hindley
Utgivningsår: 1972
Språk: engelska
Skick: mycket gott skick. Omslag i gott skick.

In this informative and absorbing book Diana and Geoffrey Hindley describe how the modern advertising industry was born in Queen Victoria’s reign. They examine the conditions which influenced this process and explain how more reliable information about the media helped advertising companies to build up awareness levels and develop marketing strategies. They trace the history of the early agencies and show how the innovators worked hard to build up a professional status in the face of scepticism and suspicion from advertisers. Such suspicion was at first well founded—fringe operators indulged freely in sharp practices and the authors draw on much unpublished material to exemplify their ingenuity. In a further chapter the authors trace the increasing refinement of copywriting, and in doing so reveal fascinating aspects of Victorian social attitudes as reflected in advertising copy. “Free offers” and “free trials” were pioneered in the nineteenth century and the authors show how special promotions became a recognized element in marketing. Publicity stunts were another novelty in those early days. The authors tell of spectators at the Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race who found themselves showered with free gifts and of London traffic grinding to a halt as crowds gathered to hear a programme of patriotic songs played from the office window of a gramophone company. In the next chapter the authors study the impact of major poster artists on product promotion, and they conclude with a chapter on the new consumer market created in Victorian England. Advertising in Victorian England contains more than 100 black and white illustrations and 8 pages in full colour. Many of the subjects are reproduced for the first time. An appendix gives full details of more than 100 advertising agencies which operated in England from 1830 onwards. Apart from providing a unique study of the history of advertising, this book also encapsulates the hopes, fears and ambitions of a bygone social order.