Business Advertisement Card: "Teas and Coffees"

One of the ways trade card advertisers could compensate for the flat, mundane nature of their paper products was by implementing natural imagery. If a feeling of “naturalness” and “genuineness” was conveyed to the consumer successfully, then the advertised product was more likely to be researched and purchased. Chromolithography, the process of printing color-printed ephemera, allowed trade card authors to create colorful and appealing images which helped to circulate the supposed benefits of their wares. This card reveals a seascape scene, hinting to consumers that the items from The Union Pacific Tea Co. are supposedly of fine and wonderful quality.

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