| Description |
Many American advertising cards in the nineteenth century displayed a variety of visual and rhetorical themes to foster the attention of potential consumers. The appealing elements these cards displayed convinced the public that these easily disposable ephemera pieces were worthy of preservation. In this card for Pond's Extract Co., two advertising tropes which can be observed are eye-catching design features and the imagery medical advertisers used to make their remedial products seem more trustworthy.
Printed trade cards which featured appealing designs and imagery were more likely to be
recognized by the American public and, therefore, generate brand recognition for the
producing company. Scenes with exotic, eye-catching, and even fantastical qualities were often implemented into these cards. This portrayal was meant to suggest that the advertised product, as opposed to similar items from other brands, was of high quality and perhaps even supernatural in its effectiveness. This card displays an obelisk that is likely intended to catch the eye of consumers as well as generate curiosity about what unique items the advertiser could offer.
As many Americans practiced self-medication and distrusted medical professionals, patent medicine companies were the largest distributors of domestic trade cards. Public ignorance of healthy habits and a lack of advertising regulations on trade cards allowed medical advertisers to make exaggerated and untruthful claims on the beneficial qualities of their products. This marketing approach resulted in great profits for the sellers, but also fostered the prevalence of disease and other illnesses. This card is an example of this trend because it includes the grand image of an ancient obelisk to convince consumers that the remedial items advertised supposedly have a strong and profound impact on one’s health and well-being.
|
| Bibliography |
“A Short History of Trade Cards,” Bulletin of the Business Historical Society 5, no. 3 (April
1931).
Berg, Maxine and Clifford, Helen, Selling Consumption in the Eighteenth Century: Advertising
and the Trade Card in Britain and France, The Journal of the Social History Society, (April 28,
2015).
Chase, Ernest D., The Romance of Greeting Cards, Rust Craft Publishers, 1956.
Jay, Robert, The Trade Card In Nineteenth-Century America, University of Missouri Press,
1987.
Lewis, John, Printed Ephemera: The Changing Uses of Type and Letterforms in English and
American Printing, W.S. Cowell Ltd., 1962.
Mehaffy, Marilyn Maness, Advertising Race/Raceing Advertising: The Feminine
Consumer(Nation), 1876-1900, Signs, 23, no. 1, The University of Chicago Press, 1997, 142-
143, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3175155.
Oatman-Stanford, Hunter, “Extreme Shipping: When Express Delivery to California Meant 100
Grueling Days at Sea,” Collectors Weekly, (June 2, 2016),
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/when-express-delivery-meant-100-days-at-sea/.
Peterdi, Gabor, “Lithography” section of “Printmaking” article, Encyclopedia Britannica online,
2021, https://www.britannica.com/art/printmaking/Lithography. |
