| 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 Brown's Eisen Bitters, two advertising tropes which can be observed are the inclusion of children and animals and the imagery medical advertisers used to make their remedial products seem more trustworthy.
Children were terrific advertising tools in American trade cards, with producers often using charming images of young people to increase consumer sentiments and facilitate a positive reputation for their brands. Also, these children were often depicted as engaging in consumer lifestyles, a trend that their peers found inspiring. Additionally, some advertisers used sympathy for children–often depicting them as downtrodden or impoverished–to advertise the negative issues of industrialized society. This card demonstrates this trend by
presenting a boy playing around a large barrel. This image is meant to demonstrate to consumers that the product offered is child-friendly and family oriented.
American advertisers often included animals in their trade cards to charm and increase consumer patronage. Producers were particularly incentivized to make their advertisements visually appealing to children since younger audiences tended to collect and disseminate trade cards to their parents. This card demonstrates this trend by showing three dogs in and around a barrel, a wholesome image which helps to generate favorable attention from consumers.
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 appealing imagery of a boy and dogs playing around a barrel to convince consumers that the remedy advertised supposedly produces effects which are, overall, positive and healthy.
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| Bibliography |
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2021, https://www.britannica.com/art/printmaking/Lithography. |
