16. Advertising Plasters Landscape 2017-06-14T14:46:10+00:00

16. Introduction

 

Advertising Plasters the Landscape

Advertising on the streets 100 years ago was as ubiquitous as advertising on TV today, so magic lantern show ads and broadsides faced stiff competition. Shown, a lantern slide of an English wall plastered with ads.

There was so much broadside advertising that it led to lantern-slide jokes on the subject, as in this slide.  It shows a man posting an advertising bill, using a stick to hold up the bill while he spreads paste with a long-handled brush. Two kids are also at work. Click.

The competition for advertising space led to the development of professional City Bill Posters, and a special collapsible bill-poster’s hammer that once assembled was 3 ½ feet long.  A bracket on the hammer held the poster and a thumbtack so that the advertiser could place the advertising up high, out of the reach of competitors and malicious small boys.

Archival Notes

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