Advertising Mother's Day

What Good Moms Buy

The way advertisers target mothers has changed along with the social understanding of American motherhood, one sociologist found.
Guinness ad

Why We Drink Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day

Unlike shamrock pins and green beer, Guinness drinking really is a longstanding tradition in Ireland.
pharmaceutical advertising

Should Drug Makers Advertise?

Drug advertising is a longstanding issue in the U.S, tangled with patients’ rights to make their own decisions, doctors’ professional status, and the ethics of profiting from powerful drugs.
Menstrual pads history

The Secret History of Menstruation

Menstruation is both a mundane fact of life and an oddly under-discussed subject. For many centuries, Western industrial societies have simply ignored it.
Womens Home Companion ad

An Ad Campaign for Ads

Back in the 1920s and ‘30s, the magazine Women’s Home Companion tried explicitly appealing to its readers to take the ads seriously.
Barnum and Bailey poster

How P. T. Barnum Gave The Public What It Wanted

P.T. Barnum, born July 5, 1810, was "the first great advertising genius and the greatest publicity exploiter the world has ever known."
Betty Crocker cupcakes

In Search of the Real Betty Crocker

Betty Crocker, the woman who would become America’s most beloved baker, sprang to life in 1921 in an all-male advertising department.
Wedding bands

Selling the Men’s Wedding Ring

How changing mores, cultural pressures, and, yes, the jewelry industry made two-ring wedding ceremonies the norm in America.
JSTOR Daily Friday Reads

Kathleen Rooney’s Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk

Move over flâneur, here comes the flâneuse, the female version of the famous French walkers.
honest ed's signage

The Candid Appeal of the Advertising Show Card

A hand-painted show card evokes a certain nostalgia and humanity that machine-made signs can never arouse: It suggests honesty.