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John Strachan has done an admirable job in bringing to life long dead ideas about the fine art of puffery which started as a scholarly focus on the wonderful poetry and prose of the Romantic age. How better to use the works of others than by a gentle twisting of the words of those most famous, in a bit of parody, to yield a bit of advertising copy. His example, Warreniana, a book long out of print, has song and dance (literally and figuratively) that promotes a product which we would now recognize as shoe polish, or saddle soap or perhaps a combination of the two. Warren's Paste Blacking was promoted by advertisements in the papers, on billboards, sandwich boards and word of mouth. And Warren, a real person with a business to promote in 1820, recognizing the value of recommendations by a third party, used the words of famous writers to promote his product; some say with their blessings, other not.
Along comes a writer of no great importance who captures the moment in his book, Warreniana. William Frederick Deacon knew his literature well and was able to pen this book, granting identity to the various "authors" by their initials. No mystery to the public at that time. Washington Irving, identified as W.I., found his description of Roscoe, an essay from "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., mutated to Warren. With the majority of the text lifted (some now call this plagiarism) intact and the characteristics of Warren, the blacking producer, substituted for Roscoe, the librarian. This and the writings of fifteen others constitute the book, Warreniana.
Deacon actually only put to paper a form that would be immortalized; the advertising spoofs widely used. The great contribution Strachan makes, is to place the book, Warreniana, in perspective and by his research, (which is well demonstrated in the generous introduction, notes and references) give a view of a form of advertising that has for the most part been overlooked, and certainly undervalued.
The exceptional property of this scheme of advertising was the use of parody. It would be a bit like using a picture of Einstein to sell cigars, with the aid of computer wizardry, the pipe in his mouth can be made to disappear and in its place a cigar and of course the identity of the cigar could easily be determined. Or, with the pipe removed, Einstein could be seen to be promoting abstinence from smoking. (This has actually been done by the anti-smoking crowd.) In the case of Warren and Deacon, the famous writers of the day had their most easily recognized writings twisted, sometimes not too gently, to praise, Warren's Blacking which was always identified as being produced at 30 Strand, London.
A brief sampling from the introduction to Strachan's book, pp xvi:
"One gets a sense of how common blacking copy was in Canto XVI of Baron's Don Juan, where Juan picks up a London paper:
he took up an old newspaper;
The paper was right ease to peruse;
He read an article the king attacking,
And a long eulogy of �Patent Blacking.'
Warreniana � John Strachan, Parodies of the Romantic Age, Volume 4. Strachan's introduction to Warreniana appears on the website: As the book in which it appears is obscenely priced, this at least brings to the average reader a glimpse of advertising in the Romantic Age.
References that appear in Strachan's work which may be available through libraries are:
Alec Davis, Package and Print: The Development of Container and Label Design (London: Faber and Faber, 1967) pp 29 -30. (Coffee table book)
The Birth of a Consumer Society; The Commercialization of Eighteenth-Century England (London; Europa Publications, 1982. Neil McKendrick, John Brewer and J. H. Plumb (Almost impossible to find and now at a dear price of $50 or so, but buy it!)
The History and Development of Advertising, Frank Presbrey, New York, Doubleday, 1929
(Expensive)
The Shocking History of Advertising, E. S. Turner, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1965, pp55. (A good read and not too expensive.)
Having said this in praise of Warren and his Blacking, perhaps a brief dip into the world of commercialization as viewed from a year 2002 perspective is in order. The reader is invited to consider the following:
Psychologists discovered (shortly after they discovered sex) that it's the sizzle, not the steak, it's the illusion. Their teaching was that some deeply desired, previously unattainable want could be satisfied and would sell products so identified. The object of this type advertising campaign can hardly be resisted. Who doesn't want to be more popular, smell better, hold their water just a bit longer, have larger (or at least appear to have) whatever's? How to accomplish this is another matter of selling Hope and Fear.
Move the distressed merchandise first, don't worry about accuracy when it's time to make a sale.
A thief on his trial refused to be sworn.
"Of what use," queried he, "will my evidence be?
If I tell the whole truth, I shall get the Old Nick;
If I tell what's not true, the Old Nick will get me."
Francis E. Leupp
Hobson's choice
Benjamin Morgan reported in his book, his experience with hypocrites, and Miss Julia Spear listed the following shams:
Fashion
Music
Manners
Money
Character
Politics
Time
Shams or Uncle Ben's Experience with Hypocrites
Let me count the ways.
False economy -
False nutrition �
False packaging -
Bait and Switch -
Knock the competitor's product -
Fix it, even if it ain't broken -
Information that is meaningless
Or my favorite, the guileless(?) politician.
Been Gulled lately?
We're all hucksters in our own way. Everything we do, regardless of motive is selling and the act of promotion is just one element of the transaction. Perhaps the greatest huckster ever known was Phineas T. Barnum
Barnum said, "When an advertisement first appears, a man does not see it; the second time he notices it; the third time he reads it; the fourth he thinks about it; the fifth he speaks to his wife about it; and the sixth or seventh time he is ready to purchase." This was his first rule.
The second "Rule of Barnum" is information gained from a third party is always more effective.
The third "Rule of Barnum" is that the actual object need not be shown in the ad, only linked to it.
The forth "Rule of Barnum" is that you identify a small influential group to market you product to first. Then spring-board off their acceptance to the next market group until you reach the mass market.
The fifth "Rule of Barnum" is animation sells. His most popular shows involved action.
The sixth "Rule of Barnum" is build on your reputation
The seventh and final "Rule of Barnum", give the public something to take home. Some of his shows, acts, displays were pure shams. And yet the public yearned for more.
These rules are unstated in the books by and about P. T. Barnum, but a careful reading yields them and others.
If you can involve the viewing public's imagination in advertising, it is never boring and your product will sail off the shelves! How so, you may ask?
Consider the following signature items: a Holstein cow packing box, cool camel, serial posting of road-side advertisements, red hot chili pepper, sign for a large egress, a two finger behind-the-head photo opportunity, windmills, a partially eaten apple, a chicken scratching, distance marker to a drug store. You are able to identify the product(s) promoted instantly.
(Some of these date to before the turn of the century so may not now be familiar.)
These symbols either in print or on television bring to mind a product. The advertising budgets are long past spent but the images remain. That's great advertising.
Huggins' promotions;
1) entertained with puns, sarcasm and humor,
2) set the hook for products that became not simple wants but necessities by repeating exposure to them,
3) never mentioned price, which would have either cheapened the product in the eyes of some while making them appear unattainable in the view of others, and
4) showed that Huggins was just a common man like all those in his audience.
Barber most extra-ordinaire
It doesn't take a genius to design a package that catches the eye of the beholder, is functional, imparts a message and encourages use.
Timothy Dexter promoted himself. That's advertising in its baddest form, but Timothy Dexter made his fortune, the old fashion way by buying low and selling high. He exported bed warmers to the tropics. Now bed warmers in those days (early 1800's) were designed to have coals placed within them and when covered with the accompanying top were placed in the New England beds to take off the chill. How do you imagine that bed warmers would have a place in the Indies? As luck would have it or perhaps because of his genius, the molasses trade was in need of equipment and these same bed pans and their tops were modified only slightly to become skimmers and ladles which were desperately needed in the refining of molasses. Mark one up for our friend Timothy Dexter. And he shipped woolen mittens to the tropics as well, and as usual made a fortune. How? Shipping was and is an international trade. Just because an items destination is Barbados doesn't mean that the item will be unloaded there, in fact, Dexter's mittens found their way to Russia. There is even more, but you will have to delve into it on your own.
A Pickle for the Knowing Ones
N.B. Timothy Dexter is best known for his self-published book, A Pickle for the Knowing Ones. In it he draws attention to the use of punctuation marks by providing a series which he instructs the reader to insert at those places which the reader might deem most appropriate. This is reminiscent of the note which was added to a parody by P. G. Patmore who in his Rejected Articles on a review of Brother Jonathan (a book popular at the time, written by the American, John Neal)
"The reader will have the goodness to attribute the singular punctuation of these extracts to anybody but us. Whether it has been invented by the printer of Brother Jonathan, or the author, is more than we can guess. But of this we have very little doubt, that one most prevailing cause of the want of success of the work is this very system (for it is done, not by accident, but on a kind of system, such as it is) of pointing(b) � which mangles and fritters away the effect of many of the finest passages, and changes not a few into pure and impracticable nonsense." (b) punctuation.
Barnum's self stated rules NB These are as Barnum saw them, kindly refer back to
1) Have faith - makes a simpler, less stressful and happier life
2) Believe in your family - a strength that helps in good and bad times
3) Help people as much as you can - kindness cost little and returns much
4) Work hard - make your hobby your work and your work your hobby
5) You can do anything you want - believe in yourself
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So, what began with John Strachan's Parodies of the Romantic Age becomes an introduction into marketing. He touched only on spoofing the products, leaving the business of making a buck to someone else. As advertising has changed little, so have business practices changed little or not at all. The moral judgement of what is right and proper remains in the eyes of the doer and the one who has been done to. Wilhelm Windelband in his book, A History of Philosophy, reviewed morality and found that morals were based on how public opinion view the individual, how the laws were obeyed and finally how in the eyes of God the individual would be judged. In today's market (business or politic), public opinion can be swayed by advertising (promotion) no less, the laws can be subverted, ignored or other ones chosen to better represent the moral code of the one being judged, and finally in the eyes of God; if the individual is Godless, regardless of how much he or she may appear before the alter, that individual's attitude is not going to be affected. Such it is as it is today.
The art of puffery is alive and well.
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(a) With apologies to Tom Lehrer.
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