Advertising In The 1930's

Not surprisingly, by the time the 1930's rolled around, advertising already had a long an interesting history. Ancient Egyptians used Papyrus to create "sales messages," which was also common in Pompeii, Arabia, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, dating back to at least 4000 BC. While the ancient form of advertising is not like the ads we see today, the goal was the same: to persuade a customer to purchase something that they would not normally need or want to buy. In the 19th Century, with the Industrial Revolution creating new technologies that allowed mass duplication, magazines - and thus print ads - really began to take off. By 1930, the print ad evolved into a form that we, today, easily recognize (save for the inclusion of four to five times more text).

One interesting side-note about early advertising: while most of the working world prior to the Industrial Revolution was extremely gendered, when advertising became an actual "business," both men and women worked as equals in the industry. Initially, this was one of the few jobs that a woman could hold where she was treated as an equal. Part of the reason was practicality: print magazines were primarily geared toward women, and it was thought that women could write better ads directed at their own gender. However, as the businesses grew, advertising began to be dominated by men, and the usual gender stereotypes prevented women from regaining the equality they once had for several more decades.

Advertising did not just stop with magazines. With the then-recent development of radio, ads worked their way into the most popular media format of the time. What started out as a means of selling more radios to listeners, quickly became an unchecked means of completely integrating entertainment and advertising. It wasn't until the Communications Act of 1934 was passed, and the FCC as we know it was created, that specific legislation was passed that defined how radio advertising could and couldn't be used.

There are a number of resources for finding ads from this time period. Found In Mom's Basement was the site I pulled a number of ads from, but sites like Methodshop have a number of fascinating ads too, which there are a number of specialty sites that focus on one kind of ad (cars, make-up, etc.) Familiarity with advertising is a great way to give depth to the culture of the '30's, and give you different perspectives on what was happening at the time.

The Harlem Renaissance

Originally known as "The New Negro Movement," what became known as The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural trend in the 1920's and 1930's, centered in Harlem. Music played a huge role (including people like Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, and Willie "The Lion" Smith), but the Renaissance included drama (Zora Neale Hurston) poets (Langston Hughes), intellectuals (W.E.B. Du Bois), artists (Charles Alston), and a number of other elements, too. Places like the Cotton Club became hubs for the movement, where people would dance, party, and mingle.

The movement was criticized, contemporaneously and in the years since, for a number of reasons. The Renaissance claimed to be attempting to develop an entirely African American culture, that was unique from that of the White dominated culture that was present at the time. Critics point out that much of the art and ideas parallels that of White culture, and that by adopting certain white elements, they were not accomplishing this goal. Furthermore, the culture itself was appealing to those of all ethnicities, again counter to some of the intents of the movement. While these criticisms may be founded in truth, the Renaissance itself created a number of amazing pieces of art, music, and writing, which went on to influence generations afterward. More importantly, this movement brought into American consciousness the identity of the modern African American as part of our own American Heritage. By reversing the then-stereotype of the "rural and ignorant black," the Renaissance helped paved the rocky road toward the Civil Rights Movement in the years to come.