Creativity in advertising almost certainly dates back far into the past. Advertising text still visible on the walls of Pompeii is just as clever as the copy seen in magazines today. But it was only around the 1850s that advances in printing enabled advertisements to be enhanced by printed illustration – and an explosion in creative visual impact took place.

Photogravure arrives

Photogravure enabled the transfer of illustrations onto printing plates. An image was photographically transferred to a polished copper plate, the image was etched onto the plate, and damp paper was pressed onto the etched copper plate, which had minute reservoirs of varying depths of ink. Our first example shows an illustrated photogravure advertisement from the Illustrated London News (ILN) in 1854. It is full of delightful images of tiny people collecting packaged tea and using it to fill the sleeping lady’s teapot.

Two pages from a 1903 issue of Woman’s Life creatively used small illustrations to drive home the message of the advertisement. On the left, acres of text is no substitute for an image of a desperate woman, “Always Sleepy and Heavy”, until Bile Beans for Billiousness come to her aid. On the right, yet another panacea is advertised, but this time with the appeal of cuteness. Puppies always sell, whether Icilma Water then or toilet paper nowadays.

Humour – but of its time

By the 1900s, humour was being used increasingly in magazine advertising, aided by the clarity of photogravure illustration.

An advertisement from a 1910 ILN had a cheerful illustration for Three Nun’s tobacco. Once again, a picture was worth acres of copy.

As the 1920s progressed, so did advertisers gain in confidence and boldness.
That will be the topic for Part 2…