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Endorsements in Advertising: A Social History

Endorsements in Advertising: A Social History

Paperback

AccountingGeneral Sociology

ISBN10: 078642043X
ISBN13: 9780786420438
Publisher: McFarland & Company
Published: Apr 5 2005
Pages: 231
Weight: 0.72
Height: 0.53 Width: 6.26 Depth: 8.58
Language: English

The use of endorsements and testimonials to sell anything imaginable is a modern development, though the technique is centuries old. Before World War I, endorsement ads were tied to patent medicine, and were left with a bad reputation when that industry was exposed as quackery. The reputation was well earned: claims of a product's curative powers sometimes ran opposite the endorser's obituary, and Lillian Russell once testified that a certain compound had made her feel like a new man. Distrusted by the public, banished from mainstream publications, endorsements languished until around 1920, but returned with a vengeance with the growth of consumerism and modern media. Despite its questionable effectiveness, endorsement advertising is now ubiquitous, costing advertisers (and consequently consumers) hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

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