Nostalgic Ads

Hi Puzzlers,

Have you seen our new 2012 catalog? It is filled with all our latest and greatest puzzles including over SIXTY new titles! Yes, that little factoid impresses me too. We want to keep you puzzling and that is why we are committed to finding the best images out there. As I was thumbing through the catalog, as I often do, I noticed a trend beginning; several of our current and yet to be released puzzles were about nostalgic advertising.

Just look at the Candy Wrappers or Cheers puzzles, both are filled with our favorite brand labels. Some of which are so recognizable that if the text were removed you would still be able to identify the product. Here is a quick test: What is the chocolate covered peanut butter cups called? What beer prominently features a famous American patriot who was also a brewer? If you guessed Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Sam Adams you are correct. Next in our wonderful line is the Yankee Magazine puzzle and our vintage collage of WWII posters puzzle complete with our favorite riveter “Rosie.” I’m hooked! I love them all!

And that my fellow puzzler is just what the advertisers wanted me to do. Find their product, idea or service and buy it!

Advertising dates back to antiquity. Ancient Egyptians used papyrus to make wall posters and flyers, while the ancient Greeks and Romans posted papyruses of Lost and Found advertisements. “Commercial messages and political campaign displays have been found in the ruins of Pompeii and ancient Arabia.”

During the Middle Ages most of the general population could not read, thus signs would have images associated with the service or craft instead of being written. Take for instance a cobbler, his sign would be a boot; the tailor would have a suit; and the blacksmith a horse shoe. To assist people in locating the whereabouts of the fruit and vegetable carts, propitiators would use street callers, AKA town criers, to advertise their location in the city square. This still happens today at stadiums and ballparks around the globe. Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Get your hot dogs here!

By the 17th century the need for education and reading became more apparent and advancements in printing allowed advertisers to produce the first handbills. “However, false advertising and so-called "quack" advertisements became a problem, which ushered in the regulation of advertising content."

“In June 1836, French newspaper La Presse was the first to include paid advertising in its pages, allowing it to lower its price, extend its readership and increase its profitability and the formula was soon copied by all titles."

The intentional side effect of all this advertising is the nostalgia associated with old ads and the products, ideas or service. Just one look at an ad that ran when I was a kid brings me back to my childhood and memories of that time. Ah, memories and puzzling, can it get any better?

Happy Puzzling!