Soap, Sex, and Cigarettes: A Cultural History of American Advertising

Soap, Sex, and Cigarettes: A Cultural History of American Advertising is a useful supplementary textbook for any student or professional interested in Advertising, Branding, and Marketing. If you are on the fence about purchasing this book, here are 10 easy reasons why you should take a look: 1. Chronological Chapters: From 1492 to "Advertising for Today and Tomorrow", Sivulka provides an easy reference for delving into a particular era or flipping through to walk through American Advertising. 2. Engaging Examples: Starting with page one there are three historical examples of advertising and the book offers a wealth of images- a lot of them humorous and engaging in comparison to society now. For example, an 1884 trade card using chromolithography, showing a man proposing and the female stating "Yes on condition that you buy me a 'Domestic' with new wood work and attachments" and 1962's "I dreamed I took the bull by the horns... in my maidenform bra" (visual on page 327... and yes there is a woman in her bra holding a bull by the horn). 3. Telling Timelines: You will find many interesting timelines in this book: historical dates, brands, advertising firsts, woman's suffrage, early radio, television... beneficial for students with term papers and the professional looking for presentation facts for a meeting. 4. Say it again, Sam: Memorable Slogans: Almost every chapter has the progression of "Memorable Slogans" that you will most likely recall or find amusing, even if only from movies, television and online. 5. Celebrity Callouts: Many chapters feature a callout of a key person in advertising history. This is a helpful resource for learning about key players personally and is extremely useful in referencing for building credibility... and they are fun, easy to read. 6. Taste of the Times: Each chapter contains "A Taste of the Times" which puts you into the right historical setting and the events that are occuring as the chapter proceeds- a beneficial feature for more insight. 7. Cream of the Crop: Bests & Favorites: From Favorite TV Jingles & Best TV Commercials over the years in later chapters. It is always advantageous to review and know what has succeeded in history, from war tactics to advertising and graphic design. Becoming a student of history's bests is a knowledge that is impressive and useful. 8. Status & Sex: Well-known throughout history is the use of someone's status/aspirations and sex in advertising. This book addresses these tactics head-on in a refreshing and tongue-in-cheek manner at times. 9. Impressive Index: In the back of this textbook is a index with every large historical event and specific brands, agencies and terms used often. If you need to find out about Erte or Etch A Sketch, they are right there for easy reference. 10. Easy on the Back: Unlike the majority of textbooks that not only build your brain, but your biceps as well, this book by Thomson/Wadsworth is small, light and easy to ca

If you want to understand American culture you can see how advertising has taken what is already in the culture and made it an industry to sell dreams...and of course the products these dreams represent.As someone who teaches advertising concepts I found this book a very good intro to understanding advertising and having students see how it is not separate from the culture.Written in a very readable style, I recco the book to anyone teaching advertising to creatives or to anyone interested in American culture.

Advertising has been around since the dawn of civilization. The ancient Greeks created signs for their theatres and any open-air market of any ancient culture shows evidence of signage advertising different wares. With the invention of the printing press and movable type, however, the age of information and advertising truly began.The history of American advertising is as packed with dates, places, people and events as any other slice of American history, and in "Soap, Sex and Cigarettes" Juliann Sivulka has done an exhaustive job of outlining these very things. With chapters going from 1492-1800, beginning with the colonization of the States, through the Roaring 20's and ending with "1990s and Beyond: The Media Revolution", this book should be required reading for any marketing/advertising undergrad. Indeed, considering the density of the material-- as thorough as any text on the Revolutionary War-- I imagine it IS required collegiate reading for students entering these professions.The book is packed with various illustrations of real ads from the time periods, and one could easily get an overview of American advertising by simply leafing through the pages and looking at the ads and how they evolve from a 1608 London woodcut pamphlet advertising the New World ("Excellent fruites by Planting in Virginia") to the modern "Just Do It" and "Got Milk?" high glossy ad campaigns. The text is ordered and well written and can be read both as collegiate material and as casual reading (though there are a LOT of dates, places, times and events for the casual reader). The author frequently includes common ad slogans throughout the book that have become staples of American advertising: "His masters voice", "I'd walk a mile for a Camel", "Remember: only YOU can prevent forest fires" and "melts in your mouth, not in your hand" to name just a VERY few. There are also brief timelines of some of the highlights of product inventions that advertising impacted, such as Twinkies introduction in 1930 (originally filled with banana creme), pet rocks in 1975 and the new age of advertising begun in 1989 by Nissan's Infiniti where the actual product was never shown.The book is subtitled "A Cultural History of American Advertising", but it is here where it falls short. It's an excellent resource for the history of advertising, but it's not so great at demonstrating how advertising has influenced our society. There are short parts demonstrating the stereotype of people of color and women, for example African-American people portrayed as grinning Sambos who are thrilled to ecstasy that Gold Dust washing powder makes your pots n' pans sparkle; Asian people with long pigtails and coolie hats in outlandish dress; women typically in household roles advertising everything from soap to washing machines (while trying to appear sexy at the same time: "You'd think I'm a flapper, but I CAN keep house"-- S.O.S. Pads, 1927). However, this aspect is not nearly as well fleshed

When I ordered this book, I thought it might be just another text book, however, Ms. Sivulka is a skillful writer worth reading at any level. Her subject matter is interesting, obviously carefully selected and well-coordinated. The illustrations are entertaining and pertinent. It's a fun read with lots of know-how apparent.