Direct Mail Advertisements And Their Humble Beginnings
November 1918, Germany's navy mutinies as the monarchy crumbles. Waiting to seize hold like they did in Russia, socialists wring their hands in anticipation as ally nations carve up Europe, the Ottoman Empire lies wounded like a shot elephant never to regain its majesty and Enfield rifles sell for six dollars in Spokane, Washington in one of the first direct mail advertisements. Pamphlets, hangers or newspaper direct mail advertisements will sweep the country and very soon the world. As soon as Guttenberg printed his bible people began printing advertisements. To be fair since it was the fifteenth century so the ads were crude like the religious handbills you get at the train station. More than likely, there were ads selling mead or sheep and not very colorful, but that is the great history of direct mail advertisements. Imagine your perplexity as that miller from down the way hands you a paper with a rudimentary depiction of a Moor, asking you to "hearken yon shoppe for goode fare". That distant ancestor of direct mail advertisements would have blown your mind and indeed you would hearken, for like many of the time, you did enjoy good fare.
How did direct mail advertisements evolve from Germanic agrarians and their disproportionate characteristics of Arabic peoples to the visual buffet that is the modern day? Who knows? Not me. But I'll tell you what I believe to be true. Way back when America were fierce isolationists and was at war with Spain, simple men had a dream. Their dream was to reach every home and sell people goods and services they didn't even know they wanted. Those crazy idealists years from ice-cold beer at spring break and delicious Hooters Restaurant chains, were pioneers.
Civil War vets and ex railway men sat in stifling writing rooms with Yale graduates and bakers, as this motley assortment of people spent days drawing direct mail advertisements such as smiling children drinking soda with cocaine in it; and svelte women happy to take diet pills with parasites littering them like nuggets of weight-loss wonderment. These direct mail advertisements maestros were what the American dream personified. They were the men that made the dollar climb and who made Atlantic City a "hot spot". Cheers to them for they are the builders and maintainers of our United States as we know and love her. Without their tenacity and outright lies, popguns would never have plucked the eye from a youth nor would coonskin caps have come to fashion. It takes a fine ad man to make wearing the rump of a rodent on your head not only acceptable but powerful cool as well!
Like propaganda leaflets dropped from B-29s, waves of this art invaded homes, cities and popular culture. Direct mail advertisements would continue to climb in versatility and employability until the next century when the government decided that those men is seersucker suits had a good thing and wanted to skim some of greenbacks off the top. The Direct Mail Advertising Association was established in 1917, this would eventually turn into the Direct Marketing Association, which would lead to the powerful advertising agencies of the fifties and sixties.
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