The history of modern advertising goes back a few centuries, and throughout this period advertisers have leeched onto new technologies. Invariably, this upset some people and led to regulation — either self-regulation by advertisers themselves or proper regulation by local and national governments.

From Gutenberg to trade cards and posters

As my focus is on junk mail our starting point has to be the invention of the printing press. The Gutenberg press, invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the late 1430s, made the written word accessible to a large chunk of the (literate) population. It gave a boost to the Italian Renaissance and helped Martin Luther spread the word about his 95 Theses — it is claimed that Luther became the first bestselling author, outperforming even Erasmus. Meanwhile, Gutenberg himself was busy printing bibles.

In the 17th century advertisers adopted the printing press to print trade cards and advertising posters. Few trade cards and posters from this era have survived but it appears advertisers took as much pride in their ads as Gutenberg took in his bibles. The trade card shown here, for instance, is from the 18th century and rather pretty. It advertises the services of William Woodward, who could sweep your chimney and empty your privy or cesspool, at the shortest notice.

We know a little bit more about advertising posters, as they attracted lots of complaints. One of the earliest complainants was Daniel Defoe, who wrote in A Journal of the Plague Year (1665) about Conjurers and Witches sticking posters advertising fake plague medication all over London. Advertising posters were still very much part of the city landscape in the 19th century. Smith notes in Advertise. How? When? Where? that within the last two or three years, not a side of a house, railway-arch or hoarding in any public thoroughfare (even the chimneys have no escaped), but is covered with posters and bills of all descriptions.

Newspaper advertising

During the 19th century newspaper advertising became the dominant advertising channel. The first newspaper was published in Germany in 1605 and had a wonderful title: Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien (Account of all Distinguished and Commemorable Stories). It would take another 60 years for newspapers to take off in Britain — the first newspaper to appear on these isles was the London Gazette, in 1665. However, in the early days newspapers weren't that attractive for advertisers. That was party because newspaper ads were still very basic — they were made up of just text, without any illustrations — and partly because the government imposed a Stamp Duty on newspapers and an Advertising Duty on newspapers ads (in 1712). This Tax on Knowledge made newspapers unaffordable for normal people, which was exactly what the government wanted.

Over time, newspaper printing became more sophisticated and the Advertising Duty was first reduced (in 1833) and then abolished (1853). During this period the newspaper industry grew massively — it is estimated that the circulation of newspapers increased from 39 to 122 million between 1836 and 1854. At the same time, the economy had become less local. There were now many companies that wanted to advertise nationwide, rather than in their local area. Newspapers, as well as trade magazines, were the ideal medium for that.

The problem with ads for quack doctors was still present in the 19th century. T.R. Nevett, who has written extensively about the history of advertising and regulation within the industry, estimates that roughly 6.5 per cent of newspapers ads published between 1810 and 1855 advertised the services of medical charlatans (Advertising in Britain, 1982). He cites this ad, which appeared in the Morning Chronicle in 1840, as a typical example:

PUBLIC NOTICE TO THE UNHAPPY

Dr. Eady continues to be consulted in all cases of Syphilitic Disease, and Derangement of the General Health, Nervous Disability, the effects of Malpractice, the free indulgence of Pleasure, and other causes…

Some newspaper proprietors banned such ads. For instance, in 1800, William Cobbettt, who ran the newspaper The Porcupine, stated that the obscene and filthy boastings of quackery will, on no consideration whatsoever, be admitted (Gorden Miracle and Terence Nevett, 1987). However, this was the exception rather than the rule. There wasn't yet a concerted effort to to ban scam ads.

The sandwich man and the first junk mail list

When a tax on ad posters was introduced in London, early in the 19th century, advertisers invented the "sandwich man". Instead of covering every building with posters they now stuck them on wooden boards, which they hang around the neck of a man. Charles Dickens allegedly described these advertising victims as a piece of human flesh between two slices of paste board.

Sandwich men used to hand out trade cards as well (and I am pretty sure the poor man in the photo is holding a bunch of leaflets). And, people had also started delivering trade cards to people's houses. Very little is known about the origins of this practice, but Nevett mentions that delivering ads straight to people's homes was well established by the 1820s. The early junk mail advertisers mostly picked on rich people; there already was a detailed junk mail list (named the Royal Blue Book) with the names and addresses of the nobility and gentry.

The introduction of the Uniform Penny Post in 1840 gave junk mail a huge boost. Advertisers could now pester people everywhere — they no longer had to target just the local nobility. There is no data about junk mail volumes from this time (which is an ongoing problem — we still don't have reliable data about junk mail volumes in the 21st century) but we do know that more and more mailing lists were compiled to help advertisers target junk mail letters. Our good friend William Wordsworth, who I have quoted on the home page of this website, was probably included on some of the early junk mail lists – his complaint about the multitude of communications that reached him is from 1841.

The Penny Post arguably also made addressed and unaddressed junk mail distinct advertising channels. At the start of the 19th century junk mail could be either addressed or unaddressed — it didn't really matter, as long as the advertiser could promote whatever they wanted to promote to the local nobility. By the end of century a modest "direct mail" industry had sprung up. Mailing lists had became common and the first proper mail order catalogue was set up in 1861 by Pryce Pryce-Jones (he sold wool products and built a warehouse with a post office next to a railway line).

William Smith and the Mistresss of the House

As mentioned, much of what we know about advertising in the second half of the 19th century comes from William Smith's Advertise. How? When? Where? (1863). Smith was very much an ad man and, as the title suggests, the book is a best practice guide for advertisers. He certainly had lots of observations and ideas. The problem with posters, for instance, wasn't just that there were so many of them. Instead, the issue was that, from the early 19th century onwards something of a war had broken out between bill-stickers — the whole thing looked a mess. Smith's solution was to make posting stations ornamental as well as useful. The images below, taken from the book, shows what he had in mind:

In the words of Smith:

From the illustration of Wall-posting as it is, it will be seen that bills are posted up without any reference to size or colour, or without any regularity. In the companion drawing of Wall-posting as it ought to be, the difference will be observed at once. Where it can be done, have painted boards with neat moulding and in bright colours; get them of as near one size as possible. This will give them air of respectability, and will certainly attract more gazers.

More relevant for our story, the book also confirms that junk mail had already been invented. And, Smith wasn't at all enthusiastic about how the medium was being used. This is from the chapter with advice for linendrapers:

At the present time, Linendrapers send out the usual flimsy bills announcing 'Great Sale' or 'Bankrupt Stock to be Cleared' by the boys or men (who take no interest except to reduce the bulk in the pocket-handkerchief on their arm) to Brixton, Dulwich, Dalston, Islington, Holloway, Highgate etc; and the general plan is to put bills under the door or knocker, when, if they are not surreptitiously taken away by the boys, how many of them, may I ask, are they looked at or read? It is a waste of money, and so it the envelope directed 'To the Mistress of the House'. I ask any mistress of any house if she would even care to open any envelope with this anonymous address? The very servants are annoyed at opening the doors; they exclaim, 'What a nuisance! Another confounded linendraper's Bill! Dragging me downstairs for that!'

It is interesting that Smith mentions mail addressed 'To the Mistress of the House'. What we now usually call 'To the Occupier' junk mail — that odd half-way house between addressed and unaddressed junk mail — was already well established in the 1860s. In any case, a better solution was to either use what we nowadays call "direct mail" or to do something more spectacular:

There are two plans to be adopted. Take the Directory, and select the name and address of say 1000, or 1500, or more; put the bills into envelopes, direct them, and spend the money in postage-stamps which is now wasted by the present utterly useless mode of delivery. Every one will open a post-letter, and it is very strange if one out of twelve will not bring a customer; besides the great probability that exists of the other eleven mentioning that they have received the bill of sale. Another plan is, to send out twelve men, with neat livery, boots and hat complete, and handsome pointed board; let them each day take different routes: their unique appearance would be a great attraction. Occasionally let the twelve men go in a line together, the last man delivering neat bills or cards (a very handsome, ornamental, and useful twofold card is issued by Messrs. Grant and Gask of 58 to 62, Oxford Street, and 3, 4, 5 Wells Street) that no lady would refuse to accept. A fourfold, on the same style, might be given away to advantage. In this particular branch, advertising, if it is worth doing, is worth doing well.

Leeching onto new, shiny things

From the late 19th century onwards various new advertising channels emerged. Even the good 'ol telegraph was used to relay unsolicited ads. There would be lots of complaints about this type of advertising but that didn't deter the advertisers. In fact, T.R. Nevett enthusiastically writes that telegraph spam was an extraordinarily effective weapon in the advertiser's armoury. To illustrate his point he talks about an ad campaign from 1875; five thousand telegrams, advertising bedsteads, had been despatched and the sender had made sure the ads were delivered at tea time, when most of the best families would be assembled. I very much doubt William Smith would have been impressed.

And so the history of advertising continues. The telegraph disappeared but advertisers could now phone people to hard-sell them stuff. Commercial radio and television were quickly flooded with ads and the invention of the facsimile was a dream come true for advertisers, as it allowed them to send unsolicited adverts and make the recipient pay for the printing cost. And things would only get better for advertisers. Email made it possible to send adverts at an unimaginable scale at virtually no costs and made it possible to track if users had looked at an email. The practice of tracking people was perfected on the world wide web; advertisers can now also track people's browsing habits and profile people en masse.

Throughout this period advertisers kept pushing ads straight into people's homes, in the same way that we still have posters (which are nowadays more likely to be electronic billboards) and sandwich-men. Specific advertising channels only go away when the technology it uses goes away, such as happened with the telegraph.