Early American Advertising

While advertising as we know it came of age hand in hand with the Industrial Revolution, the use of signs and symbols to advertise shops and services is likely as old as commerce itself. Archeologists have uncovered depictions of food in ancient Pompeii that once directed travelers to taverns, bakeries, and butcher shops. Using much the same technique, placards identifying a particular business had appeared in America by the mid-seventeenth century. (In the larger colonial towns, portrait artists frequently painted signs to make ends meet.) The most prominent of these signboards promoted inns, taverns, and coffeehouses, often with an iconic picture rather than text. This approach never died out; McDonald’s golden arches are a direct descendant of this tradition of promotional signage.