Advertising Cookbooklets and Recipes: Distribution

Companies circulated cookbooklets in a variety of ways. Some gave them away with their products by inserting them into boxes. Cookbooklets connected with cooking equipment, such as stoves, refrigerators, or choppers, took the form of instruction booklets, providing as a bonus recipes for foods that could be prepared or served using the equipment. Other companies distributed the booklets free through retail outlets. One of the most common ways of distributing booklets was to mention them in a magazine advertisement or on the product package. A cookbooklet would be sent to customers free or for the price of postage. This method gave manufacturers the customer’s address, and that customer could then be targeted for future unsolicited product advertising.