Author Meets Critics: A History of Advertising: The First 300,000 Years

Abstract

Abstract: In this Author Meets Critics book discussion, Jef I. Richards explains how and why he wrote his book A History of Advertising: The First 300,000 Years (Rowman and Littlefield, 2022): to make advertising history topics accessible and engaging through a highly illustrated guide that he calls a mobile museum of advertising. He and other advertising history specialists met to discuss the book's timeline format and plethora of images, which came largely from material Richards collected and photographed himself. The book's introduction questions the assumption that advertising practitioners look forward and not backward, but the discussion participants explain how the book includes cases where advertisers made significant mistakes and missteps because they did not take history into account. The panelists reflect on the societal and cultural aspects of advertising mentioned in the book and how having such a perspective can prevent advertising blunders now and in the future. The group suggests ways to use the textbook in classes or general education. They also forecast what future historians might study about present-day advertising and society.