How Magazine Articles Portrayed Advertising from 1900 to 1940

Advertising has been a frequent target of criticism during its entire modern era. Most of the criticism has come from “elite” observers of society. In contrast, the general public has historically viewed advertising in a more positive way. To understand the origin of this discrepancy in opinions about advertising, the study examines how advertising was portrayed in magazines from 1900 to 1940. Using an “elitist”-based categorization of advertising criticisms, the study finds that articles addressing advertising appeared most frequently in fairly elite and specialized magazines, and that they were most often positive toward advertising. Given the number of years and number of publications covered by the study, however, the overall number of articles on the subject was relatively small. Magazines' light and mostly positive coverage of advertising suggests that this popular medium may have reflected rather than influenced public opinion, and that editorial boards were interested in pleasing advertisers.