Rational to Emotional: A Brief History of Commercial Advertising

 by Thomas Locke

Today, consumers have an unparalleled level of choice when making buying decisions. Partly aided by globalisation, markets are saturated with products that, for the most part, all look, feel and sound the same. Take smartphones, for example. It is estimated that there are over 200 smartphone brands globally, with Apple, Samsung and Huawei taking podium positions. Yet, with only two major operating systems on which to run, and limited functional requirements, modern smartphones all have similar offerings. With such a competitive market, real efforts need to be made to persuade consumers to buy. Whilst some decision-making will be driven by functionality - consumers may take particular interest in the quality (and increasingly, the quantity) of cameras, for example - the primary motivating factor, as detailed in recent literature, is the brand.

This idea of ‘brand identity’ is a relatively new one. Whilst advertising in its base forms can be traced back to the Athenians - in which town cries were used to drum up support for local business - the relevance of brand identity has only been in existence for the last century or so. This article seeks to explore this fundamental shift in commercial advertising and consumer behaviour, in which decisions are no longer driven by functionality but by emotion, in which the ‘essence’ of a brand takes precedence over product features. Indeed, when devising brands today, an image of an iceberg is evoked: the tip represents the product, but the larger, hidden underbelly represents the meaning and character of the brand. It is this latter part that is said to influence consumers the greatest and whose development will be the focus of this article.

The Father of Modern Advertising

In the early 1900s, mass production lowered the cost of consumer goods and created a new and competitive marketplace. There was an impetus, therefore, to employ methods of promotion to encourage consumers, many of whom never before had the need for such goods, to buy them. The so-called ‘father of modern advertising’, Thomas Barratt helped create this want in consumers and developed recognisable forms of modern advertising. As Chairman of the Pears’ Soap company, Barratt pioneered a new conversational style of marketing, asking consumers ‘Have you used Pears' soap?’ to connect with his target audience. He also placed emphasis on art in his adverts, having used a painting by John Everett Millais to market the soap. The result was a perception of Pears’ as high quality and consumer-focused; the depiction of a little girl evokes themes of youth and vitality. Barratt’s form of creative and conversational marketing juxtaposed the direct and uninspiring billboards of the time, but his vision prevailed and was subsequently borne out in the First World War.

Romanticising The War

Much like how Barratt reflected the image of Victorian household, marketing during WWI reflected the bravery of the country’s soldiers. Images of the war were combined with product details to create temporally-fixed adverts that appealed to the masses. Most notably, the ‘Swan Fountpen’ present a narrative of writing back home. It will ‘bring...joy to your mother, wife or sweetheart', the advert states. There is little reference to the pen’s functionality in the magazine-sized piece - the story sells the product. A similar theme is captured in an advert for Grey’s Cigars. A pack of ‘hermetically-sealed’ cigars are positioned next to an image of a combined cavalry and infantry charge. The quality of the cigars is conflated with the quality of the soldiers; they are both ‘second to none’; Greys’ cigars are for proper, patriotic men.

By the end of the war, the landscape of marketing had begun to change. Advertisements no longer reflected the product or its functionalities but captured the zeitgeist of politics and culture and harnessed the emotions of its demographic.

Pillsbury Dough Boy and Claudia Winkleman

Marketing has also been transformed by technology. The invention of the colour television and the launch of ITV, the UK’s first commercial channel, created a new medium through which consumers could be targeted. As the UK’s first television advert shows, marketing by 1955 was driven by feeling. SR toothpaste gives you a ‘tingly feeling’ and ‘does your gums good too’, as if to suggest that the functional purpose of the toothpaste is of secondary importance. Television has also reinforced so-called ‘brand characters’ such as ‘Marlboro Man’ and the Pillsbury Dough Boy, creating a more human and interactive style of advertising. Such brand characters are prevalent today, think of Kelloggs’ ‘Tony the Tiger’, the meerkats who advertise insurance and, to a lesser extent, Claudia Winkleman and anti-dandruff shampoo. Such characters are also found online in the form of influencers on blogs and social media. Their familiar and relatable presence lends products authority and helps capture the brand image.

From Beats to John Lewis

Perhaps the clearest example of this modern form of emotional and character-driven advertising is the story of Beats headphones. Launched as the first iPods were gaining popularity, Beats gained high levels of exposure through celebrity partnership. Nicki Minaj and David Guetta were given the headphones, alongside Lebron James and the US Olympic Team. This form of tacit endorsement by celebrities made Beats a desired product. Although never the best-made or best-sounding headphones, with an unnatural emphasis on bass, Beats became an iconic brand and captured 70% of the premium headphone market. This demonstrates that, even with objectively lower quality than competitors, products can still become popular if they have strong brand appeal.

A similar story can be told of the much-anticipated Christmas TV adverts. The most recent one by John Lewis did not feature any products but captured the public feeling of the coronavirus pandemic and promoted messages of love and kindness. Yet, despite the obvious lack of any products, the ‘give a little love’ message became synonymous with the high street staple, alongside Edgar, the excitable dragon.

Ultimately, it is clear that commercial advertising has shifted over the past century. Long gone are the days of faceless signs and billboards, marketing today is about brand identity and emotion over functionality. Although this article does not reflect all of the changes in commercial advertising, I hope it highlights that the human and emotional forms of advertising we are used to today is a relatively modern concept.