ADVERTISING DEVICES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2456, 20 July 1922, Page 1

ADVERTISING DEVICES.

QUEER WAYS OF OBTAINING PUBLICITY. _____ _ i An astute advertising stunt was recently banned by the authorities. It was: proposed-■■•■to* print an enbrmous quantity l of gummed- labels bearing-'the word's:- <f Where- is your Husband To-night? See if he is at the Theatre!” This would have adorned a good many suburban front doors but for the timely interference of the police. About a quarter of a century ago a London theatrical ' manager devised a somewhat similar advertising scheme in connection with a drama entitled'“The Dead Heart,” which was then being played at his theatre.' H6 x ordered one million circulars, cut hr the shape of a hea,rt, and 1 printed in crimson with the words “Head Heart.” These he had displayed everywhere—on pavements, walls, trees, park seats, and even plastered on the backs, of passing pedestrians. Twenty years later one of his imitators invented: a still more startling scheme. This ingenious advertiser was the manager of a melodV:yna:—

“THE MYSTERY OF THE HANDSOME CAB.” . v-

Hiring a number of these once popular vehicles, he had placed in each of them the dummy figure of a man attired in a dress-suit, the shirt front of which was liberally bedaubed with red paint to represent blood stains. The cabs containing these effigies were then driven through' t the principal London streets; and as may be imagined the gruesome 'spectacle created a great sensation. The police authorities kindly gave the enterprising manager an additional “ad” bv ordering the immediate withdrawal of the cabs from the streets. 5,000 CATS. In Vienna another theatrical manager advertised for five thousand cats, and as a result the entrance to the theatre was speedily blocked by a vast crowd of applicants with bags, baskets and coat pockets bulging with cats of all shapes and sizes. The manager bought the lot, fixed labels around each cat’s neck-with advertisements of a “Grand Pantomime” to be, performed the following week, and turned the animals loose, leaving them to scamper off in all directions. Russ provided the best paid of the pantomime for the next few days, needless!to say.

One of the early pioneers / of advertising was an American manufacturer who originated an enigmatic inscription; which read: — 1 , “S.T * 1860 X.”

This mysterious ! announcement appeared in every newspaper, and om every possible hoarding and fence, and barn throughout the country, also on railway trucks, carriages and ships. One day all the rocks in the Niagara- rapids were suddenly adorned with the mystic sign. Later on trees alongside the Pennsylvania railroad were hewn down in order to affoi’d passengers in the trains a glimpse-of the same-announcement eiAblazoned in letters 400 feet high on the mountain side. Finally the manufacturer's advertising agents were abroad. -Neither Cheops’ Pyramid nor Mount Ararat were too sacred for them. THe advertiser even announced 1 that he would discover the North Pole in order that he might decorate it with the cabalistic words. It was not until the manufacturer i retired some years laer with an enormous fortune that the secret was* revealed. The wods “S.T.

1860 X.” meant “Started trade in 1860 with 10 dollars.”