Printing, pre-press, publishing and photography services – yesterday, today and tomorrow

Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Creation of a Legacy
3. A Legacy Transformed
4. The Virtues of a Middle Class
5. Vested Interest
6. Trading on Conventions
7. Institutionalism Triumphs
8. Lasting Images
9. Conclusion

Institutionalism Triumphs

By 1865 America had experienced the Civil War, and the Industrial Revolution breached the frontiers of science, technology, and business management. Railroads connected the entire continent. Telephones began their impact on American communications and immigration surged to fantastic proportions. Electric trolleys supplanted horse-drawn vehicles in urban areas. The middle class began leaving the city environment for more suburban landscapes. Montgomery Ward's mail order business began in 1872, and in 1893, Sears and Roebuck began their mail order business.

Commitment to machinery characterized the period. Resources were made to yield wealth and riches far beyond the dreams even of the most optimistic promoters of earlier times. Through machinery mass production, increasingly complex distribution networks, and competition became firmly entrenched within the economics of the nation. Manufacturers began to specialize as did wholesalers and retail druggists. New drug formats such as tablets were invented and resulted in packaging requirement changes. Tobacco cigarettes became a viable product with the invention of the rolling machine. Transportation and communication networks increased the flexibility and speed in which products were delivered to consumers (Troyer and Merkle 1983; Wagner 1971).

Mail order catalogs intruded on the drug trade by avoidance of the middle man for both proprietary and prescription drugs. Drug trade associations began to organize as protection groups for issues such as trademark infringement, counterfeiting labels, and imposed restrictions. Price setting by manufacturers was instituted which provided standard pricing for retail products. Proprietary entrepreneurship graduated to an institutionalized drug industry -- from merchants, traders, shopkeepers, peddlers, hucksters, and hawkers to company, firm, corporation, trust, or concern (Israel 1976; Young 1961).

As drug manufacturing and industry expanded so did advertising. Promotion costs rose sharply as advertising agencies expanded services to include drafting copy, while paper costs decreased because of manufacturing innovations. Magazines were ed second-class mailing privileges. The addition of color to lithographic poster techniques enhanced printed presentations. Photography began to emerge as a primary visual aid for reproducing product information on paper (Wagner 1971; Young 1961).

Promotion and marketing techniques grew apace with science, technology, and competition. Targeting market segments continued and was refined as the population became more diverse. Magazine circulation increased. The press conference became a regular aspect of drug promotion. Recognition of product name or logo gained even greater importance as competition among proprietors and captains of the drug industry increased. Product imaging often emphasized sophistication of both product and consumer. Women models became an integral part of many printed advertisements. Celebrity endorsements and testimonials often included physicians and athletes. Patient package inserts occasionally accompanied proprietary drug products explaining "appropriate" dosages and uses for the myriad symptoms the product was meant to relieve or cure. Give away gee-gaws or souvenirs with the product name boldly placed or product association reminded consumers of the promoted substance. Ballads and poetry rhapsodically promoted cure-alls in printed literature, almanacs continued as household literature, roadside signs and billboards took on new proportions of size and importance, and leased space around building construction site fences for bill posting became a popular advertising technique. (Israel 1976; Cooper 1973; Wagner 1971; Young 1961).

The Civil War was also a catalyst for alcohol and tobacco reform issues which gained a gentle humanitarian foothold earlier in the century. From benevolence and cooperation to strident crusades against alcohol and tobacco in the form of cigarettes, the character of reform movements changed. No longer were crusade participants willing to focus only on the immoderate user of alcohol and tobacco, but propagandized against manufacturers and retailers of the products as well. Zealous in the fight to eliminate drinking and smoking, crusaders shared a world view. The Women's Christian Temperance Union gathered momentum for its cause against intemperance and the saloon, as did Carrie Nation smashing American saloons with her hatchet. Vincent van Gogh's 1885 oil painting of Skull with Burning Cigarette, suggests a definite opinion of cigarettes (van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam). Prohibition of both alcohol and cigarettes achieved limited success during the last half of the nineteenth century (Troyer and Merkle 1983; Wagner 1971).