Advert published in the Christmas edition of Tygodnik Ilustrowany, 1926, photo courtesy of the National Archives in Warsaw
The National Archives in Warsaw have prepared an online exhibition of holiday-inspired advertisements from before World War II
The adverts in the show have been drawn from Polish pre-war newspapers and magazines, including Tygodnik Ilustrowany, Kurier Warszawski, Światowid and Bluszcz.
The act of giving is not as easy as it may seem. This is the kind of art where you have to show a lot of delicacy, finesse and good taste
1927 Chrismas edition of Światowid
The gifts touted range from gramophones, fountain pens, books, cameras and cologne to massagers, drinks machines, radios and electric refrigerators. In the time before the advent of television, the press was considered to be the most effective advertising medium of the day.
Adverts included in the exhibition are accompanied with comments from pre-war advertising textbooks. Advice contained in them reveal the mechanics of the major advertising firms of the day – rich and diverse, benefiting from Western models and the latest discoveries in social psychology, at first glance, archaic, but valid in many points even today.
The online exhibition can be viewed at:
www.warszawa.ap.gov.pl/swiatecznereklamy.html.
The exhibition can also be enjoyed in real life through the end of January 2011 in Warsaw's Old Town on a screen at the intersection of ul. Krzywe Koło and ul.Nowomiejska, between the Old Market and the Barbican...
Curator: Anna Belka
Graphic design: Justyna Bardoga