The Feldwick Factor: Has technology changed our understanding of 'advertising'?

In his regular column, Paul Feldwick answers the question, "How has technology changed what we understand 'advertising' to be?" Feldwick answers this by demonstrating that the question of what 'advertising' is has been asked for over a century.

The Feldwick Factor: Has technology changed our understanding of ‘advertising’?

Paul Feldwick

Claude Hopkins is remembered today as a writer of copy, but that's not all he did. Some time in the 1890s, desperate to impress his new employer, the maker of Cotosuet, he decided to bake ‘the biggest cake in the world', using Cotosuet instead of butter.

It was displayed in the corner window of Chicago's newest department store and announced with press advertising. On the launch night, Hopkins had to fight through the crowds even to get near the store, which had already had to close its doors....

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