Mail-Order Magazines Did More Than Just Sell Things
smithsonianmag.com
Mail-Order Magazines Did More Than Just Sell Things
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Re: Mail-Order Magazines Did More Than Just Sell Things
#2Village guides published in various rural areas of the UK share some vague similarities. They go out a few times a year (for free) with calendars of events, key phone numbers, lots of ads for local tradesmen, butchers and the like, and the occasional column about various local initiatives. Old people in particular seem to lean on them a lot, not necessarily being online, etc.
Re: Mail-Order Magazines Did More Than Just Sell Things
#3Village guides published in various rural areas of the UK share some vague similarities. They go out a few times a year (for free) with calendars of events, key phone numbers, lots of ads for local tradesmen, butchers and the like, and the occasional column about various local initiatives. Old people in particular seem to lean on them a lot, not necessarily being online, etc.
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Re: Mail-Order Magazines Did More Than Just Sell Things
#4I have fond memories of the mail order oddities that were in the back of comic books as a kid. Sea Monkeys, mini hot air balloons, electric motors, and so on. Companies like Edmund Scientific. Patiently waited "4 to 6 weeks" many times.
Re: Mail-Order Magazines Did More Than Just Sell Things
#5I have fond memories of the mail order oddities that were in the back of comic books as a kid. Sea Monkeys, mini hot air balloons, electric motors, and so on. Companies like Edmund Scientific. Patiently waited "4 to 6 weeks" many times.
I sent away for a Submarine (plans, and most parts) when I was six, seven, or eight.
I waited by that mailbox for weeks. My mom finally told me I was robbed of $4.75.
It was a learning experience. I still think about the person who set out to dupe kids.
Re: Mail-Order Magazines Did More Than Just Sell Things
#6Its surprising how effective trash-print still is, even today. In Europe, its a very significant form of propaganda; the free daily trash-mag at the train station, literally provided free for the taking at the exclusivity of all other rags, is nought but fodder for mind control.
Its a principle means of influencing the minds of commuters; and it works so well, because nobody ever thinks "this is free, therefore its good", but rather "this is free, so everyone has it, so I must too.."
Re: Mail-Order Magazines Did More Than Just Sell Things
#7It looks like these publications may have been a precursor of click-bait web sites. Look at the second sample page from Comfort - one column of content and three columns of advertising.
Re: Mail-Order Magazines Did More Than Just Sell Things
#8Its surprising how effective trash-print still is, even today. In Europe, its a very significant form of propaganda; the free daily trash-mag at the train station, literally provided free for the taking at the exclusivity of all other rags, is nought but fodder for mind control. Its a principle means of influencing the minds of commuters; and it works so well, because nobody ever thinks "this is free, therefore its g…
>Its surprising how effective trash-print still is, even today. In Europe, its a very significant form of propaganda;
Just like the premium print, like Economist, NYT, and co, but cruder. Though these days one would be hard pressed to find the subtlety in the latter either.
Re: Mail-Order Magazines Did More Than Just Sell Things
#9It looks like these publications may have been a precursor of click-bait web sites. Look at the second sample page from Comfort - one column of content and three columns of advertising.
I've got a few National Geographic magazines from the 1950s and they're FULL of adverts.
The December issue in particular has about 25 pages in a row filled with small and big ad spaces, with a few more sprinkled around the publication.
Re: Mail-Order Magazines Did More Than Just Sell Things
#10Village guides published in various rural areas of the UK share some vague similarities. They go out a few times a year (for free) with calendars of events, key phone numbers, lots of ads for local tradesmen, butchers and the like, and the occasional column about various local initiatives. Old people in particular seem to lean on them a lot, not necessarily being online, etc.
^^ This. In the past, I've generated a lot of business from these printed, hyper-local 'guide books'. Anecdotally, the Yellow Pages, telephone directory and hybrid alternatives (Thomson in the UK, for example) are regarded as less credible the local guide as they are a national product customised for local markets.