e contests,
In all of the appeals that the newspaper makes to its varied
classes of readers, through its own published advertisements of
itself, the paramount one is made to its advertisers. It is seldom
to-day that the newspaper in its advertisements of itself appeals
to the general reader, or to its priority in news-gathering,or the excellence of its editorials. It may advertise that its photograph patrol is constantly visualizing the daily events for its readers , it may print a table of contents for the guidance of readers , though even so it adds a special guide to the kind of advertising in which
it specializes; but it never fails in the large cities to note the arrival of out-of-town buyers and to give their hotel address, and to emphasize in every way its own supremacy as a medium of communication between buyer and seller.
It was the commercial advertisement that first came to the forefront and that in the opinion of many has now come to con trol the policy of the periodical press. But to the historian the interest of the commercial advertisement lies not so much in its
ubiquity , its obtrusiveness, its cleverness, and its ingratiating manner as it does in the appeal it unconsciously makes to its
readers , in the changes that have come in this respect, and in the revelation of itself and of current conditions that are thus made.
The early commercial advertisements were largely haphazard in their form and hence in their appeal. In the middle of the last
century, Hayward noted that pain or the fear of pain was the most active stimulant to advertising and that this resulted in the supremacy of patent medicine advertising. Since vanity made in infinite variety, by which they hope to profit ; others use flattery, - " you like to form your own opinion ;" some maintain a “ better job bureau ;" others open their libraries to the public . The greater number of these devices are seemingly used to increase circulation . 6 It is interesting to note the wide divergence in self -advertising of the
monthly magazine and of the daily newspaper. The monthly makes its appeal on the ground that it carries " no gloom and no filth , " but is good
natured and practical; that it is not hitched to any cause ; that it believes in
families and in decent life ; and that " its stuff is not long and tedious,” — " no story ever hasmore than 4 ,000 words ;" that it is not a fighting magazine ,
but it has infinite variety and is journalistic in form ; and it is prone to adver tise how much of various commodities its families of readers buy. Its general appeal is to the somewhat sentimental side of human nature .
The publishers of various monthlies often carry inconspicuously in their own small advertisements in the daily press the names of well-known business houses whose advertisements are carried in their monthlies.
