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The Mirror Makers: A History of American Advertising and Its Creators
Stephen Fox explores the consistently cyclical nature of advertising from its beginning. A substantial new introduction updates this lively, anecdotal history of advertising into the mid-1990s.
416 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 3, 2018
When the TV shows you a handsome, athletic, well-dressed man holding* a beer and being clutched by adoring women, do you think “If I drank that beer, I could be clutched by adoring women, too”?
Not me: I more often think “I wouldn’t drink that cat-pee if you paid me”.
But apparently a lot of people (males, anyway) do think this way, because the approach sells product. And the person who originated it seems to have been Helen Resor, who used it (with the sexes reversed) to sell Woodbury’s Facial Soap in the 1920s.
The Odyssey of advertising from its “Reason Why” début in the 19th century to the date of this book’s publication (1984), via such stops as Freudian tunnellings into the consumer’s (alleged) subconscious and panics over (putative) brain-washing, makes a fascinating tale; and Mr Fox is the ideal man to tell it, since a) he seems to know the topic backwards and forwards, and b) he really is a terrific writer.
Indeed, the first paragraph got me hooked:
“Practically everyone dislikes it. Advertising interrupts radio and television programs, crowds editorial matter off the pages of newspapers and magazines, disfigures city streets, defaces the countryside, and even lurks at eye level for tired, vulnerable standees on the subway. Nobody believes it, or at least admits to believing it. It usually appeals to the less agreeable aspects of human nature: greed, vanity, insecurity, competitiveness, materialism. At cocktail parties, people in the advertising business wince when asked what they do for a living.
But there it is, one of the dominant forces in twentieth-century America [...]”
So if you have slightest interest in the subject-matter, whether you’re in the industry or out of it, I thoroughly recommend this book.
It’s been said that anything can be made interesting by a good writer who really knows his subject; and here’s a case in point.
*But apparently never — on American TV, anyway — drinking.
Contents
1. Advertising Prehistory: The Nineteenth Century
2. The Age of Lasker
3. High Tide and Green Grass: The Twenties
4. Depression and Reform
5. The Second Boom
6. The Creative Revolution
7. Real Reform: New Images in the Mirror
8. The 1970s: The Cycle Never Stops
Glossary, acknowledgments, references, notes & index
Not me: I more often think “I wouldn’t drink that cat-pee if you paid me”.
But apparently a lot of people (males, anyway) do think this way, because the approach sells product. And the person who originated it seems to have been Helen Resor, who used it (with the sexes reversed) to sell Woodbury’s Facial Soap in the 1920s.
The Odyssey of advertising from its “Reason Why” début in the 19th century to the date of this book’s publication (1984), via such stops as Freudian tunnellings into the consumer’s (alleged) subconscious and panics over (putative) brain-washing, makes a fascinating tale; and Mr Fox is the ideal man to tell it, since a) he seems to know the topic backwards and forwards, and b) he really is a terrific writer.
Indeed, the first paragraph got me hooked:
“Practically everyone dislikes it. Advertising interrupts radio and television programs, crowds editorial matter off the pages of newspapers and magazines, disfigures city streets, defaces the countryside, and even lurks at eye level for tired, vulnerable standees on the subway. Nobody believes it, or at least admits to believing it. It usually appeals to the less agreeable aspects of human nature: greed, vanity, insecurity, competitiveness, materialism. At cocktail parties, people in the advertising business wince when asked what they do for a living.
But there it is, one of the dominant forces in twentieth-century America [...]”
So if you have slightest interest in the subject-matter, whether you’re in the industry or out of it, I thoroughly recommend this book.
It’s been said that anything can be made interesting by a good writer who really knows his subject; and here’s a case in point.
*But apparently never — on American TV, anyway — drinking.
Contents
1. Advertising Prehistory: The Nineteenth Century
2. The Age of Lasker
3. High Tide and Green Grass: The Twenties
4. Depression and Reform
5. The Second Boom
6. The Creative Revolution
7. Real Reform: New Images in the Mirror
8. The 1970s: The Cycle Never Stops
Glossary, acknowledgments, references, notes & index
August 25, 2026
picked this up because I missed watching Mad Men and now I can’t stop thinking about how advertising has morphed to rule every part of our lives. the industry itself may be on a downward slope but its techniques are more rampant than ever in an age when every person must sell themselves as a brand—carefully choosing whether they want the widespread following of an influencer or a luxury good’s air of exclusivity.
Want to Read
April 2, 2026I am here because of Mad Men
February 25, 2020
I'm in advertising. Can't say what people in other fields would think but this was the best book I read in college. (advertising art at art school) Loved every page. Think real world Mad Men. Yeah, very few females covered...except for a couple of ceiling busters.
September 14, 2011
please see our review at: http://theagencyreview.wordpress.com/...
November 29, 2011
I am ready for this book to come out with a 2011 foreword. The 94 foreword was awesome but it's time for a new one!
Read
July 13, 2012As much as I enjoy advertising. I just couldn't get into this book at all! Put it down after about 15 pages, and will not bother to try again
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews