Phonographs in Other Ads

Phonographs Promoting Other Consumer Products

 

This gallery displays advertisements and paper ephemera where a phonograph is part of the promotion but is not what's being sold.

 

FACTOLA: The earliest example of a phonograph being part of an advertisement but not with the intention of selling a phonograph is a June 1, 1878 illustration in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. In this ad Uncle Sam (who was undergoing his morphing with Brother Jonathan to become a symbol of the United States in general and an allegorical figure of U.S. capitalism) is promoting the export of Mrs. Potts' Sad Irons to Russia by bringing the message to the Czar of their pending delivery by means of the recently invented Edison tinfoil phonograph.

 

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, June 1, 1878.

FOTP Note: The Philadelphia Mfg. Co. may have been making very good irons but the "delight and astonishment" of the Czar is clearly because of Edison's phonograph.

 

Ad for Dr. Price's Baking Powder, Omaha Daily Bee, April 30, 1895

 

Lithograph for Edsonia Cigars.

On the cover of the February 1973 "Antique Phonograph Monthly" was a picture that Allen Koenigsberg identified as a printer's proof copy of label for a Edsonia cigar box which Koenigsberg had no evidence that the cigars were ever actually produced. Trade mark registered Litho. Geo. Schlegel, N.Y. In 2025 this is still true that this label was originally intended to be put either on the inside lid or the outside of a cigar box in the early 1900's but the label was never on an actual box of cigars. Label Dimensions: 8.5" x 6.5",

 

"Not all Talk," ad for Sapolio Soap, Appleton's magazine, 1908 (PM-0761)

 

Clothing Store ad for Magee and Deemer, Lincoln -Aurora-Omaha, May 12, 1913, Lincoln Daily News



Mogul Cigarettes, Dancing to the Victrola, The Theatre Magazine, August 1915

 

"Just Like New!" Photoplay Magazine , October 1917

 

3-in-One Oil 1918

 

1920 Advertising Calendar from Trivers Clothes Milwaukee, WI - Victrola in Background - 2 1/4" X 5 1/2


 

Glidden Paints - The Saturday Evening Post 1920

 

Johnson's Prepared Wax - The Ladies' Home Journal, April 1922, p. 129 (Courtesy University of Michigan) (See full ad)

 

Johnson's Prepared Wax - The Ladies' Home Journal, May 1922, p. 109 (Courtesy University of Michigan)

 

Vitrolene Furniture Polish, The Talking Machine World, February 1923

 

 

Congoleum, The Saturday Evening Post, 1923

 

Elsie dancing to the Phonograph, Borden's, Life, 1949 (PM-2140)



American-Standard - First in heating first in plumbing, The Saturday Evening Post, September 15, 1951 (PM-2074)

 

 

Delsey Toilet Paper, 1954


Circa 1957 postcard advertising 6-piece furniture set

 

1957 6-piece furniture set in catalogue



U.S. Gympsum, 1959

 

Interior Decoration A to Z by Betty Pepis 1965

 

Coppertone, 1968

 

"I danced every day -- and there were plenty of 'cut-ins'. Listerine magazine ad, 1942

 

Husband has been ignoring his wife because of bad breath. Dentist recommends Colgate. Colgate newspaper ad, 1943

 

 

Pacific Sheets, 1945 (PM-0898)

 

Little Lulu's Tips to add life to records, Life, July 1951


1954 Listerine magazine ad

 

1960 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport magazine ad

 

Burlington Men's Socks Ad, 1961 (PM-2042)

 

"There's a rhythm to wood as captivating as the cadence of music..." National Lumber Manufactures Assocation magazine ad, 1961 (PM-2041)

 

 

Salem Cigarettes, 1964

 

Ozite Carpet Tiles in Rec Room with Retro open horn LP Phonograph, 1968 (PM-2043)

 

Lanier Business Products, 1970

 

Healthknit® postcard for ordering blazers and "Slim Jims" c.1965

 



 

Arrow Shirts, 1970

 

Levi's Womenswear, 1979



Paper Mate Accu-Point Roller Pen magazine ad, 1985

 

Carlton Cigarettes, Magazine ad, 1999

 

Kool Cigarettes, Magazine ad, 2003

 

MasterCard, 2004

 

 

Barbizon Chemisette, 1958

 

 

Espirt Advertising Postcard, 1997

 


Hammacher Schlemmer, 2008

The handcrafted ceramic was said to be designed to replicate the French horn and augment sound from the iPod. "The gramophone projects music using authentic horn acoustics."

 

 

His Master's Scratched Record


Advertisement for ATOPICA, Novartis Animal Health, September 2013

 

 

ON THE RECORD: MusicWell, May 10, 2013

This email banner was a link to Kaiser Permanente's internal branded library of images and messages. The MusicWell featured "tracks" (like the grooves of a record) to "amplify" their message.



2013 Trader Joe's Thanksgiving Ad

By selecting one of the Radio Spots from the drop-down the consumer can hear 3 different Trader Joe ads using the Gramophone "Now Hear This!" for delivery of the message.

 

November 2013 on Trader Joe's website

 

 

 

When Steve Wozniak was seen in the 2015 Cadillac "Dare Greatly" television commercial he was on a couch listening to a "vinyl" record surrounded by record albums.

 

Boden Catalogue, February 2015




Amazon ad in Time magazine, November 2015, Vol 186 No. 20

 

Scotch Magic Tape Dispenser C-45, 2019

 

 

Apple's iPad Pro ad begins with a turntable playing a record. In a later scene record albums, turntables, music instruments and other creative arts are "crushed" by the newest, slimmest iPad Pro.

 

Apple iPad Pro 2024. - Crush! - The backlash to this ad was significant based on what some felt was Apple seemingly crushing symbols of human creativity.

 

The New York Times Magazine described the "already-infamous Apple ad — the one in which a giant mechanical compactor violently crushes a bunch of musical instruments, books, sculptures, art supplies and toys, turning them into an iPad Pro" in their June 6, 2024 article. The headline was then quoted from another article “Apple’s New iPad Ad Is a Neat Metaphor for the End of the World.”

"We’re used to distrusting ads because of their tendency to deceive. “Crush!” might be something different: an unintentional artifact of the truth, not yet compressed beyond recognition by the machine." Peter C. Baker, Ibid.

Apple offered an apology saying they had made a mistake and that they wouldn't air the ad on TV. "It wants to move on, and it wants you to do the same" noted Baker.

The Apple ad, however, can be seen on the Official Apple YouTube channel "Crush! iPad Pro which notes: "Apple’s more than 160,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it."

 

 

 

 

Phonographia