Huckster: The Unbelievable History Of The Advertising Industry

You’re probably wondering how the advertising industry got started—or, to put it another way, how the industry of advertising began. It’s only natural for you to wonder such a thing. But the fact is, if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.

For instance, if I told you it all started during World War I, when allies were nailing up posters to help drum up support for their war campaign, you probably wouldn’t believe me, right? Well, I hope not, because that’s just silly. That’s not how it started at all. The industry started well before World War I, or perhaps even after it.

And what if I were to tell you it started when a man, long ago, was trying to win the affection of a woman and so, in order to gain that affection, he posted flyers around town where he knew she would see them, flyers that advertised his good qualities? And when this woman eventually fell in love with the man, the man realized his power of persuasion and the rest, as they say, is history? What if I were to tell you that? Would you believe me? The answer is no. And that’s too bad, even knowing it wasn’t how the advertising industry got started either. In fact, the advertising industry started in a different way altogether.

Look, I don’t resent your skepticism. Not at all. It’s just a shame that you wouldn’t believe me if I were to tell you John Quincy Adams hired a man to help promote his candidacy for president back in 1825 thereby launching the industry. Or that a Bible salesman started the whole thing while going door to door in 1657. Or that nobody started the advertising industry, that the industry hasn’t even been invented yet. Yes, it’s a shame you wouldn’t believe me. But you know what, it’s okay that you’re a skeptic. The indisputable fact is, this great nation of ours was founded by skeptics.

But, actually, the industry was started by that 1657 Bible salesman.

Kidding. He didn’t start it. I made him up. And besides, he couldn’t have started it in 1657 because the Bible had not even been written yet.

The truth is, nobody really knows how it got started. It’s one of those age-old mysteries, like magnetism and childbirth. Some say a Chinese caravan started the industry back in the year 210 B.C. while traveling the Silk Road, but those people are wrong for numerous reasons, starting with the fact that there was never, ever a road made purely of silk. The thought alone is just ridiculous, because that kind of road would be undrivable. Can you imagine!

No, if I had to guess, I’d say it all started with a man named Roger Thornhill. Roger Thornhill was a decent enough man, but he had the misfortune of being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies. These spies were relentless, but luckily so was Thornhill.

And while that would be my guess, it is certainly not how the industry started. The fact is, that’s the plot to Alfred Hitchock’s North By Northwest. Which, indeed, does involve an advertising executive, but not the one who started it all.

No, that, my friends, is a different movie. Or, to put it another way, an entirely different movie altogether.