Brand-Name Product Advertising

Jell-O Strawberry Flavor.
Leroy, New York: The Genesee Pure Food Company
Chromo-lithograph poster, ca. 1905
Copyright Office
Copyright deposit (205.3a)

During the last two decades of the nineteenth century there was a great change in how food products were distributed and advertised. Buying primarily unpackaged goods was gradually replaced by the availability of sanitary, sealed, individual packaging. Advertising in newspapers, broadsides, and store displays (like the Jell-O poster) was supplemented by company brochures that took advantage of chromolithography, which made mass-production of vividly colored illustrations economically feasible. Due to increasing competition among manufacturers, various advertising techniques were introduced, such as prizes, offers of coupons to be collected for premium household items, and recipe booklets featuring company products.