Testimonial Advertising in the American Marketplace

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

   PDF

2. Introduction: “The Spirit of Emulation”

   • Marina Moskowitz, Marlis Schweitzer

   Pages 1-22

3. Testimonials in Silk: Juba and the Legitimization of American Blackface Minstrelsy in Britain

   • Stephen Johnson

   Pages 23-49

4. The Testifying Subject: Reliability in Marketing, Science, and Law at the End of the Age of Barnum

   • Michael Pettit

   Pages 51-78

5. “After a Season of War”: Sharing Horticultural Success in the Reconstruction-Era Landscape

   • Marina Moskowitz

   Pages 79-94

6. “The Ten Year Club”: Artificial Limbs and Testimonials at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

   • Edward Slavishak

   Pages 95-121

7. “The Mad Search for Beauty”: Actresses, Cosmetics, and the Middle-Class Market

   • Marlis Schweitzer

   Pages 123-149

8. “I am Kay and I Prefer Modern”: Bridal Testimonials and the Rise of Consumer Rites, 1920s–1950s

   • Vicki Howard

   Pages 151-171

9. “Dear Friend”: Charles Atlas, American Masculinity, and the Bodybuilding Testimonial, 1894–1944

   • Dominique Padurano

   Pages 173-205

10. “For Us, By Us”: Hip-Hop Fashion, Commodity Blackness and the Culture of Emulation

    • Mary Rizzo

    Pages 207-230

11. Back Matter

    Pages 231-240

    PDF

This book explores the history and practice of testimonial advertising in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, addressing a surprising lack of scholarship on this enduring and pervasive marketing tool. Treating consumers as neither the victims nor the empowered foes of corporate practices, the authors gathered here contribute to new scholarship at the intersection of cultural and business history by examining how testimonials mediate negotiations between producers and consumers and shape modern cultural attitudes about social identity, advice, community, celebrity, and the consumption of brand-name goods and services.

• Advertising
• marketing
• USA

"Steeped as we are today in celebrity brands and viral marketing, we find it difficult to imagine a world where the market's word-of-mouth operated quite differently. Thanks to these original and engaging articles, though, we can now track the fascinating strategies that enabled American advertising to recast the question of consumer trust, liberating it from the rigid protocols of patrician sponsorship and immersing it in the complex, modern mix of mass celebrity, technical expertise, domestic authority, and street cred. Each page brings us something new." - Jean-Christophe Agnew, Professor of American Studies and History, Yale University

"This volume of essays charts the cultural history of a phenomenon that influences us all, one whose power we are reluctant to acknowledge. Testimonials are centuries old and utterly contemporary, and these essays illuminate the many aspects of their role in making consumer culture. If you ve ever wondered why we are so willing to take the word of others when we buy, whether from Oprah or a neighbor down the street, this book offers compelling explanations - and a host of new questions to ponder." - Charles F. McGovern, Associate Professor of American Studies and History, College of William and Mary

"Finally! A wonderful study of the centrality of testimonials to 20th century advertising. With insightful essays on consumer deception, blackface performance, seed advertising and celebrity culture, among other excellent contributions, Testimonial Advertising represents the leading edge of the cultural turn of the new business history. It is a must-read for scholars of business, culture, and modern consumerism." - Elspeth H. Brown, Director, Centre for the Study of the United States, University of Toronto

MARINA MOSKOWITZ is Director of the Andrew Hook Centre for American Studies and a Senior Lecturer in American History at the University of Glasgow, UK. MARLIS SCHWEITZER is an Assistant Professor at York University in Toronto, Canada.

Policies and ethics