Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - S1E24 - Striking Images: Matchbook Advertising

Episode Date: June 16, 2012

There was a time when the humble matchbook was the top advertising medium in North America. They were handy, colourful, cheap and even a moderate smoker would be exposed to the advertising over 20 times a day. Matchbook advertising pre-dated radio, and was embraced by almost every industry. From big beer and tobacco companies, to the war effort, to Hollywood, to the smallest Mom & Pop businesses, matchbook advertising was effective and affordable for everyone. And believe it or not, even the State Department used matchbook advertising recently to hunt down Osama bin Laden. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and Beatles confidant Astrid Kershaw. But coming up, I talk to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talk to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth,

who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please, do me a favor, follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan, you just have to love storytelling. Subscribe now and don't miss a single beat. BetMGM, authorized gaming partner of the NBA, has your back all season long. From tip-off to the final buzzer, you're always taken care of with the sportsbook Born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with BetMGM.

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is from Season 1, 2012. You're not you when you're hungry. You're in good hands with us. You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. Back in 1998, U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were truck bombed. Later that year, a federal court in Manhattan indicted fugitive Saudi millionaire and terrorist leader Osama bin Laden on charges of plotting the attacks. He's believed to be the mastermind of the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in East Africa.

Those attacks killed 225 people. The U.S. State Department announced a reward of up to $5 million for information that would lead to bin Laden's arrest and conviction. It was part of the State Department's Rewards for Justice program, created in the mid-1980s. It offered millions of dollars in exchange for information that enabled U.S. law enforcement agents to prevent terrorist attacks or successfully prosecute terrorists. The key to putting a bounty

on someone is the same key to marketing a product. People have to know the bounty exists in order to generate interest. So the State Department put the news out to the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Europe. They marketed the bounty in various mediums, including posters, radio, and the Internet. But one of the main channels was through matchbooks. Matchbooks To spread the word, the State Department printed and circulated thousands of matchbooks bearing bin Laden's image, a multi-million dollar reward, instructions for collecting the money,

and the promise of identity protection and possible relocation. The program started using matchbooks in the early 1990s, and it's reported that it was a matchbook that led to the arrest of World Trade Center bombing suspect Ramzi Youssef. Three years later, bin Laden's suspected involvement in the 9-11 attacks put the matchbooks back into circulation. The thinking was this. Many of the rural people of the Middle East don't have access to radios or internet. put the matchbooks back into circulation. The thinking was this.

Many of the rural people of the Middle East don't have access to radios or internet, but research showed that a high percentage of people in those regions were smokers. Matchbooks are an interesting item. Heavy to moderate smokers look at a matchbook 20 plus times a day. Up to 8 additional people are exposed to a single matchbook. They get borrowed and shared.

Every time a matchbook got pulled out of a pocket, the owner was reminded of the bounty. Matchbooks were an inexpensive yet effective way for the State Department to get the word out to remote regions and to keep it top of mind. Unfortunately, as it turns out, the matchbooks weren't effective in bin Laden's case. That could be because the reward amount

on the matchbooks was missing a zero. It said $500,000 instead of $5 million. A bit of a difference. Also, the matchbooks were green, a color Muslims associate with Islam. So, many Afghans would interpret it to mean bin Laden was a holy man. And lastly, the website on the matchbooks was also incorrect. So, anyone wishing to leave a tip just got an error message.

But, aside from that failure, the Mighty Matchbook has a long and quite successful history in the world of marketing. As a matter of fact, there was a time in our history when matchbooks were the most popular advertising medium in North America. They were inexpensive, colorful, persuasive, and highly mobile.

Businesses used matchbook advertising for the same reasons the State Department chose them to hunt down bin Laden. Except for one difference. Their proofreading was better. You're under the influence. The story of matchbook advertising dates back to the late 1800s. Matches had been around a long time by then,

but they were wooden, and people would carry them around in bulky silver match safes in their vest pockets. These matches were ignited when pulled through folded sandpaper. But these wooden matches were highly volatile. They not only gave off unpleasant fumes, but would ignite in an explosion of sparks, often setting the user's clothes on fire. Got a light, old chap? Certainly, old boy. Then came a gentleman named Joshua Pusey.

Pusey was a Philadelphia patent lawyer with a love of cigars. He was also a tinkerer and was fascinated, in particular, by fire. His first invention was bangles, which were long paper torches with chemicals at their tips which could be lit for parades and celebrations. He would eventually take out 36 different patents for such things as a crayon holder, a self-opening gate for horse-drawn carriages, a hydrogen lamp, and a coin-operated dispenser for opera glasses.

But his claim to fame was the flexible match. Pusey and his son carefully cut strips of cardboard with office shears, affixed them to a paper base, and dipped the ends of those strips into sulfur and phosphorus, which they brewed over the pot-bellied stove in their office. He was granted a patent for his flexibles on September 27, 1892. While the paper match was an amazing invention, his matchbook still had certain issues.

For starters, Pusey put the match striker board inside the matchbook. So, all the matches would often ignite when one was struck. Got a light, old chap? Certainly, old boy. Three years later, in 1895, after many interesting light-ups, Joshua Pusey put out the fire in his beard and sold his invention to the Diamond Match Company of Barberton, Ohio for $4,000. While the Diamond Match Company started manufacturing matchbooks, many historians point to the Mendelssohn Opera

as the first to use matchbooks for advertising purposes. The opera didn't have enough money for proper advertising, so their manager purchased 200 blank matchbooks from the Diamond Company, and cast members would sit up at night pasting photos of their leading lady on the match covers. They also printed slogans on them. The matchbooks promised a powerful cast, pretty girls,

handsome wardrobes, and a cyclone of fun. Only one of those matchbooks is still in existence and is worth over $25,000 today, and you can see it on our website. The Opera House sold out.

That success wouldn't go unnoticed. The 1890s were a turning point in advertising and merchandising. The advent of mass transportation created the ability to reach a national market, and postcards, newspapers, and magazines began to flourish. The need to differentiate a product through advertising and logos was becoming increasingly necessary. At the same time, advances in printing occurred.

Lithography and other new printing techniques allowed advertisers to use four colors and to mass-produce those printed images. It was a perfect storm for matchbook advertising. But while matchbooks could slip into a pocket without an unseemly bulge, and while they were affordable and didn't ignite with an explosion of sparks, and even though they offered 20 matches

to correspond to packages that contained 20 cigarettes, they still didn't catch on with the public. Enter Henry C. Trouta. He was a highly motivated young salesman in Diamond's matchbook division. Inspired by the success of the Mendelssohn opera matchbooks, Trouta had an idea. He wanted to bypass the consumer,

go directly to manufacturers, and entice them to buy advertising space on his matchbooks. But before he did that, he made two important improvements. First, he moved the striker strip to the outside of the matchbooks to prevent accidents.

Then, he added the famous line, close cover before striking. Feeling ready, Trouta began calling on companies to convince them to advertise their wares on match covers. It was going to take some salesmanship, as the available advertising space was just 1.9 inches on the front,

2 inches on the back, and 2 tenths of an inch on the bottom. He called them mini billboards. Trouta told potential advertisers that matchbooks were the newest advertising medium, and that the public would look at match cover ads up to 20 times a day as they lit up cigarettes. Not only that, they were the most affordable advertising medium, with a box of 2,500 matchbooks only costing $6. In 1896, Trouta reprinted a Pabst beer magazine ad in matchbook size.

Pabst liked what they saw and ordered 10 million matchbooks on the spot. Next, the American Tobacco Company sensed a match made in heaven and ordered 30 million matchbooks advertising their products. Trota didn't stop there. He managed to get a meeting with chewing gum king William Wrigley and secured an order for 1 billion matchbooks. At the current production rate, the Pabst order would be filled in two months,

the American Tobacco order in seven months, and the Wrigley order of one billion wouldn't have seen fulfillment for over 18 years. The second thing Henry Trouta did was to convince a New York tobacconist to give the matchbooks away for free, with the promise it would boost the sale of cigarettes and cigars. In no time, their tobacco sales doubled and free matchbook giveaways spread across the nation. Trouta's marketing genius soon landed him the position

of vice president at the Diamond Match Company. Even though consumers now paid nothing for the matchbooks, Diamond profited greatly from Trouta's marketing strategies. First, the advertising on the matchbooks increased sales for both the smoking product they were given away with, like Lucky Strike cigarettes, and the product that was advertised on the cover, like Pabst beer. And advertisers happily paid for both benefits.

Secondly, the Diamond Match Company printed its own branding on the matches, with several mentions per book. Just as Trouta predicted, matchbook advertising made an impression on the consumer with every single match strike, a frequency of messaging that not even magazines or newspapers could claim. By the 1920s, the matchbook was the most popular advertising format in North America. And we'll be right back. goals is here. Losing weight is about more than diet and exercise. It can also be about our genetics, hormones, metabolism. Felix connects you with online licensed healthcare practitioners who understand that everybody is different and can pair your healthy lifestyle with the right

support to reach your goals. Start your visit today at felix.ca. That's F-E-L-I-X.ca that's f-e-l-i-x dot c-a if you're enjoying this episode why not dip into our archives available wherever you download your pods go to terryoreilly.ca for a master episode list. Thousands of advertisers were using Matchbooks. Small mom-and-pop businesses could afford them, and big advertisers loved the low-cost, high-frequency, highly mobile ads. They were billboards in the palm of your hand. Then came that dark day in October of 1929.

As advertising budgets all but disappeared, so did orders for matchbooks. The Great Depression bit hard into the sales of the Diamond Match Company. It needed another Trouta-sized idea to survive. Since businesses were no longer buying their product, Diamond turned its gaze to consumers. They noticed that the only thing that distracted people from the gloom of the Depression were Hollywood movies.

So the Diamond Match Company issued a set of matchbooks with movie stars on the covers, including Katharine Hepburn, Fred Astaire, and Clark Gable. It was a huge success and kept the company going during the lean 1930s. The matchbook sold for a penny and featured hundreds of Hollywood celebrities from film and radio, complete with biographies on the back covers. Diamond then sensed a bigger opportunity

and began issuing sets featuring American sports heroes from football, baseball, and hockey. It saved the matchbook industry. Throughout the 30s, the public remained eager and willing to buy cigarettes. They were almost seen as a necessary staple along with food and clothing. Matchbook sales increased even further as smoking became more popular among women. It was also during the 30s that one of the best-known advertisers started using matchbooks. The company was Art Instruction Inc.

They advertised on match covers with their famous Draw Me ads. When you flipped the matchbook open, the ad continued saying, You are in demand if you can draw. If you like to draw, sketch or paint, write for the free Talent Test. The address was in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was a correspondence art course, and its instructors were some of the most famous artists of the era.

Later, in the 50s, one of the instructors was Charles M. Schultz, who would go on to create Peanuts. When Schultz was in high school in the 30s, his mother saw the art instruction ads on a matchbook. Schultz took the art course, which cost a remarkable $170 back then, a huge sum during the Depression. Schultz had a definite knack as an illustrator

and several years later signed on as an instructor. It was during that time he began sketching characters that would eventually become the Peanuts comic strip as Charlie Brown and Linus were actually based on co-workers at Art Instruction Inc.

Back when the Second World War broke out, the matchbook industry was about to land its biggest client, the United States government. There was suddenly a need for patriotic and military advertising. Matchbooks asked the public to support the war effort, to buy war bonds and boycott German-made goods. Even U.S. warships like the USS Indianapolis had their own matchbooks.

Overseas soldiers were given matches as part of their K-rations that proclaimed, I'm proud of you and so are the folks at home. By the end of 1945, over 200 billion matchbooks had been printed. There were also over 1 million philuminists, or matchbook collectors. The term came from the Latin phil for lover and lumen for light. A philuminist is a lover of light.

The hobby was second only to stamp collectors. It was also estimated that 99% of smokers at this time lit up with matchbooks, and 45% of those smokers could name the advertisers on the books they were carrying. American matchmaking was a bustling industry. After the war, the match industry continued to grow. Advertisers returned to matchbooks, and matchbook salesmen not only supported their families, but were able to provide them with post-war luxuries.

The optimism of the 50s boosted matchbook advertising to an all-time high. Restaurants, diners, bars, strip joints, beer, gas stations, shaving lotions, hotels, airlines, politicians, soft drinks, and car manufacturers all advertised on the miniature billboards. Hospitals even gave out matchbooks to expectant fathers so they could smoke in the hallways as they paced. Then, the first article linking cancer to smoking appeared in Reader's Digest magazine in 1957. It was bad news for the match industry as the fortune of matches was coattailed to cigarettes.

But the matchbook industry soldiered on. If you're looking for flexible workouts, Peloton's got you covered. Summer runs or playoff season meditations, industry soldiered on. something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest. And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Fun. In the 60s, you could still smoke in hospitals, in movie theaters, in grocery stores, in elevators, and in airplanes. Banks gave matchbooks to customers,

politicians gave personalized matchbooks to voters, hotels gave them to guests, people collected them as souvenirs of their travels, and happy couples gave out personalized matchbooks at their weddings. But anti-smoking movements and messages started to gain momentum, and it continued to chip away at matchbook sales. But even as late as the 70s, I still remember seeing matchbook covers

that advertised a long list of correspondence courses in the occupation of your choice, from plumbers and pipe fitters to doctors, lawyers, audio and x-ray technicians to truck drivers and teachers. SCTV did a funny skit playing off those famous matchbook ads, with Dave Thomas making the pitch with a giant book of matches. Are you stuck in a low-paying job going nowhere? You'd like a good job, you say, but you're so unskilled and uneducated

that you don't even know what a good job is? Hi, I'm Don Mayer, and for just one cent, that's right, the cost of an ordinary book of matches, I can direct you to top money-making professional careers that you probably didn't even know existed. Why, you could be an industrial plumbing investment counselor. That's right, a lot of people are investing big bucks in industrial plumbing, and they may need your advice.

And who do you think cooks the meals when systems analysts get together to negotiate their big contracts? You could, as a systems analyst arbitration chef. What? Don't feel qualified, you say? Then work and learn at the same time, as an administrative assistant production apprentice trainee. Yes, you'll train on the job, with top apprentices learning to be assistants to production administrators. There are also career openings

in electrical claims adjusting, TV repairman therapy, and aircraft refrigeration nursing. And if none of these interest you, then why not take a look at the fast-paced, big-money world of matchbook advertising? I did, and I'm rich. So next time you buy a pack of matches, don't just sit around picking your teeth with it. Fill out this handy order form and mail it to me because there could be a job there for you. Little did the matchbook industry know

it was about to meet its biggest foe in 1974. His name was Marcel Bick. He founded his company in Paris in 1945 and began manufacturing parts for fountain pens and mechanical pencils. Soon, he began producing ballpoint pens, which he called a Bic, B-I-C,

a phonetic spelling of his last name, Bic, which was spelled B-I-C-H. By 1967, Bic was turning out over 500 million pens annually, accounting for over 60% of the U.S. market. That success led to the launch of the BIC disposable lighter. The company began using the suggestive tagline, Flick Your BIC, as you'll hear in this 1974 TV commercial.

Hey, get a little booth, too. I'll just break the ice with a flick of my Bic. What I want to call my chick, all I do is flick my Bic. She's flicking her Bic, she's flicking her Bic. Flick of the Bic, sir. Oh, flick of the Bic, sir. Why just light up when you can flick your Bic? It's smooth, easy on the thumb, and you get thousands of flicks from a single bick.

The Bick Butane. Shh, stop flicking your bick. As writer Jonathan Price said, the censors were skilled at finding subliminal sexual messages in ice cubes and shock absorber ads, but if the sex was blatant in a commercial, they missed it. Flick your Bic became a national catchphrase. Bic lighters gave smokers 3,000 lights for under $1. Not even the one-cent price tag of matches

could beat that promise. It was the beginning of the end for the matchbook industry. The biggest advertising medium of the 1920s that had survived depressions and world wars and radio and television had finally met its Waterloo. According to the New York Times, the matchbook has been called the best-read book in North America and close cover before striking the most printed phrase in the history of the printed word. Matchbooks have chronicled our culture through the Great Depression, the early days of Hollywood, the emergence of organized sport, world wars, and the post-war optimism

as the world got back on its feet and prospered. Over two and a half trillion matchbooks with advertising on their covers have been printed since its humble beginning in Joshua Pusey's office back in 1892.

And it's remarkable to think the tiny match cover was once the most popular form of advertising in North America, an admirable feat when you remember that the available surface was less than two inches. While matchbook advertising was almost extinguished by the end of the last century, it seems to be enjoying a small comeback.

The D.D. Bean Match Company of New Hampshire turns out over 20 million matchbooks every day. It also claims non-tobacco use of matches has increased 100% since the late 90s. Maybe our attraction to matches runs deeper than simple convenience. Fire speaks to life. If you've got matches, you've got light and warmth. And maybe a tiny advertising message tucked in there for good

measure when you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. Thank you. Hello, Mr. O'Reilly. Just calling to let you know the 200 matchbooks you ordered for your 30th wedding anniversary party are ready for pickup. I've got one in my hand right now, and it says, Jerry and Debbie, a perfect match. Congratulations. Under the Influence was produced by Pirate Toronto and New York. Theme music by Ari Posner and Ian Lefevre. See you next week. Losing weight is about more than diet and exercise. It can also be about our genetics, hormones, metabolism.

Felix connects you with online licensed healthcare practitioners who understand that everybody is different and can pair your healthy lifestyle with the right support to reach your goals. Start your visit today at felix.ca. That's F-E-L-I-X dot C-A.