adv & myth

8/13/2019 adv & myth

1/15

Selling the Myth: Western Images in AdvertisingAuthor(s): Elliott WestReviewed work(s):Source: Montana: The Magazine of Western History, Vol. 46, No. 2 (Summer, 1996), pp. 36-49Published by: Montana Historical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4519878 .Accessed: 24/01/2013 11:38

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Montana Historical Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Montana:The Magazine of Western History.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloade d on Thu, 24 Jan 2013 11:38:3 6 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=mhshttp://www.jstor.org/stable/4519878?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/4519878?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=mhs

8/13/2019 adv & myth

2/15

1;* 1u * L - tK

Wetrn;: l Zar1es t : ::: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _

in dvertising

..... . . . . . . . . .....................................

. : . . . ' . s x . :

* . . . .: ...... . ' .,

*. . :: . ;.:' r; ::.: : .: .::'.* ' ::: ' '' '.':: .......... . : . . :: :. ,'': . . . . . :

*: . : . e* . : ' ... . . :

*:

.:

* :. : ' '

_ :. : . v ,. ::,.,: .

:: :: - _ :v;:. . AZ .::::-., Zlii'l-_ wwE-->

__ ___

: : Z as.ts_ . _. _

_ _ __

- . - ., . - . . . Y . __ . _W_ .. . . _s. . _ ... .S....i. ._.. _

_ _ _ _ _ __ __ __ _ _ _

Whether t's a westernerfinding artlple pace on ajetliner, an Indian sendingsmoke signals with hisBenson & HedgesX heMarilzoro man riding at thehead of the herd, or a wotnanwith her long legs tuckedlnto western bootsXadvertisers arre ound theWest an alluring tratagem.

.

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

8/13/2019 adv & myth

3/15

I'S i 't . tIp'fn* t hl i toig t'thaIo l' I in n a iStvs I

FOOTWEAR

'..'

SURGEONENERALSARNING:uwnSmokrngNow reatlyeduceserius isksoYour ealth.

ACAdvertising is the rhetoric of de-mocracy." So writes Daniel Boorstin,

..L'- and he makes a good case.' Advertis-ing is the most highly developed of our per-suasive arts, made so from the continuousstruggle among businesses for the favor of

American consumers as they vote, economi-cally speaking, for their toothpastes, automo-biles, and breakfast cereals. Ads speak to usthrough the folk culture-from tall tales andhyperbole to horror fantasies and patrioticgas-that is the true common tongue of ourdisparate nation. This rhetoric shows the weak-nesses and excesses of democracy noted bycommentators from Alexis de Tocqueville toGeorge Will. "You must write your advertise-ments to catch damn fools-not

college pro-fessors," advised George P. Rowell, a

nineteenth-century entrepreneur of the busi-ness. If you do, he added, "you'll catch just asmany college professors as you will of any othersort. 1"2

Advertising is most democratic in its ubiq-

uity. An American is exposed on average to

fifteen hundred advertising appeals every day.A typical consumer pays attention to only

seventy-six ad tis ut of that barrage.s So we walk

through our days engaging in a largely uncon-scious conversation with hundreds of would-be persuaders. They pitch; we filter and

many ollege rofessors syouwill f nyother

choose. Here is an ongoing campaign withthousands of candidates, and it requires suc-

cessful advertisers to understand the Ameri-A pcal cnsum er pays matter tn tho

seventy-six ads out of that barrage: So we walk

office-seekers whooperate

in thecomparativelysimple marketplace of political democracy.

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

8/13/2019 adv & myth

4/15

MONTANA HE MAGAZINE F WESrERN HISTORY

Small wonder hen, that advertisers avedrawn eavily nd oftenon the westernmyth. fno medium as been n closer communion ith

the mass mind han advertising, o popular raditionis moredeeply ntrenched n American ulture han heWestern. Brought ogether, heyhavebeen a real ovematch.By the early 900S portraits f buffalo nd bron-coswerebeingused o sell iquor nd prunes.Today, asa new century ears, western mages an be seen n adsforeverything rom igarettes o stationwagons.

Modern advertising nd the Western have had acommon, nteractive istory. During he first hird ofthe present entury, he advertising usiness hangeddramaticallyn its goals and echniques. tsearlier dealwassimply o describe he goodsand services ffered.In a competitive ge, Horace Greeleywrote n 1850,every ensible businessmanmust et the public knowwhathe is selling. But n this work, he advised, "leaveclowns' ests to the circus, and et sober men speakastheyact, with directness nd decision."4 y the 920Suhowever, manufacturers ere making heir productsmore alluring y manipulating he consumer's spira-tionsand anxieties. hey weremoving oward hestrat-egy ater ummed p by Charles Revson: In he actorywe make osmetics. n the store we sell hope."5 Mean-while, the circulation f periodicals was expanding tan extraordinary lip. As ad executives eached ut tothat massmarket, t became part of their ob to gaugethe current Americanmood and to appeal o custom-ers through heir most deeply rooted values.

One of the best expressions f thosevalues, he Western, made ts appearanceduring he same years. The generation tnM

the irst modernwestern ovels, watched Ithe flourish and decline of Wild West :E_shows,and saw he earliestwestern ilmsand movie tars. Adsfor Buffalowhiskey v 0x9x^and Mohawk ires apped he samepopu-

lar fascination hat brought uccess and Xv *-7fortune o OwenWister nd BroncoBillyAnderson. From hen until now adver- _tising and the western myth have beenan enduring ombination. _ 1R

Indeed, the combination has been |" tboth enduring nd revealing, orwestern | z t3rcourse, they make or appallingly ad P^

adv & myth

Documents