A History of Photography in USC Libraries Collections

Chapman billboard, Southern California, 1932

This photo fits perfectly with the theme of photography in journalism, advertising, and promotion because it shows how an image is used as advertising for a specific item. In this case, this is a photo of a Pecan Roll that the store is selling, and it is used to draw in customers to buy it. As the big Pecan Roll filled with ice cream sits on the left side of this billboard, it immediately draws all the attention of the people walking by. Normal people walking by would not take the time to read all that is written on the billboard if it was a blank billboard with just writing. The choice to show its product taking up half of the billboard is an advertising stunt because people walking by will notice the ice cream. This store is hoping that it will make the people walking by wonder what it is and read the description to see what it is. Once the people read the description, they see what the product is and the price of it. This may or may not bring these people in as customers, which is exactly what this company wants to do. At the bottom it says “Always ready…. At ALL Chapman’s stores” which is not only an advertisement for this one location but rather an advertisement for all of the locations owned by this individual. This photo is a perfect example of how photography is used in advertisements as a way of showing off products to get more customers to buy the products. Many people don’t buy something until they see what it looks like so this was very smart.

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