course material

1. Book Review
Book ReviewSelling Themselves: The Emergence of Canadian Advertising byRussell
JohnstonRussell Johnston is a renowned author in the history of literature and advertising.
Having written numerous books on emergence of new trends in the advertising sector, his
book, Selling Themselves, vividly describes the trend and history of publishing and
advertising sector. His work has been clearly written, convincingly researched, and there is
flow of ideas and coherent argument. Although literature work is not always perfect, and
Russell’ s work is no exception, his work has contributed tremendously on the emergence
of communication systems in Canada towards the end of 19th century and early 20th
century. As such, Ogilvy (1963) purports that much gratitude needs to be directed to the
agency management and advertising sector for their peculiar support to its employees
when they are undertaking their chores. The publishers and advertisers reputation has
been overwhelming. Consequently, American scholars have vested their interest on the
connections that exist between various industries in different countries as stipulated in
Russell’ s book. Indeed, the scenario is highlighted by one of three main themes of the
literature, as it emerges from the analysis of this history.The relationship existing between
the Canadian and American trade is traced, and emphasis placed on how the Canadian ad
workers emulated the innovations of Americans but in a way in which it perfectly suits the
Canadian culture and clients. The Transformations of the early publishing industry (Chapter
1) is the other theme highlighted by Russell, and later, in his work, he outlines
developments in farming and consumer magazines between 1920 and 1930 (Chapter 7). In
this latter chapter, the author portrays that American advertising industry was best
competed by using farm papers through re-development of marketing formulas that are
successful as that of American Consumer magazine. As such, the Canadian government
ensured that retaining the Canadian culture and unique content in its farm papers would
attract readers. However, this was not to be, as the fate of consumer magazine was
unsuccessful, and its consequences are still being felt in the economy.According to Russell,
the challenges facing the advertising agents are numerous, yet convincing on their skills and
knowledge to act as candid brokers between manufacturers and media outlets. Apart from
the convincing power of brokers, ad workers are required to portray overwhelmingly
power to convince manufacturers on the importance in undertaking salesmanship. Johnston
in chapter three and four outlines the steps required in satisfying the manufacturers
through professionalization of industrial activities—
this, according to Johnston, was
necessitated by the ad workers who are based in the outskirts of Toronto. With the re-

2. shaping of the organization’ s structure, standards and rules were enacted to safeguard the
activities of the organization and it included audited circulations, agency agreements,
standardized rate cards, and enhancing the success of advertising practices through
consultation with specific brokers who represent Canadian advertising and media interests.
As such, Johnston has succeeded in highlighting the history of advertising and its
consequential development, and the way it fosters cordial relationship between various
themes across the book.Although I was perturbed by what happened to the consumer—
the
other actor—
as the history and trend of organizational structures and relations facilitated
industrial development, the book depicts the terrain that is still under analysis. Finally, the
author navigates his book around the fourth theme, which outlines the emergence of selling
techniques and its subsequent refinement procedure. From the above synopsis of the
chapters and the overall description of the various themes, I am convinced that the most
interesting chapters were the final chapters of the books that outlined the effect of academic
psychology on the success of a copywriter (Chapter 5 through 7), and the emergent of new
and modern scientific rationalization, which became a success in the industry through its
dependence on risk management strategies and market research. These developments
enhanced the emergence of new logic in the advertising sector that is being refined in the
current world and has been crucial in the sophisticated and ever-changing
economy.Although I enjoyed dreading most parts of the book, I was dissatisfied with some
parts that were under-explored. The author focused so much attention on specific areas in
advertising industry and left others unattended. Firstly, while the book aims at providing
historical development of advertising, it does not entirely analyze the emergence and
development of Canadian advertising. It is only the historical development of Toronto that
is deeply analyzed, and Montreal and other prairie provinces are partially analyzed.
Johnston has justified that Toronto denotes the core of regional activities and developments
for industries that are still development; however, I disagree with his opinion, as
development normally varies depending on geographical differences. Anyone who
understands the geographical and resource allocation of Canada would contend my
argument that communication systems was not evenly developed, but articulated majorly
on the influence of local actors and cultures. In addition, Russell purports that, with the
current less number of manufacturers and fewer papers, other developed centers did not
provide facilities and strategies to enhance innovations, which will then ease the industrial
development process. As such, it does not imply that the differences are not worthy to be
explored, but rather provide a platform for research, nor does it mean that the agencies and
ad workers in Toronto are operating at norm. As most media histories are characterized by
undeveloped terrain, Russell’ s book does not highlight the less appealing parts; it just
focuses on the biggest and appealing experiences, which, ultimately, are experienced
elsewhere. However, I do not intend to criticize Russell’ s deliberation on Toronto. Most of
the history highlighted is new, it is crucial to commence the concentration from the
center—
that is Toronto. One should also put into consideration the limited materials
available in the archives (15). Indeed, it is a bit preemptive and misleading to conform to
the argument that advertising emerged in Canada.Secondly, Russell’ s argument that
industrial development that was realized in the early 20th century harnessed the

3. emergence of a cordial relationship between agencies, manufacturers, and publishers in the
economy is, somehow, misleading. Russell’ s argument was vested on the profound social
and cultural changes, which occurred after industrialization reorganized the region’ s
economic foundations. The effects of industrialization are diverse, but Russell chooses to
describe demographic changes, cultural and political changes, and urban growth in a scanty
way. Only few pages describe these effects. Some of the questions that author left
unanswered included: the relationship that exists between changing work schedule to the
initiation of advertising strategies, leisure, and trademarked goods; the changes that are felt
in the private sphere, which facilitated the shift of activities in the media industry; and the
future of the radio that was not concerned with printing. It can be argued that the changes
were merely “ context” in regard to the world of advertisements, but, in reality, they were
the platform in which the owners and agencies were coerced to navigate. These perceptions
warrant a balanced treatment as compared to others, citing the crucial developments that
were occupied within the wide historical undertakings. When Toronto is taken to be the
core of the country’ s industrialization—
towards the end of 19th Century—
vast literature
exist that provides an analysis on economic, demography, urban, newspaper, and
manufacturing history in Toronto. Russell did not utilize this information; therefore, the
book had scanty information on industrialization in Canada. As such, it can be argued
convincingly that the literature provided did not exploit industrialization development
aspect.Similarly, Russell focus was an analysis of industrialization development over the
past five decades, and this did not incorporate the newly developed areas in the region.
From the title of the book to the literature itself, it clearly depicts lack of diversity in
exploring phenomenon affecting the economy. Though part of the book’ s title—
Selling
Themselves—
denotes the Canadian ad workers, the other part—
The Emergence of Canadian
Advertising—
depicts the history and revolution of the communication system as a way of
conveying adverts; a way of economic endowment with clear transcendent qualities of
commodities. Most of the works that Johnston’ s research is based upon uses a strong
industry background and advertising campaigns to demonstrate how the workers were
involved in revolution of advertising and media industry into a modern industry (Marchand,
1985). Using this foundation, Johnston is able to provide an historical overview of the whole
issue, but fails to convince the readers on the implementation stage. He purports that
advertising was aimed at developing a modern Canadian society that will suit with the
changing social needs, liberalized Christian world, and the transformed cultural
perspectives of the society. For instance, in the modern society, advertising plays a
significant role by providing a number of products that would enable the consumers to
achieve the desired status and acceptance (17). In spite of this, the advertising campaigns
that are discussed in depth aim at promoting advertising and media industry. Russell’ s
scanty discussion on the development of advertising denotes lack of in-depth analysis on
the subject matter (10), though it cannot be used for the author not to provide relevant and
enough information on the development of Canadian advertising.The author’ s
characterization of manufacturers, consumers, and publishers, could have been analyzed in
detail. Limited information is provided on the characterization and nature of immediate
increase in the volume of advertising. Russell generalizes most of the concepts and goes on

4. to describe the Canadian history in a general manner. It is vital to note that a student who
specializes in history of journalism, one needs to counter most of the arguments available in
the historical archives. This is due to the limited volume of information available to the
readers. For example, towards the end of 19th Century, the strategies that the advertising
sector deployed direct style and “ personalized” way of addressing and appealing the
reader. This style aimed at attracting the reader to purchase the newspaper, as most of the
information provided mirrored their way of living. Unfortunately, Russell does not address
the connections that exists between the readers, manufacturers, and publishers, because his
history provided in the newspaper is not very strong and lacks convincing power. Finally,
Russell was able to pay tribute to the most famous women journalists in the 19th
century—
Kathleen Blake Coleman—
as it was worth mentioning (p.196). In highlighting the
name of Coleman, the author appreciates the work done by Coleman in developing the
history of advertising in Canada; though Coleman was not born in Canada bur she spent
most of her time in Canada. The mistake that the author made was not to undertake
research on the tastes of women. It was this limitation that the editors of the Daily Mail,
Russell, and the local merchants ran a contest, in 1980, to determine a coherent way that
new product can be advertised to women. The ad that promoted the contest was Women’ s
Tastes are the Advertiser’ s Puzzle, (Oct. 25, 1980). As such, it denoted that women were
just peripherals to the development of advertising in Canada.These criticisms, however,
should not overshadow the strengths imminent in the work of Russell. Though the critiques
concentrated on the omissions and lack of finer details in the work, it is worth appreciating
the historical detail that has been provided by Russell’ s book. Canadian communication
sector have always been sluggish in comprehending the changes and transformations that
Canadian culture undergoes. Such cultural transformations are brought about by huge
production and consumption of images experienced at the end of 19th century. The book
provides an optimistic contribution in developing the history and transformation of Canada
culture. In addition, it highlights the additional explorations on the function of historical
development of advertising in the society. For scholars who have an interest in the history
of Canadian newspaper, they should rely on the book as it contains enough information that
the historian would need. However, the scholar would have to contend with the complexity
and full knowledge on the changes emerging in the history of newspaper since 19th
Century. With over-dependence on newspapers, advertising has been perceived to be
crucial in attracting readers. Therefore, the book is a significant component n the history of
journalism, consumer history, and development of advertising in
Canada.ReferencesMarchand, R. (1985). Advertising the American dream: Making way for
modernity 1920-1940. Berkeley: University of California Press.Ogilvy, D. (1963).
Confessions of an advertising man. New York: Dell.