Modernist Magazines and Digital Humanities

When looking through The Owl I came across an interesting page that depicted a man playing pool while surrounded by a small crowd. All the characters depicted seem to be of the working class except the man himself. While those surrounding him seem to be fairly ragged and unrefined the man himself is very polished and vibrant. The text on the very top of the page seems to indicate that the scene is somewhere in Ireland. The top right hand corner reads: “Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, The Metropolitan School of Art, Kildare Street, Dublin” which would lead me to think that this was some sort of an ad for the Metropolitan School of Art. The only two characters not completely grey washed are the pool player and a raggedy man on his right, which almost seems to pose the subliminal question of which character the viewer would rather be. The advertisement itself can be found on pages of an May 1919 edition of The Owl.

This piece was particularly interesting to me because it seemed so distant in time yet so close to modern advertisements. Published in 1919 this advertisement is nearly a hundred years old yet so familiar.  The ad seemed to be screaming if you go to The Metropolitan School of Art you too can be refined and the center of attention much like most modern ads do now. We always see well defined models and hot chick using various products as if the product will somehow make all of us beautiful and blessed. I never before realized that the very basic advertising techniques being used today were so far back reaching (in their exact same form and structure). It was really nifty finding this ad.

Due: Project 1

The typography in advertisements in The New Age is consistent with that used for the magazine's articles.  There are a few exceptions for products like Ruskin Fabrics and Fry Cocoa, where logos appear to disrupt the overall text-heavy look of the magazine itself, but even within these advertisements, the actual substantive (textual) portion of the ad matches the magazine's typeface.  The result is a certain subjugation of the advertisement: by forcing the ads for certain products to conform to the magazine's own aesthetic, the importance of the ad becomes relative to the magazine's content.

On another note, the ads are clearly written to cater to readers of The New Age, by appealing to their assumed "superiority" of intellect/interests.  An ad for Hovis Bread proclaims that the product is "NOT an ordinary bread, but a highly specialized article," and Fry's Cocoa purports to be "real food" which promotes "a clear brain and steady nerves."  An ostensible attempt to lessen the cheapening necessity/effect of advertisements, it's as if the ads in The New Age aren't proper ads so much as they are tasteful suggestions for a discerning reader/consumer.  Ads for other publications like The Daily News appeal outright to the oppositional groups presumed to be reading the magazine: in one ad, a brief blurb against the degenerate sport of horse-racing/betting is titled "A Woman's Question" and takes up nearly 3/4 of the ad itself; the title of the magazine appears almost as an afterthought.  

    In the December 1911 issue of The Windsor Magazine is an advertisement for a ‘A Real Lever Simulation GOLD WATCH FREE.” The ad copy uses the strategy of appealing to the consumer’s notions about himself, and perhaps about his own lifestyle, rather than promoting the quality of the product itself. Along a similar line of thought, the ad is addressed to “all clever readers” of the magazine. There is a sense of urgency in the advertisement, hinting to the consumer that this offer needs to be acted upon immediately. This sense is given through the use of bold text interspersed with the regular text, more so than in other ads, and the bold text is placed so that the words that appear most prominently convey the idea of receiving a free gold watch--the fact that is imitation gold is not emphasized, of course. The suggestion within the ad that the one stipulation if you generously receive the free gold watch is that you must “promise to show your friends, as we wish to advertise our goods,” is a way of saying “This ad is not an ad,” and assumes that the customer is naïve when it comes to advertising.  However, the company’s name is not at all largely printed. It is only included at the bottom of the advertisement, not set off much from the rest of the print, which cleverly makes it seem as though the ad really is only something like a public service announcement.
    Looking through Windsor Magazine, other ads (of which there are many) make efforts to appeal to the consumer in a similar way--by referring to the buyer as a lady or gentleman, with the implication of refinement, or by hinting that the customer surely is ‘in on’ such an exclusive product. For example, a company can provide you with sheet-music for “almost any piece you care to name,” implying knowledge of music; another ad for a steel cabinet addresses the businessman directly with the word ‘you’ and says that “no businessman can afford to run such a risk” of not having such a cabinet and losing documents in a fire. Other ads leave the consumer out of the ad copy entirely, simply stating the virtues of the product. It appears, though, that most include the potential buyer and his thoughts about himself.
 

The English Review in its January 1910 publication demonstrates stylistic choices that have become the literary norm in the 21st century.  The advertising is intentional and specifically geared for the literary crowd.  The prime retail space directly behind the front cover is reserved for paying advertisers of new books, pens, publishers, and novelties.  This section of the Review is numbered with Roman numerals like the introduction of a book, and the header identifies it as "The English Review Advertiser."  The English Review officially begins with its title on page 185, presumably because the previous issue ended on page 184.  So, the many issues of this publication can be torn away from the ads and bound together into a unified volume of literature without advertising or other interruption. 

"The Blue Review" (Vol 1, No.3) is filled with all kinds of essays and poems which all showcase the different writing styles of the authors of that time. There is not much else in terms of art or advertisements. However, there is one advertisement that shows up in the very beginning of the magazine; http://dl.lib.brown.edu/jpegs/1169132435156250.jpg. This advertisement showcases two different novels. The first half of the page talks about a novel called "The Golden Journey to Samarakand" by James Elroy Flecker. It says that "his work is now eagerly looked for by all who really care for poetry". This to me sounds like the author is saying that whoever doesn't get this book must obviously not care about poetry.

The second half of the page advertises Compton Mackenzie's "Famous" novel, "Carnival", which is written in big bold letters. This is most likely the first word people see when they first look at the page. I would assume that this was done because, unlike the long and condescending description for the first novel, there is very little description for this one. So I guess in order to get people interested they had to use large letters to catch the readers attention.

It was interesting to me that this was the only advertisement in the whole magazine. Not only was it the only one but it comes right in the very beginning after the table of contents. That clearly shows its importance and kind of sets the stage for the many writings that are to come in the magazine.

In the New Age Volume 1, Page 16 there are a variety of advertisements. In fact, the one that stood out to me was the ad for a book or some type of journal dealing with the issues of vaccination. In today's time, this is still an issue. Then, according to the ad, there was fear of a link between "vaccination and cancer." Today, there is a fear that there is a link between vaccination and autism. I use the word fear here, because there is no conclusive proof on either side of the argument. Although some argue that if there is no conclusive proof on either side of the linkage between autism and vaccinations, then it should be required to vaccinate, because the threat of mumps or measles is all too real.

In any event, the bibliographic coding that makes this advertisement even more prevalent is the placement of the advertisement between two others. The one above it is an ad for Justice, a social democratic newspaper. The other is for Cadbury Cocoa, a 'high class beverage of absolute purity.' Notwithstanding the factual basis for it's 'absolute purity,' but the issue of vaccination seems to be sandwiched in between advertisements of a frivolous nature. This is comparable to the ads in the back of a men's fitness periodical that declare their product give the users physical enhancement and that these results are scientifically based. The main reason that these claims are often debunked is because they share ad space with 900 numbers and other sexually explicit classifieds. So too here, the validity of the work that is advertised, the information on vaccinations, is similarly seen by the twenty-first century viewer.

I choose to look through "The Saturday Evening Post" becasue it sounded more like a newspaper than an journal and I felt that it would cater more to the everyday person than to the literary critic. I was right. Looking through this newspaper I found advertisements selling typical household items such as food, clothing, razors, and furniture. In addition, just by scanning the story titles I feel that the stories themselves had to do with regular people; for instance, "Professional Farming," "Railroad Expenses and Earnings," "Who's Who--and Why?" The advertisment that jumped out the most for me was for Van Camp's Baked Beans. Firstly, because the advertisement had it's own page and secondly, because it had a lot of writing. I mentally compared this advertisement on the second page of the newspaper to those that I would find on the second page of the New York Times now-a-days, and I don't think that they are similar in any way.

When I first took a look at the advertisement I noticed the picture on the top right hand side of the page, where a man is pointing to something and a woman is sitting by a table preparing a meal. At first, I thought the man was ordering the woman to do something while the woman was preparing the mans supper - a fairly typical picture in my mind of the late 1800's and early 1900's. Then I read the sentence directly to the left of the picture - "Don't Bake Any Beans for Me" - and I inferred that the man was telling the woman this. The statement threw me off, since I was not expecting such a statement from a man during that time period. I decided to look into what was going on during the year before this magazine was published (this edition was published in early January 1911). My research showed me that there were some changes to the way women were doing their daily chores and how they were living their lives. For instance, in early August, Alva Fisher patented the electric washing machine, giving women more free time, giving women more free time during the day. Another interesting event that caught my eye, in early November, Washington State allowed to vote in their election. Also, the LAPD allowed a woman to join the police force, making her the first female police officer. Basically women started to hold a more important role in society.

Since there was a shift in the woman's world, it was easier for me to accept the advertisement in the Saturday Evening Post. Then the women were being looked as consumers, not inferiors. It's possible that other Journals have somewhat similar advertisements. Maybe not in the same layout or with the same content but definitely with a similar background, which considers women as consumers. Any thoughts?

"Portrait de Nos Contemperains," a drawing published in 1896, in Le Petite Journal des Refusees, stands in stark contrast with two other items from the year 1911: an advertisement for Sapolio household cleaner from The Century Magazine, and a poem titled "The Year That's Awa.'" The first shows hints of nonsensical humor, and absurd artwork which was the precursor to Dadaism and Surrealism. The second two examples show much more conventional thoughts just as Modernism was coming into existence--the advertisement gives a sense of women's cultural roles at the time of publication, and the poem shows sentiments that are still alive and well today, but using language that is outdated.

The portrait from 1896, drawn by the editor of the magazine, James Marrion, is fractured by a crucifix shaped object which could also be seen as a window pane, with each square showing one fourth of a man's figure. The result is a pieced together portrait of apparently an anonymous person, and it is surrounded by skeletons which appear to embrace one another vaguely. One skeleton has a long tail, but appears human otherwise. The advertisement for soap is certainly dated when it says that one can not keep house without both a "bright woman" and Sapolio. The statement that the soap will be the "willing servant of bright women everywhere" could suggest the more modern idea of women's empowerment, but is still an old-fashioned idea. The poem published in the first month of the new year in 1911 is surrounded by a few ornamental drawing details, and uses language that might be that of the casual male of the time and place, London, in which it was published. The word soldier is spelled "sodger." The speaker pays honor to the women loved in the past year, and the overall tone is one of a drinking song, or poem in this case, with the line, "Here's to the year that's awa'/ We will drink it in song and in sma'..."

Interpreting Advertising in The New Age.

Shawna Love, Lisa Accardi, Roseanne Honan

Socialist Advertisements-Pervasive Ideology or Consumer Marketing?

        By interpreting The New Age through a contextual and ephemeral perspective, we encounter the advertisements of the literary magazine, particularly in the earlier years of the periodical’s existence. Giving equal merit to both literary content and the advertising content in the weekly magazine, we are met with volumes of work to pore over, but for the sake of brevity and clarity, this brief essay hones in on an earlier publication, when advertisements were substantial, and one of the last weekly distributions in 1922. It took more than several glances to notice patterns among the advertisements, however subtle they appeared, and what was gleaned from these brief pages was fascinating. Is the Socialist relationship between the articles and advertisements symbiotic or purely coincidental? Do the advertisements push a Socialist agenda, or do strategists and advertisers simply mirror the readership? We may well posit that the literary magazine’s eventual distance from the Socialist movement also reflects the changing landscape of its advertisements, or lack thereof. Through a historical frame, we can closely examine Socialist ideologies reflected, even in the most seemingly mundane of advertisements. It begs the question, How far back does consumer marketing reach in the annals of history?

             It is clearly stated in the motto of The New Age that the magazine, helmed by A.R. Orage and Holbrook Jackson, had the intentions to be “an independent, socialist review of politics, literature and art.”  

             There is a large variety of Socialist groups (coteries, if you will), ranging from Christian Socialists, Fabian Socialists, Social Democrats and those who subscribed to the German Marxian ideologies. Yet the fabric of economic distribution, better business practices and quality labor were some of the more substantial threads which bound the groups into some theological accord. This essay is not meant to summarize the Socialist movement, however, but rather to objectively comment on the trends examined in the advertisements of the times.

            More apt to sell products through prose than illustrations, some of the most innocuous advertisements have an undercurrent of Socialist philosophy. One of the more striking ads was for Cadbury’s Cocoa on page 16 (The New Age, Volume 1, Number 1). The left side of the advertisement appeals to the sensory details of the product, “A genuine high-class beverage of absolute purity, having the greatest strength and finest flavour.” After a second look, one notices the smaller font on the right side of the ad, directly quoted as “Made under ideal conditions of labour in an English Factory amidst pure and healthful surroundings where the well-being of the workers receives the constant care of the firm.” The Socialist cause of fair labor practices may not be the focal point of the advertisement, but it is still noticeably included in the publication.

            Directly above Cadbury’s Cocoa is an advertisement which asks its readers, “Why Vaccinate?” For six pence, one could learn about the various vaccines available and methods to avoid vaccination. While a bit of a non sequitur, one could reason a Socialist stance of health reform and publication of information to the masses, as The New Age was less of an elitist literary magazine. There are also several advertisements for publishing and press business, such as Good Printing, which directly asks “Secretaries of Socialist and Reform Societies” to take heed of their printing services. Included are advertisements for likeminded, one-word weekly magazines, such as the Forward, a Scottish Socialist, Trade Union and Labour Weekly, with “Articles by the best men in the Movement,” and Justice, a Social-Democratic paper, which is heralded as the “official organ of the Social-Democratic Federation.” Another curious ad is for The Land of Free Speech, a 496-page tome which recounts the “campaign on behalf of peace in England and Scotland in 1900.”

            It is true that The New Age went through an evolution, and by the time the April 27, 1922 edition was published, the magazine lost its Socialist banner and became a more succinct review of “Politics, Literature and Art.” The period at the end of the subhead punctuates the finality of the Socialist slant. We can speculate the reasons why the Socialist aspect of the magazine shifted, if we were to look outside the presented text (it is interesting to note that through a pdf search, only five instances of the word “socialist” appeared in the last edition, compared to the 60 yielded in a search of the first edition). It may well show the change of attitude in politics and social causes of the time, the fervent need to reform England washed away by the tides of war. We can ask why the advertisements were no longer as apparent, save for scant offers to purchase books on the economy. Perhaps an ample number of subscribers or generous donations assumed control, yet it would not explain the abrupt end of The New Age. Regardless, the advertisements were no longer an indelible mark on the printed page.

Connecting the Advertisements to the Literature

               There is also a connection between the articles of The New Age and the advertisements in the paper.  One can assert the paper solicited advertising from organizations which would appeal to its readership and reflected the political climate of the time.  Through a random selection of the earliest publications, one can note that in Volume 6, issue 6, which was published on December 9, 1909 an advertisement ran for a book entitled, India Under Ripon. 

A further description of the book details, “a new volume of Mr. Wilfred Blunts political memoirs.  Like his “Secret History of the English Occupation of Egypt, he is very outspoken and reveals much of the inner machinery of Government in India as well as the intimate thoughts of the leaders of native opinion twenty-five years ago.”  The author of the book was evidently well-known for an earlier publication in which he reported on the British occupation of Egypt.  Merely six months later, an extensive article, which would be better represented by the term opinion-editorial, was published, entitled The Situation in Egypt.  This article is a scathing review of the British occupation of Egypt and its author contends that Britain’s ignorance of the cultural beliefs of Egypt have damaged relations instead of assisted and essentially, Britain should leave. As an aside, it is also interesting to note 100 years later, a similar clash is taking place today between the Western world and The Middle East.  As the article points out, “It must be at once admitted that England set about her self-imposed task of reforming Egypt with a firm and decisive hand.”  How ironic that the same can be said for the U.S.’s occupation of Iraq in 1008!

             Additionally, The New Age consistently ran ads and published articles for The Fabian Society throughout its volume.  The Fabian Society was a Socialist body founded in 1884 by George Bernard Shaw and Sidney Webb and advocated for the peaceful and slow conversion to a ‘welfare state’ in which the government assumes responsibility for the basic needs of the people including their housing, health care, education and other benefits. A search for the term “Fabian” resulted in sixteen notations in the first volume and issue of The New Age, nine in Volume 3, issue 1 and seven notes in Volume 4, issue 1.  The paper’s advertisements ran the gamut of books on Fabianism, lectures and plays – all genres that would appeal to the readership of the paper.  In the very first issue of The New Age, page 15 yielded an advertisement for a book by George Bernard Shaw entitled, Fabianism and the Empire. It is interesting to note that George Bernard Shaw also submitted articles for the paper and one such instance was a piece published on February 15, 1908, “Belloc & Chesterton.”  Although the paper listed the article on the front page under its “contents” section, the article was prominently mentioned in larger and bold font on the very top of the paper indicating its importance and perhaps Shaw’s importance as a contributor.  4 pages after Shaw’s article, the issue contained an advertisement for a public meeting of The Fabian Society in which George Bernard Shaw would speak.  Again, Shaw’s name was cast in bold typeface and appeared larger than the rest of the advertisement, announcing his importance.

            A year earlier, in Volume 1, issue 3 of The New Age, Edwin Pugh wrote an editorial, “Why I Joined the Fabian Society.”  This edition of the paper also included 2 advertisements containing the word “Fabian.”  One advertisement was for a book store which was not named, but boasted that books were “Bought, Sold and Exchanged” and in smaller print near the bottom noted, “Books by Fabian writers specifically required,” again proving that the paper consistently sought advertisements that were in favor of advancing the Socialist agenda and were of interest to the readership.

The Evolution and Placement of Advertisements      

            The content of any publication is of the utmost importance. The literary pieces as well as the advertisements in The New Age were of equal magnitude. One could even posit the argument that at one point the advertisements were more important than the literature. The significance of the advertisements is exhibited by their evolution through the lifetime of The New Age.

Initially, advertisements played a large role within The New Age. Until Volume 6, an overwhelming majority of the advertisements were placed from the middle of each issue through the last page. There were one or two small advertisements placed earlier in the issue, on the bottom right corner of one of the pages. When these advertisements did appear they were very inconspicuous and almost blended with the articles on the page. The typical placement of the advertisements was the right side of the page. There were one or two advertisements placed across the bottom of the page. These advertisements were always for the same three products. Most of the advertisements were in bold type, with a border and appeared to pop off the page. These advertisements seemed to dominate the page immediately drawing the eye of the reader and overshadowing the presence of articles. Many advertisements also featured many words or all of the words in all capital letters. Graphics were almost non existent within the advertisements, with very few exceptions.

            Throughout various issues the same advertisements reappear numerous times. The advertisements that did reappear were generally the same with the exception of a couple which changed the layout and/or items included in their respective advertisements. Additionally, a few businesses had multiple advertisements for different products appear within the pages of The New Age. Furthermore, the advertisements seemed to appear in the same order. For example; the socialist book advertisements appeared first followed by a typewriting ad followed by a cocoa ad, then a pen ad and so on. On occasion, subscription advertisements for the publication appeared within its pages. There was also contact information included for the publication and advertisement office. The item that seemed to be most constant was the very last page of The New Age. For the majority of the time that The New Age was published the last page of the magazine was a full page advertisement for socialist publications. It evolved from one list to a two column list. Eventually this page disappeared from the magazine.

            Originally, the advertisements dominated the latter half of the publication. Subsequently the advertisements began to appear in different areas through out The New Age including the front. When advertisements did appear closer to the front they generally were not advertisements for products. More often than not, these advertisements were for plays, shows meetings, or lectures. Not only did advertisements start to appear throughout the magazine, but some were also beggining to be placed on the left. No longer were advertisements restricted to the right side of the page. Advertisements began to permeate the magazine appearing next to a variety of articles, no longer restricted to the latter pages. Another modification of the advertisements concerned the size. In general a lot of the advertisements began to grow in size. The content of the advertisements may not have necessarily changed but a lot of them began to grow larger and command more space. Yet another change amongst the advertisements was the appearance of a very small classifieds section. This section was so small it only took up about one third of the right side of the page.

            The advertisements expanded placement eventually reverted back to the original latter half placement. Over time the number of advertisements that appeared dwindled. They no longer dominated The New Age despite the fact that the issues of the publication were expanding in size. At the beginning of Volume 6 ad placement was reduced to 2 pages in the back of the magazine. By the end of Volume 6 the number of advertisements was reduced to one page. The magazine grew in size while the advertisements diminished in number. At one point the advertisements decreased to less than a page until they eventually disappeared. Volume 14 was the last time advertisements appeared within The New Age. The only advertisement like item that appeared from then on was for a subscription to the publication itself.

            The cause for the disappearance of the advertisements remains unknown. One could speculate a variety of reason. What can be said is that advertisements played a vast role in the existence of The New Age. Their reduction and eventual exodus is obvious without deep examination. The role of advertisements within The New Age may have set the stage for the advertising world that we know today.

 Additional Ads for Discussion

Socialists, Really?

 Targeted Ads for the Christmas season - All appearing in Volume VI, Issues 6, published December 19, 1909.

Advertisments in

As three graduate students all with Bachelors degrees in Business, we decided to analyze the various advertisements contained in several issues of The New Age. Upon first review of the assignment, we wanted to focus solely on the Ruskin advertisements and their positioning in the magazines in relation to the topics of the articles. We quickly noticed that the Ruskin advertisement appeared in every other issue of Volume 1 in a similar position, mostly on the bottom right corner. We concluded that the advertisements placement was based on a particular position that the company bought out in the magazine, as opposed to positioning it next to a specific type of article. 

Another one of our first ideas was to compare and contrast the advertisements in the first and the last issue of The New Age. We thought the approximate fifteen year difference would show growth and progression in advertising, and in the United Kingdom as a whole. There were quite a few advertisements in the first issue; however we were presented with a problem when we looked at the last issue. It did not contain any advertisements. We quickly jumped to the conclusion that it was probably the last issue due to the lack of financial backing of advertisers. Upon further investigation the lack of advertisements had actually spread.

After realizing this, we decided to broaden our topic, and focus on a variety of advertisements contained in the volumes. As a group we started to look through the different volumes and noticed that starting with Volume 15 in 1914, there were no advertisements. We attributed this to the fact that the magazine did not want to be “dictated” by its advertisements, and wanted to be able to print about topics that some of the advertisers would not agree with.

As opposed to advertising a product using various advertisements, the companies seemed to stick with the same advertisement throughout the various issues, including Ruskin and Hovis. In addition, their placements throughout the issues were similar.  All of the Hovis advertisements printed between pages 12 and 15 for fourteen issues in Volume 1. The Ruskin advertisements followed a similar trend in positioning and layout, and appeared in every other issue of Volume 1, which leads us to assume that a financial agreement was made in advance.

Upon first review of the Hovis advertisements using the thumbnails, we thought that they used the same advertisement throughout the various issues of The New Age. At a glance, the format all looked the same. Once we began to look closer at the content of the advertisements, we saw there were three different slogans that were used. The first advertisement stated “You Eat Health When You Eat Hovis Bread”. Another advertisement stated “The Highest Standard in Food Excellence is Hovis Bread”. The third variation stated “The Biggest Loaf Not Always The BEST. Hovis is first for quality.” Although the slogans were different, there was a consistent look and feel in the advertisement. The body of the ad had a short paragraph describing the bread. There was a large amount of white space around the entire advertisement, used wisely to catch the attention of the reader. 

While discussing the Hovis advertisement as a group, we all formed a similar opinion as to why there were three variations of the same advertisement in the same magazine. Using our business background, we know that it is cheaper to keep running the same advertisement over and over again, as opposed to changing it.  Specifically in the 1900’s you would need to have an entirely new template made, which would be costly. Hovis advertisement also had two different slogans used on the cover of the first seven issues of The New Age. We concluded that Hovis was able to financially afford to use different advertisements because they were a large, well-established company. To support our opinion, we searched the Internet for background information (http://www.hovisbakery.co.uk/). We found that Hovis originated in 1886, and is still around today in the United Kingdom. In 1895, “Sales of Hovis had exceeded 1 million loaves per week. Due to this success many small bakers were pretending their loaves were made of Hovis flour, so the public were warned of imitations. Many unlicensed dealers were taken to court to safeguard our trademark.” This information reinforced our original opinion on the popularity and significance of Hovis in the United Kingdom.

Due to the fact that we are unable to find any predetermined factors that the editor may have purposely selected placement for the advertisements, we were forced to look at other angles. We were interested in how the advertisements have changed over the years. The advertisements in The New Age rely heavily on text (copy) as opposed to graphics. Current advertisements depend heavily on branding. While comparing the two, we realized that branding was also used during The New Age era.  To go back to our original thumbnail overlook, it appeared that the same ads were used due to logo branding. The Hovis name, logo, size, and font were all exactly the same throughout the campaign. This strategy could have been the foreground for Hovis’ initial success. Although branding has remained the same over the years, nowadays we depend heavily on eye-catching graphics that will grab the audiences’ attention instantly. During the World Wide Web era there is very limited time that you can catch the consumers’ attention with all the flashing graphics. The major difference between now and 1907 is color and multimedia used for advertising.

It appears that most advertisements were placed in a similar position throughout various issues because a company bought that specific placement in the magazine. Few advertisements were placed strategically by the editor due to content of articles and advertisements. In Volume 4, Number 5, page 92 there is an article titled “On Knowing One’s Place” which is about religion. Next to the article is an advertisement for “The Buddhist Review” which is a book about Buddhism, also religious in nature. Two additional advertisements appear next to the article as well, one about Monism and the other about “Rational Religion”. Although this may have been strategically placed, the general consensus is that there is not a deep correlation between the advertisements and the content in the magazine. We did notice that a consistency existed in the theme of the magazine for promoting Socialist ideologies. A good example would be in Volume 6, Number 9, page 215 where the Socialist League and the Parliament were appealing to the readers for financial assistance.

Based on information gathered from Wikipedia.com (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Age), The New Age started as a magazine based on Christian Socialist ideology. When its theme moved away from Fabianism in 1913, the Fabian society leaders formed a new journal titled “The New Statesmen” in opposition of The New Age. As an informal observation, the date 1913 correlates with the almost obvious lack of advertisement in The New Age magazine. We believe that the advertisers stopped endorsing The New Age due to their political shift in opinions.

Although The New Age survived quite a few more years after its advertising stopped, we are quick to jump to the conclusion that its political views were no longer popular amongst its people. Our opinion is based on the wide popularity of The New Statesmen that has flourished even to this day (http://www.newstatesman.com/). 

In conclusion, we found that the general theme of the magazine was Socialist and we cannot attribute advertising to its downfall.

Nicholai Aarons Lori M. Grabel Klarisa K