Skip to main content

The Sell: Australian Advertising 1790s to 1990s – exhibition at the national library



The National Library of Australia in Canberra is holding an exhibition called The Sell: Australian Advertising 1790s to 1990s from 23 November 2016 to 25 April 2017. It is a vast collection of advertising over the centuries from posters to packaging, campaigns to magazine ads.

The NLA exhibition explores how Australian advertising has used words, images and sound to inform people about products and to persuade them to try and buy. It traces how advertising has evolved as society and technology have changed, revealing the everyday lives of Australians from the 1790s to the 1990s.

One example is advertising for the Billy Tea Company. British tea culture, imported to Australia with the arrival of the British in Australia in 1788, has been distinctly adapted by Australians. One of the key early differences is the use of the ‘billy’, a lightweight metal can used most commonly for boiling water or cooking over a campfire. To advertise its tea, the Billy Tea Company used an image of a swagman, or ‘swaggie’, boiling his billy. Early in the 20th century, Billy Tea’s owner James Inglis purchased the rights to the song Waltzing Matilda. Some of Banjo Paterson’s original words of Waltzing Matilda were changed for an arrangement of the song, which was published in 1905 and was the earliest printed version of the song. Marie Cowan, the wife of Billy Tea’s manager, was credited on the cover as having arranged the music, which is an example of the importance of music in advertising.



Australian advertising projected an image of comfort, fun, and a carefree life. The Sell exhibition showcases the messages and mechanics of advertising in Australia from the 1790s to the 1990s. It begins with Australia’s earliest surviving printed document, a 1796 playbill advertising an evening’s entertainment at Sydney’s first purpose-built theatre, and ends with a 1998 poster from a Body Shop campaign to promote Reconciliation.

The exhibition considers how image and text work to inform and influence, and what makes a good slogan, from the blunt ‘Bile Beans for Biliousness’ and the enticing ‘They’re delicious! Delicious!!’ to shock tactics like ‘Read this and spew’. The exhibition addresses advertising controversies, how advertising has reflected a changing Australia, and the different tools used in advertising over the centuries.






























 http://www.nla.gov.au/exhibitions/the-sell



MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing
1 comment
Read more