Alice L. Muncaster and Ellen Yanow
Crown
Nonfiction, Art/Advertizing
****+
Cat Made Me Buy It!
The Cat Made Me Buy It!
Alice L. Muncaster and Ellen Yanow
Crown
Nonfiction, Art/Advertizing
****+
Cat Made Me Buy It!
DESCRIPTION: Cats have always held a place in the public consciousness, associated with attributes good (cleanliness, stealth, cute kittenhood) and ill (witchcraft, deception, bad luck.) Naturally, advertizers have long sought to harness these ideas in their art, building some truly imaginative and memorable campaigns around cats. This collection covers popular feline-based advertisements from the late 1800's to the early part of the twentieth century. Full-color photographs are annotated with explanatory captions that list the company, details of the campaign, and the fate of the product advertised over the years. Aside from ads, cat-themed games and sheet music are pictured.
REVIEW: I find this sort of thing interesting for some reason. I think it's the imagination that went into some of the old ad campaigns, back when you couldn't fall back on cheap tricks (sex, language, rude behavior, or off-the-shelf FX gimmicks) if you wanted your ad to stick in consumers' minds. The rating is based on other cat-collectible books I have; this one is one of the best, insofar as information and production value.
You might also enjoy:
Catland (Robert Dale, Nonfiction - The life of turn-of-the-century popular artist Louis Wain, best known for his anthropomorphic felines of "Catland")
A Catland Companion (John Silvester & Anne Mobbs, Art - Vintage images of cats by Louis Wain and other popular artists)
Return to Top of Page - Return to Book Review List
The Black Cat Made Me Buy It!
Alice L. Muncaster and Ellen Yanow
Crown
Nonfiction, Art/Advertizing
****
DESCRIPTION: As strongly as cats are imprinted on our minds, black cats hold a special place, associated with bad luck, Halloween, and other superstitions. By the authors of The Cat Made Me Buy It!, this book focuses on black cats in historical advertising.
REVIEW: Several of the same products and ads from the first book were reprinted here, but enough original ones were added to justify the price... to me, anyway. I did knock it down a point for repetition.
You might also enjoy:
Catland (Robert Dale, Nonfiction - The life of turn-of-the-century popular artist Louis Wain, best known for his anthropomorphic felines of "Catland")
A Catland Companion (John Silvester & Anne Mobbs, Art - Vintage images of cats by Louis Wain and other popular artists)
Return to Top of Page - Return to Book Review List
The Cat Sold It!
Alice L. Muncaster and Ellen Yanow Sawyer
Crown
Nonfiction, Art/Advertizing
****+
DESCRIPTION: The "sequel" to The Cat Made Me Buy It! explores cats used in advertising from the end of the 19th century through the 1980's.
REVIEW: Just as good as the first book, in my opinion. I've actually seen a couple of these ads in print! Toward the end, though, the deterioration in imagination and art content reflect the general decline in advertizing; these days, nobody wants intelligent campaigns or beautiful artwork selling their products anymore.
You might also enjoy:
Catland (Robert Dale, Nonfiction - The life of turn-of-the-century popular artist Louis Wain, best known for his anthropomorphic felines of "Catland")
A Catland Companion (John Silvester & Anne Mobbs, Art - Vintage images of cats by Louis Wain and other popular artists)
Return to Top of Page - Return to Book Review List
Return to Brightdreamer Books Home
Brightdreamer Books is created and maintained by TBW, a.k.a. "Brightdreamer."
E-mail: tbweber AT comcast DOT net. (Remove spaces, replace AT with "@" and DOT with "." - please put "Brightdreamer Books" in the subject line, or your e-mail may be deleted as
spam! Thank you!