Research Guides: Public Relations and Advertising: Primary Sources

Advertising Research

Research about advertising sometimes involves finding actual advertisements; this can often be challenging. This page lists sources for finding print and broadcast advertising, in both a current context and a more historical view.

CLIO Awards
International competition winners in all areas of advertising.
D&AD Yellow Pencil Awards
Categories include digital, graphic design, illustration, outdoor advertising, and more.
One Show Awards Archive
Examples of award-winning full page ads. 1991-present.
Ad Council
Good for examples of public service announcements.
Creativity
Advertising Age's best ads as chosen by editors.
Magazines in Google Books
An erratic but intriguing source of ads from a large number of magazines, including trade publications. It offers random years of each magazine.
YouTube
A good resource for finding current and older advertisements. For instance, try searching for: "Ford F150 ad"

AdViews: A Digital Archive of Vintage TV Commercials (1950s-1980s)
Maintained by Duke University Libraries Digital Collections.
Ad*Access
Images from over 7000 advertisements in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955.
Emergence of Advertising in America
9000 images relating to the early history of advertising in America.
Medicine and Madison Avenue
About 600 health-related advertisements in newspapers and magazines from the 1910s through the 1950s.
Library of Congress Advertising Collections
From the American Memory project.

Vogue Archive This link opens in a new window
Provides the full run of this historic magazine, from 1892 to the present, including advertisements. (On the Login page, be sure to click on "Login through library institution.")

Adclassix.com
They describe themselves as "the specialist in original vintage advertisements."
Gallery of Graphic Design
Advertisements from a variety of magazines.
Classic TV Commercials
Internet Archive's collection of classic television commercials and PSAs.
AdCouncil's Historic Campaigns
Public service advertisements.
The Living Room Candidate
Television advertisements from every U.S. presidential campaign since 1952.
Early Advertising of the West, 1867-1918
450 print advertisements from Pacific Northwest magazines, city directories, and theater pamphlets. (University of Washington)

There's nothing like getting your fingers dirty in good old paper magazines. The UO Library has many of the iconic general interest American magazines in print. Among them are:

Atlantic Monthly
Call Number: AP 2. A8
Publication Date: 1857- present
Good Housekeeping
Call Number: TX 1 .G7
Publication Date: 1885-1976
Harper's Bazaar
Call Number: TT 500 .H3
Publication Date: 1867-1976
Ladies Home Journal
Call Number: AP 2 .L135
Publication Date: 1887- present
Life
Call Number: AP 2 .L547
Publication Date: 1936-1972
Saturday Evening Post
Call Number: AP 2 .S33
Publication Date: 1901-2009
Time
Call Number: AP 2. T37
Publication Date: 1923- present

Public Relations and Advertising

Advertising Research

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