Selling the Singapore dream through ads in ST
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Department store Robinson & Co sold pistols and revolvers back in 1920, while John Little & Co. held clothes and shoes sales in 1936.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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The Straits Times was launched on July 15, 1845, with a subsidiary title: Singapore Journal of Commerce. It was aimed squarely at the “mercantile community”, said a notice on the front page. Another notice promised advertising rates “on liberal terms” and urged advertisers to submit their copy by noon the day before publication.
Up until World War II, the front page was dominated by advertisements. The rest of the paper was packed with more ads, shipping schedules, stock market updates and classifieds.
Take July 15, 1941. The entire front page featured 11 ads. Among them, Mien Chong Tailoring in Coleman Street offered American sharkskin fabric in various colours; Robinson & Co in Raffles Place touted the Humber, “the aristocrat of bicycles”; and a merchant announced the arrival of more stocks of “Monte Carlo” handmade Dutch cigars “obtainable everywhere” at 11 cents each.
After the war, news took centre stage on the front page and inside, driven by readers’ demand for urgent news and stiff competition from radio and later television. The post-war period also saw a rise in journalism as a profession, and advances in printing and layout design.
But print ads continued – and continue – to be a vivid window into the evolving history of commerce and daily life of a society.
They tell us what people in Singapore valued, consumed and aspired to across generations – in a way that a fleeting digital ad does not.
The front page of ST on July 15, 1941.
PHOTO: ST FILE
It was not uncommon for the front pages of 1927 to feature full-page ads like those for T beer on Jan 12 and Pineapple Brand ham and bacon on May 4.
PHOTO: ST FILE
An ad for Bear brand hygienic Swiss milk appeared on April 29, 1925, while British brand Capstan advertised its cigarettes and tobacco products on April 20, 1927.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Local bank ads by (from left) OCBC in Jan 6, 1971; POSB in Jan 26, 1987; and DBS in May 5, 1991.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Local companies representing famous foreign brands in Singapore took out regular ads such as those for (from left) F&N soft drinks, Kimberly-Clark's Kleenex tissues and The Borneo Company's Scott's emulsion of cod liver oil.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Beer ads from Beck's, Tiger and Guinness stout ran on April 3, 1971; July 7, 1965; and Jan 29, 1965, respectively.
PHOTO: ST FILE
