The history of classified advertising

Classified advertising has been around for a very long time. The ruins of the Italian city Pompeii, which was destroyed in AD 79, when Mt. Vesuvius erupted, have revealed stones upon which public notices had been carved.

It is believed that handwritten notices were posted in public places in 15th century England by being fastened to posts and walls with nails. And, in the mid 1600s, it was not uncommon to see want ads asking for information on lost property.

The Boston News-Letter, an American colonial-era publication, ran the first classified ads. Readers were instructed to inform the Boston News-Letter if they wanted to list houses, property, goods or merchandise. If so, they would be charged "reasonable rates", ranging from 12 pence to 5 shillings. This proved to be so successful that advertising began to spread worldwide.

From the mid 18th century through the 19th century, various publications would occasionally publish lost and found ads.

An issue of the Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette for the year 1750 contained many letters from George Washington. In those letters, he provided information and news on the Revolutionary War, and also talked about the things his soldiers needed and/or desired.

In April, 1790, the Massachusetts Centinel (sic), took up the Federalist cause. As a result, ads were published which gave readers insight into the products which settlers in colonial America used, or would liked to have used.

During the early 1800s, classified ads concerning the return of slaves who had escaped would be published. These ads were often very detailed in giving instructions on what was to be done if an escaped slave were captured. It would give the reward amount that would be paid, with a bonus offered if punishment by lashing was inflicted.

Other ads gave instructions stating how long one had to notify the escaped slave’s master. If notification could not be made within the stated amount of time, the slave would subsequently be re-sold, to the highest bidder.

Post-Civil War times would see classified advertising undergo a slow change in its nature. This was partly due to the flourishing of African-American newspapers. In these publications, former slaves were allowed to place ads seeking family members who had either escaped or been sold during slave auctions.

The need for access to such a thing provided the impetus for the evolution of an "Information Wanted" section. This section would later be used by both former slaves as well as Irish people who were searching for relatives who had immigrated to America after the terrible 1848 potato famine. Among the users would be wives attempting to find their husbands.

The history of classified advertising cannot be discussed without mentioning the "personals" advertisements. Contrary to what may be thought, these particular forms of advertisement had existed since the late 17th century; however, it was not until 1915, that a magazine devoted strictly to those seeking marriage and companionship was published. Public opinion of such a publication was so shocking that the magazine was closed in 1921, and its publisher was sentenced to two years hard labor for the crime of "corrupting public morals".

Part of the controversy stemmed from the fact that some female advertisements seemed to suggest a professional basis was the reason for the lady’s search, while another part dealt with the possibility that there was reason to suspect that "same sex" advertising (specifically, man to man) was occurring during a time when it was illegal to engage in homosexual acts.

The police, in particular, would take note of advertisements posted by young men who described themselves as being artistic or musical, or who said they considered themselves to be unconventional, or who professed to be fans of Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman.

Men were not the only ones who came under scrutiny, however. Attention was also paid by law enforcement to those ads placed by women who described themselves as being "jolly" or "sporty". These were believed to be euphemisms for lesbianism.

Attitudes towards sex and things of a sexual nature had begun to relax by the late 1950s and early 1960s. By then, it was not only possible to find a wife in the classified advertisements, but also for those who were interested in "wife swapping" to post advertisements.

It is interesting to note that the same problem that sometimes occurs today-that of false or misleading information, particularly to a person’s physical attributes (or lack thereof)-was also present then. The advertisements would lead one to think that the couple interested in "swapping" was young, when in fact the majority of those who did actually participate in this were closer to middle-aged.

Even for all its shortcomings, it was still reported in May of 2007 that approximately 10% (6.4 million) of the population in the United Kingdom visited dating sites, while a survey conducted in 2004 revealed that the words "sensual", "wild", "tactile" and "sexy" would be the ones most likely to attract a response on such internet sites.

As for Internet advertising itself, no matter what is being offered or sold, in the early days, providing a hyperlink between sites could be taken as a form of advertisement for the site to which the hyperlink was leading. Internet advertising, however, formally began in 1994. This was when Netscape Navigator 1.0, the first commercially available web browser, was released, and the first banner advertisements were sold. Classified advertisements still perform the same function today as they always have—they help people find what they need or want. This is true no matter what the media (radio, television, print, or the Internet).

Internet classified advertising continues to gain popularity. Below are just a few of the Internet classified advertising sites that can be accessed:

Zillow
Oodle
OLX
Kjiji
Trulia
Loot
Backpage
Hoobly
MySpace Classifieds
Recycler
Vivastreet
Adoos
Loquo
TraderOnline.