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Penn State University Libraries

Finding Advertisements

 

Contact

Debora Cheney
Larry and Ellen Foster Communications Librarian, and, Head, Library Services to the World Campus/Penn State Online
814-863-1345

or Your Campus Librarian

Television/Radio

Television

  • Fifty Years of Coca Cola Advertisements, American Memory, The Library of Congress
    • Shows the historical development of advertisements  for Coca Cola through 50 + commercials
    • Includes stop motion advertising and experiments with color
    • Hilltop (“I’d like to buy the world a Coke”) 1971
    • “Mean Joe Greene” 1979
    • Polar Bear 1993
    • Snowflake 1999
    • First Experience (international commercial) 1999
  • Retrojunk : Commercials
    • Search by
      • Date / Era (1970s, 1980s, 1990s, etc.)
      • Product line (ex: snacks, PSA’s clothing)
      • Popularity
  • visit4info
    • Search over 79,000 ads and movie trailers
      • By brand, product type, media sector or date
      • By actor, musician, song titles, etc.
      • Some content free, some fee based
  • Adviews (Duke University Libraries’ Digital Collection)
    • Vintage Television commercials from 1950s-1980s
    • Created or collected by Benton & Bowles Ad Agency or its successor, D”Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles Ad Agency
  • Print and electronic books:

Radio

Internet/Web

  • The Webby Awards
    • Leading international award for internet excellence
    • 1997-current

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  • Resources (books, videos, etc.) related to Internet advertising (includes "how to" strategies, and other information regarding advertising)

Billboard/Outdoor

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Super Bowl

  • Adage.com
    • Super Bowl XLV 2011 ads
  • Adland’s Commercial Archive
    • Super Bowl III to the present (except for 1970, 71, 74, 77 and 78)
    • Search by product, featured character or celebrity and other tags
  • AdWeek
    • Analysis of current Super Bowl ads
    • Enter "Super Bowl Ads" in search box for articles (historical and current)
  • Captions.com
    • Lists the advertisers that closed captioned their ads and those that did not with links to the companies
    • No videos
  • The Super Ad Bowl: Two decades of players  (New York Times)
    • Chart of the number of ads for each product type (such as beverages, films, travel, etc.) 1984-2008
    • For each year, the percent of ads featuring humor, animals or celebrities
    • Very few links to the videos of the commercials
  • Reprisemedia.com
    • Produced Search Market Scorecard™ for each Super Bowl since 2006
    • Articles/blogs evaluating the steps each brand takes to capture the demand created by the Super Bowl ad; especially in social media spaces
  • Superbowl-ads.com
    • Ads back to 1998
    • Some news and information on viewership

Websites

  • AdWeek
    • Current ad news headlines
    • Special events ads (such as Super Bowl ads)
    • Ad of the Day
    • Video Editor’s pick
  • AdAge
    • Some free content/ some fee based
    • Industry news
    • Top rated ads with agency, media type listed
    • Special events ads (such as Super Bowl ads)
  • Creativity
    • Highlights ads in all media types
    • Award winners
    • Top audience rated ads
    • Most viewed ads
  • AdForum
    • Focus: global advertising industry
    • Partners with trade presses in 10 global advertising markets
    • Content from over 20,000 agencies and over 70,000 ads
    • Award and festival winners
    • Some free/some fee-based content
  • Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920 (Duke University Libraries’ Digital Collection)
    • Over 9000 advertising items and publications
    • 11 sections representing corporate content or type of publication

Political

Web Resources

  • The Living Room Candidate (Museum of the Moving Image)
    • Presidential campaign television commercials, 1952 to the present
    • More than 300 television commercials from every election year since 1952
    • Includes analysis, election results, and transcripts
    • Additional online resources with links to fund analysis and history
    • Search by
      • Election year (1952-2008)
      • Type of commercial
      • Political issue
      • Curator's choice "Best of"
  • Ease History (Michigan State University)
    • Search by
      • Year (1952-2004)
      • Candidate
      • Political party
      • Issues, and ad themes
      • Positive/Negative
  • Political Campaigns (Political Communication Lab, Stanford University)
    • Both radio and television ads
    • Search by
      • National campaigns 2000-2008
      • California emphasis 1994-2010

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