What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
“Said BENEZET is leaving off Business.”
Daniel Benezet increased the likelihood that prospective customers would see his advertisements by placing them in every newspaper published in Philadelphia the spring of 1774. Notices with identical copy appeared in Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet, the Pennsylvania Gazette, and the Pennsylvania Journal. Benezet even took advantage of the offer that Henry Miller made in the masthead of each issue of the Wöchentliche Pennsylvanische Staatsbote: “All ADVERTISEMENTS to be inserted in this Paper, or printed single by HENRY MILLER, Publisher hereof, are by him translated gratis.” That newspaper carried Benezet’s notice to German settlers. No matter which newspaper colonizers in Pennsylvania read, they would encounter Benezet’s advertisement.
Like many other entrepreneurs, Benezet listed some of his merchandise in hopes of enticing prospective customers. He stocked “A VERY large assortment of German SCYTHES,” “a variety of Dutch looking-glasses,” “gold and marble paper,” “best English hammered brass kettles,” “low priced silver watches,” and “a variety of other articles” that consumers would discover when they visited “his STORE, in Arch-street, four doors from the corner of Second-street.” Yet Benezet did not rely on appeals to choice alone to market his wares. He also emphasized price and offered a reason for prospective customers to trust that he did indeed offer bargains. In a nota bene, Benezet advised that since he “is leaving off Business, he is determined to sell the above goods on very low terms.” In other words, he was holding an eighteenth-century version of a “going out of business” sale. His desire to liquidate his merchandise justified not only low prices but also investing in advertising in four newspapers to make sure as many prospective customers as possible saw his notice. Benezet saturated the local media market with his advertisements, signaling that he was serious about the deals at his store as he prepared for “leaving off Business.”