Irina E. Krapotkina

Associate Professor, PhD in Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of Chair of General and Russian History

Yelabuga Institute of Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University

(Yelabuga, Russia)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2022-4-16-22

Abstract. This article analyses private advertisements published by merchants in the Kazanskiy Telegraph newspaper of 1904 – 1905. The research is based on "sources within a source". Firstly, the Kazanskiy Telegraph is a complex historical source, as the print media is multifunctional. When researching the newspaper, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarity of the composition and nature of the informational materials presented. Secondly, the advertisements published in the newspaper are also a historical source as they give a general idea of the entrepreneurial activities of Russian merchants in the early 20th century, allow us to identify the categories of goods sold and show the special features of seasonal private advertisements. The article notes that the informative value of merchant ads allows us to reconstruct social reality in a particular historical period, to obtain valuable factual material about popular products and consumer interests. Special attention is paid to the advertising slogan of entrepreneurs' ads, which allows motivating the buyer to purchase goods, makes it possible to present a range of goods and services that are popular with consumers in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. The volume of advertisements in the Kazanskiy Telegraf for 1904 – 1905 was quite large, so with the abundance of advertising, it was extremely important for shopkeepers to use concise, catchy phrases in advertisements in order to attract as many potential customers as possible. The source analysis made it possible to classify private ads by ranking the advertised goods into groups of "Clothing. Shoes", "Health", "Hygiene", "Hobbies", "Everyday life. Economy. Production", "Hobby", "Holiday culture". It is concluded that the advertising texts presented in the Kazanskiy Telegraf were mainly of the nature of reference, business information, which is typical for the genre of ads. Private merchant advertisements presented the subjective characteristics of the advertised product, its attractive qualities, and its favourable price, which made it interesting for the buyer.
Keywords: Russian Empire, provincial press, the Kazanskiy Telegraf, trade announcements, advertising slogan, entrepreneurial activity.

Full text of the article (PDF)

For citation: Krapotkina, IE 2022, ‘The merchant advertising slogan as a source of information about entrepreneurial activity (based on the materials of the Kazanskiy Telegraf for 1904 – 1905)’, Tula Scientific Bulletin. History. Linguistics, issue 4 (12), pp. 16–22, http://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2022-4-16-22 (in Russ.)

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