The new advertising law, known as the strictest in history, came into effect on September 1, 2015. Recently, some celebrities in the entertainment industry have been named in the notice of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce for participating in illegal advertising. The majority of consumers applauded this. The new advertising law must be strictly enforced, and consumer rights and interests must be protected in a serious manner. No matter who is famous, they must be dealt with. Only in this way can celebrity-endorsed advertisements comply with the law. So, did celebrities in ancient times also endorse advertisements? What are the interesting things about their endorsement ads?
Commercial advertising in ancient my country has a long history, and can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In the famous book "The Book of Songs" at that time, "Wei Feng·Meng", the most primitive form of advertising was recorded: "Meng Zhi Chi Chi, Bao Bu Mao Silk." The meaning of this poem is that the young man is holding the cloth and waiting for people to buy it. The hug cloth here is the earliest physical display advertisement; and the contemporary "Han Feizi·Wai Chu Shuo (top right)" once described a well-known story: There were people in the Song Dynasty who drank wine. Beautiful, very high banners... The very high banners mentioned here are used to attract customers, and they should be classified as banner advertisements. It can be seen that this form has already appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period; while poetry advertisements are the first to be used by poets in the Tang Dynasty. Poet Li Bai: Lanling wine and tulips, jade bowls filled with amber light. But it makes the host drunk and the guests don't know where they are in a foreign country. This hearty poetry and wine advertisement has already become an eternal quatrain.
In fact, the earliest celebrity endorsement in advertising was Wang Xizhi, the great calligrapher of the Jin Dynasty, who used his own calligraphy as the endorsement. There are historical records: Once, Wang Xizhi saw an old woman selling bamboo fans at the market. That kind of bamboo fan was very simple, without much decoration, and it did not attract people's interest. It could not be sold, and the old woman was very worried. Wang Xizhi felt very sympathetic, so he stepped forward and said to her: "There is no painting or writing on your bamboo fan, so of course it cannot be sold." How about I inscribe it for you? The old woman didn't know Wang Xizhi, so seeing his enthusiasm, she gave him a bamboo fan to write.
Wang Xizhi picked up his pen and wrote a few words on each fan, and then returned them to the old woman. The old woman was illiterate and felt that his writing was very sloppy and she was very unhappy. Wang Xizhi comforted her and said: Don't worry. You just tell the person who bought the fan that it was written by Wang Youjun. The old woman did as he asked. When people at the market saw that it was Wang Youjun's calligraphy, they all rushed to buy it. The basket of bamboo fans sold out immediately.
Wang Xizhi’s advertising endorsement not only did not charge a fee, but also contained the meaning of poverty alleviation.
Su Shi in the Song Dynasty also did the same thing many times. Zhuangchuo of the Southern Song Dynasty recorded in "Chicken Ribs": At that time, Su Shi was frustrated in his officialdom and was demoted to Hainan Island. He happened to meet an old woman selling rice dumplings who was worried about poor business. Su Shi sympathized with the old woman's plight and happily wrote an advertising poem for the old woman: Rubbing the jade with delicate hands will bring out a uniform color, and frying the green oil will produce a tender yellow color. The warmth of spring comes at night and you know the importance of it. It crushes the beautiful woman and wraps her arms with gold.
With accurate description and rich imagination, the poem depicts the characteristics of the steamed buns being evenly thin, fresh in color, crispy and resembling a beauty’s ring. How can it not make people’s hearts flutter. When the old woman got these four lines of poetry, she posted them on her door, which really became a living advertisement. The old woman's dumpling shop was immediately flooded with customers, her income doubled, and her family's food and clothing were fully satisfied. Su Shi is probably the first person who can take the initiative to use poetry to promote products.
In addition, Su Shi also wrote an advertising poem. After Su Shi crossed the Huaihe River, his close friend Zhang Shijun gave him the famous wine brewed in Shuanggou, Jiangsu Province. After tasting it, the poet immediately wrote a poem praising the wine: Leng Yanyu The book freezes on its own first, how can a solitary lamp turn into a flower? I gave you some crispy wine in the middle of the night, and my wife and children started laughing.
In ancient times, there were many people who used couplets to endorse advertisements. One of them was Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Chen Yunzhan of the Qing Dynasty recorded in "Hao Yun Lou Miscellaneous Stories": One New Year's Eve, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict requiring all civil and military officials and ordinary people in the imperial capital of Jinling to post Spring Festival couplets in every household to celebrate the New Year. He also went to the streets in disguise to inspect, and found that a family had not posted Spring Festival couplets. When he asked, he found out that it was a family that castrated pigs. The business was not good, he was not literate, and he could not afford to hire someone to write couplets. So Zhu Yuanzhang wrote a couplet for him: split the road of life and death with both hands, and cut off the roots of right and wrong with one knife. Apparently this couplet was written in a humorous way, attracting neighbors to watch, and it ended up being a direct advertisement for his home.
According to other historical records, during the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a hotel owned by a father and daughter near the West Lake in Hangzhou. Due to poor management, the business was sluggish, and the father and daughter were in trouble.
In the spring of this year, the famous calligrapher Zhu Zhishan returned from a trip to the West Lake. After going to a shop to drink, he asked why and wrote a couplet: Don't care about the east or the west, I am in charge of the wine; whether it is good or bad, please stop drinking. These two lines of large characters have caused a sensation in urban and rural areas far and near, and people are constantly watching it every day. Since then, the hotel's business has gradually boomed.
According to legend, one year Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty paid a private visit incognito, and saw a restaurant called Tiantianju in a remote alley in the capital. Qianlong, who always loved to write poems and couplets, became very popular in poetry, and he wrote on the store sign There is a palindrome couplet written on it: the guest lives in nature, and the guest comes from heaven. However, he thought hard about the second line and couldn't get the result. When he was troubled, Ji Xiaolan wrote out the second line: People pass the Great Buddha Temple, and the Buddha in the temple is bigger than others. This couplet actually served as a free advertisement for Tiantianju Hotel. It was fully booked and business was booming.
In fact, most of the so-called celebrity endorsement advertisements in ancient times are just adult works of beauty that they picked up and improvised at their fingertips. They have no interest entanglements and no desire for rewards. Instead, they have kind hearts and love for the people. This is what left behind this wonderful story. Therefore, it is still talked about by people today.