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We have very little information about Italian advertising. Ann Italian reader sent us a full color advertisement for the Grandi Magazzini Mele, a department store in Naples. The store was founded by Emiddio and Alfonso Mele (1889). By this time department stores wer common throughout Europe and North America. The store offered goods for the upper middle class as well as lower income families as well. Here is an advertisement for children's clothing ('abiti e vestine per bambini') dating to the early 20th century. We would guess around 1910. We are not sure just where it appeared. A magazine or catalog would have dated it to the about 192O, but the dress looks more like about 1910. Our Italian reader reports that it was a poster which could have been bout 1910. We believe that posters like his were more common in Europe than America where mass produced catalogs were a major adverising method. The difference in part was partially due to the higher incomes of Anerican consumers. We note posters for events like the circus, but have not encountered American posters like this for the big deprtmenmt stores. The focus of the cpster here is on a fancy new pink dress. Thes suggestioin is that the girls did not go shopping with mother. The ad also reminds the buying public that toys and women's clothing were lson on offer. It is interesting the contrast between the abundance of garments and toys and the caption: 'massimo buon mercato' (very cheap). The store went bankrupt during the Great Depression (1932).
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