| | Thumbnail | | Creator | Date | Title / Author / Date / Location | Price | | | Description |
| 8085 |  | Details | Beech-Nut Packing Company | 1941 |
| Persuasive Map of Beech Nut Gum Radio Advertising |
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Beech-Nut Packing Company |
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| 1941 |
| LOC: |
| $350.00 | Beech-Nut-Packing-Company | Persuasive-Map-of-Beech-Nut-Gum-Radio-Advertising | Unrecorded large-format persuasive advertising map of the United States issued by Beech-Nut for the 1941-1942 radio season, boldly presenting the company’s national broadcast coverage. The country is rendered in bright yellow, overprinted with station call letters in red, while surrounding text proclaims that Beech-Nut advertising combines Red, Columbia, Blue, and Mutual stations "not possible to obtain on any single network." The sheet emphasizes scale and power, noting 172 stations, 38 of them 50,000-watt outlets, and nearly 1,000 Beech-Nut Gum and Beechies ads every week. The result is a striking visual inventory of American radio geography on the eve of World War II.<br><br>
The language makes clear that this was not intended for the general public. Instead, it was designed to persuade wholesalers, grocery chains, druggists, and regional distributors that Beech-Nut’s campaign reached every part of the country at night when radio audiences were largest. By highlighting 50,000-watt clear-channel stations in red and stressing multi-network placement, the map argues that Beech-Nut’s coverage exceeds what any single network could provide. It is, in effect, a sales instrument aimed at convincing the trade that consumer demand was being nationally manufactured and that retailers should stock accordingly.<br><br>
As an artifact, the piece documents a transitional moment in American broadcast advertising, when sponsors strategically assembled cross-network station lists to maximize reach. The map translates invisible airwaves into cartographic form, making corporate media strategy tangible. Combining commercial ephemera with radio history, it stands as an unusual and compelling intersection of cartography, marketing, and early 1940s national media infrastructure. |