Book & podcast collection

Branding Trust: Advertising and Trademarks in Nineteenth-Century America

byJennifer M. Black

Jennifer M. Black explains how nineteenth-century American businesses learned to make unfamiliar products appear reliable in a marketplace crowded with imitation and fraud. Long before federal trademark law offered consistent protection, manufacturers used advertising, packaging, testimonials, and visual symbols to build reputations consumers could recognize. The book follows the emergence of brands as both commercial property and cultural promise, showing how trust was manufactured through print and design. It also reveals the legal and political struggles behind modern expectations of authenticity.

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania Press

Publication date

2023-12-05

Format

Hardcover

Pages

320

ISBN

9781512825008