Tales ads tell…

Ads as history: “In 1853, Ed Hughes wrote, in The Newark Daily Advertiser: ‘Ten dollars reward will be given for the detection of the author of an anonymous letter containing indecent scurilities, reflecting on my character, on Friday last. It was directed to Miss Rosanna Rourke, No. 53 Liberty St.'”

Big declines in print classified ads are attributed to the slow economy, but could they also reflect digitalization? Anyway, the drop is startling: “The Conference Board’s help-wanted advertising index [which tallies classifieds in 51 newspapers around the US] dropped to 35, the lowest since September 1961, from 38 in March. It was the third consecutive monthly decline. The index stood at 47 in April 2002.” According to the Conference Board, a group that tracks business activity, “steepest declines occurred in the East South Central (-32.0), Middle Atlantic (-18.4), Pacific (-16.4%) and New England (-15.7%) regions.”