1913 Membership Certificate- The Advertising Association of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois For Sale

Don Draper?s hit series Mad Men will ends its run forever (final episode May xxxx) after seven seasons of alcoholism, constant smoking, infidelity and restless struggles with the xxxx's counter-culture which emerged during that turbulent and transitory decade of American history. Although the show is set in New York, which is regarded as the epicenter of the advertising industry today, Chicago dominated the advertising industry in the early 20th century and influenced American advertising more than any other city in America..
From Chicago ad firms emanated classic advertising concepts such as the Marlboro Man, Jolly Green Giant, ?Snap, Crackle and Pop?, ?You Deserve a Break Today?, ?You?re in Good Hands With Allstate?, ?Fly the Friendly Skies of United? and ?Hey Culligan Man?.
Chicago?s Albert Lasker is considered the Dean of Modern Advertising and bought the ad firm Lord and Thomas in xxxx after eight years of employment there, beginning as an office boy. Lasker, who despised technical jargon and excessive wordiness, relied upon short, snappy and memorable depictions of a client?s product.
So successful was Lasker as he plied his trade that he owned a 50-room mansion on a 480-acre estate in Lake Forest IL. Its amenities included an elevator used to raise logs to feed a gigantic fire place on the upper floor and an 18-hole golf course which both Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen rated as one of the three best in the country. Lasker also owned an 18-room mansion at Burton Place and Dearborn Parkway in Chicago?s Gold Coast neighborhood.
According to Lasker in a xxxx interview, ?Advertising gives wings to our culture, our civilization. Remove it, dilute it, vitiate its effort and you will depress the masses of our people to a lower class mediocrity.?
The Leo Burnett Company, which opened during the Great Depression, carried on the Lasker legacy of iconic advertising. A bowl of fresh apples always greeted visitors at the Burnett main office in downtown Chicago. That tradition began as Burnett?s jesting jab at naysayers who scoffed when he opened his firm during the most glum of economic times and warned him that he would wind up selling apples on the street after his firm failed.
Advertising behemoths D.M. Lord (of Lord and Thomas), Homer Buckley (of Marshall Field and Company) and Reuben Donnelly met at Chicago?s Union League Club in xxxx to establish the Chicago Advertising Association (CAA) with an initial membership of 250.
During a xxxx speech, a speaker neatly summarized the Chicago Advertising Association?s founding philosophy: ?Adam?s interest in the apple industry was aroused by Eve. When she persuaded him to taste the fruit, the fact that it was her personal act which caught his attention demonstrated a fact that the world was a long time in learning ? that it is personality that counts, and that a direct appeal to the customer is necessary to successful advertising.?
By xxxx, CAA laid the cornerstone for its own building at 110 W. Madison Street, and during the booming xxxx?s economy, CAA membership rose to xxxx as it became a major division of the Chicago Association of Commerce.
As the organization evolved over the decades, its name changed to Chicago Federated Advertising Club (CFAC), then to Chicago Advertising Club (CAC) and finally to its present-day iteration named Chicago Advertising Federation (CAF).
This authentic xxxx Advertising Association of Chicago membership certificate features the AAC logo just above the middle of the document, a pleasant dollar-bill-green border, and an embossed gold corporate seal in lower left corner. The AAC President signs the document in lower right corner.
The document measures 8 3/16 X 10 13/16 inches and is in Good condition, but contains a clean 1 1/4 inch vertical tear along a fold crease on the bottom. The tear will not be discernible if you store the certificate in a transparent paper protector.