Wishful Thinking: Retail Premiums in Mid-Nineteenth-Century America

Abstract

“Wishful Thinking” discusses the origins of retail premium schemes in America. An entirely new marketing strategy that began appearing in the early 1850s, giving away free things with purchases helped fuel the consumer revolution of the 19th century by inducing people to buy things they did not necessarily want or need. The article focuses on the three most prevalent forms of premiums – gift distributions, prize packages, and gift book establishments – and draws on scholarship from various fields, including advertising and marketing history and economic anthropology. In addition to describing various premium schemes and linking them to nascent consumerism, the article posits why they might have been so successful, despite the fact that many were clearly fraudulent.