The Rad Ad Days

Way before television and video ads started popping up on Facebook and smart devices, there were print advertisements.

Print advertising has been around for close to a millennium. An extant printing block of an advertisement for a needle shop in China dating from the Northern Song Dynasty testifies to its long history.

The exhibition Selling Dreams Early Advertising in Singapore, now on at the National Library Building, gives an insight into the world of advertisements from the 1830s to 1960s, and at the same time, uncovering the dreams of people back then.