A few Months Ago, I Wrote about Mobile Advertising in the Interwar Period. That Wasn't the Only Form of Advertising Back then - It's Time to Present other Forms more Broadly.

LARGE FORMAT

Large Format on building facades, just like today, was a very popular form of advertising, though of course the production technologies have completely changed. Most often, the graphics were painted
on the wall, which is why sometimes you can still see fragments of such advertisements
on unrenovated facades. Painting advertisements on plaster wasn't the only form.
You could find images painted on boards or metal sheets, which were then assembled
from pieces and mounted on facades.
The photo below shows an advertisement for Alboril laundry products in Chorzów on Bytomska Street.

The next photo was taken in 1936 on Kręta Street in Poznań and shows an advertisement for the Maritime Defense Fund, whose activities allowed, among other things, for the construction of the largest submarine at that time, ORP Orzeł.
Equally interesting for us is the fact that the central part of the advertisement showing a ship on a stormy sea, measuring about 4x5m, was painted by hand.

Large format advertising didn't have to be painted on a wall.
There were many ideas, below is an example from Gdynia from the 1930s.
The advertisement for “Reduta Prasy” above the main entrance to the Sailor's House.

NEON SIGNS, 3d LETTERS

Since 1910, when the first neon sign was invented (a tube filled with gas that glows in different colors depending on the type of gas), not much has changed, and neon signs were very quickly adapted for outdoor advertising and are successfully used to this day. Below are examples of what they looked like in the 1930s.

Market Square in Katowice, the building of Karol Schwerin's Department Store, which features an advertisement for the Suchard company.

A fragment of Freedom Square in Poznań in 1934. There are many signs on the facade, some of them made as neon signs or 3D letters. We can recognize brands that are still known today: Bata, Goplana, Orbis.

ADVERTISING ON SCAFFOLDING

This is nothing new either... In the photo, you can see advertisements for construction companies placed
on the scaffolding at the building of the telegraph and long-distance telephone central office on Poznańska Street in Warsaw (1931).

ADVERTISING BOARDS

Roadside advertising develops along with the intensity of car traffic.
In the 1920s and 30s, it wasn't yet very extensive, probably why the photographic material on this topic isn't the richest ;).
But I found something. Below is a photo of an advertisement for the Grand Hotel in Cieszyn, taken in 1932, during the International Motorcycle Mountain Race in Wisła.

PNEUMATIC ADVERTISING

It is probably a remnant of World War I, whose operations were largely conducted
on the territory of our country.
After the war, many factories producing balloons for military purposes remained, one
of the most famous was the factory in Legionowo.
Perhaps this was the inspiration for creating this advertisement from Zakopane, promoting Franaszek's photography company.

STREET FURNITURE

I'll write more about advertising columns another time.
Below are a few other examples:
Częstochowa, an illuminated city bus stop pole with advertisements, very similar bus stop poles were found in Warsaw

Krynica Górska, 1929, a newspaper kiosk.
These types of advertising media were present in many places around the country.

POINT-OF-SALE ADVERTISING

In today's world, gas stations are something natural, functioning without them would be impossible.
However, it was different in the past; the first cars went to... pharmacies for refueling.
Below is a photo from a later period, but equally exotic from our perspective. A gas station in Krakow in 1931, with a Mobiloil advertisement on the pump.

The entrance to one of the restaurants in Lviv.... (how do you like such a number of advertisements in one place?).

The city beach in Krakow in 1931 with an indispensable element - a beer stand,
next to which there is an advertisement saying “Drink Okocim beer”.
In the foreground, an umbrella with the inscription “Drink milk”.

ADVERTISING EVENTS

In the interwar period, a very popular form of advertising was worn by people and not only...

SPORTING EVENTS

Sporting events have always attracted crowds, which is why advertising during them is natural.
Philips Radio advertisement at the Polish Army Stadium named after Marshal Józef Piłsudski in Warsaw,
during the Poland vs. Yugoslavia soccer match (September 25, 1938).
The match ended with a score of 4:4.

Soccer match between Wisła Kraków and Cracovia in Krakow on May 1, 1938.

Car races in Zakopane in February 1934.
Sports cars at the starting line. Above, on the banner, a visible advertisement for Mobiloil engine oil.

MOBILE ADVERTISING

I've already written about it in a historical context, now I'm only including a photo
that recently came into my hands and I can hardly resist.
The photograph shows a horse-drawn billboard – these are definitely no longer around today.

All photos come from the collections of the National Digital Archives.
Thank you very much for making them available.