Patent medicine made advertising’s effects directly measurable

Evidence

As he later explained, “The greatest advertising men of my day were schooled in the medicine field. It is sometimes hard to measure just what advertising does. Not so in a medicine. Advertising must do all.” — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 89

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the core appeal of advertising in a direct-response context: when the product is useless, every sale attribute is powered by the ad alone.
• XREF: connects to: Advertising industrialized attention by converting it into a resellable commodity — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 24

Broader Connections

• Advertising industrialized attention by converting it into a resellable commodity #expands (0.80) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 24