Episode 628: This Ad's For You

Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Tom Burrell Courtesy of Tom Burrell

Note: This show originally ran in 2015.

In the early 1960s, the ad world had a one-size-fits-all philosophy. Black people, white people--they all saw the same ads. And while that sounds egalitarian in theory, it often led to hilariously inappropriate ad copy, like: "1842. It was a very good year for beer drinkers."As Tom Burrell points out, it wasn't really a good year for black people in the U.S., many of whom were still enslaved.

Planet Money #628: This Ad's For You This Ad's For You Listen · 25:07 25:07

Tom Burrell was the first black man in Chicago advertising. He realized that this sort of one-size-fits-all marketing wasn't just tone-deaf, but that it just wouldn't work as well as it could. He thought there had to be a different way.

Nowadays, marketing is precisely targeted. The targeting is so laser-specific that the ads you see on your Facebook feed practically have an audience of one: You. Tom Burrell started that shift.

Today on the show, the story of the man who transformed the way people think about advertising and how advertisers think about us.

Music: "Low Slung" and "Private Number." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook.