Boy laughing at a cartoon, 1959

Boy laughing at a cartoon, 1959. Youth in a tie reading Esquire magazine. The cartoon shows a couple locked in an embrace - the caption says I got a feelin' that new schoolmarm is promotin' the boys too fast, granpop! This photograph was used to advertise a savings bank by the Ashton-under-Lyme Reporter. Photographic Advertising Limited, founded in 1926, created multi-purpose stock images with the potential for selling a range of products. Whilst enjoying its greatest success during the 1930s, it continued in business until 1977. Their trademark, the staged studio photograph resembling a film still, was its selling point and, later, its downfall. Sophisticated, adaptable and generic, this kind of image gradually fell out of favour as clients increasingly demanded targeted advertising campaigns with specific photographs. ©SSPL/NMeM/Photographic Advertising