Exhibition at The New York Public Library Highlights Cause-Related Advertising from the Last Sixty Years

Ads Matter: Celebrating Advertising & Social Impact on view from September 26 through November 30, 2006 at NYPL's Science, Industry and Business Library

"Cause of Death" advertising campaign, Di Massimo Brand Advertising, 2001

Advertisements on Display include Well-Known PSAs from the Partnership For a Drug-Free America and the Ad Council

Who can forget the 1986 ad campaign featuring an egg in a frying pan and the accompanying voiceover "This is your brain on drugs"? How many generations have grown up with McGruff the Crime Dog telling them to "Take a bite out of crime"? Could anyone have foreseen the impact of Rosie the Riveter as she helped recruit two million women into the workforce during World War II with her bulging bicep and the slogan "We Can Do It!"? Opening September 26, 2006 at The New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library, 188 Madison Avenue, the exhibition Ads Matter: Celebrating Advertising & Social Impact is a colorful and catchy reminder that the advertising industry has created endearing and beloved icons, catchy slogans, and eye-catching graphics to deliver serious messages to the public. The exhibition will be on view through November 30. Admission is free.

Sixteen large reproductions of advertisements are included in the exhibition, including eight from The Partnership for a Drug-Free America and five from The Ad Council. Ranging from 1942 to the present, the ads confront a wide variety of social causes including preventing forest fires, encouraging blood donation, and stopping online sexual exploitation. In one of the most well-known advertising campaigns in United States history, the "Crying Indian" dramatized how litter harms the environment, and he became the symbol for the environmental movement. A well-known advertising campaign from the Ad Council, "A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste" with the United Negro College Fund, has helped raise more than $2 billion for the organization and graduate more than 300,000 minority students. The Partnership for a Drug-Free America fights marijuana, heroin, ecstacy, and inhalants in various advertisements.

"The Science, Industry and Business Library is proud to present Ads Matter ," said Kristin McDonough, Robert and Joyce Menschel Director, Science, Industry and Business Library, The New York Public Library "Millions of lives and thousands of acres of forest have been saved, thanks to specific campaigns that the advertising industry has aimed at the general public. This exhibit showcases just some of the great advertisements produced in support of worthwhile causes."

"The Science, Industry and Business Library has an abundance advertising materials available for reference purposes and in our circulating collections. To accompany the exhibit, I have created a resource list of library materials about advertising and society and public service advertising, including websites, that are of use to the library user interested in additional information," said John Ganly, Assistant Director for Collections, the Science, Industry and Business Library, The New York Public Library. "There is also small exhibit on the main floor titled 100 Years of American Men: The Male Image in Advertising 1900-2005 , which showcases Library materials."

Upcoming and Current Exhibitions

The four research libraries of The New York Public Library (the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the Science, Industry and Business Library) offer a broad range of exhibitions including the following:

Ehon: The Artist and the Book in Japan , on view from October 20, 2006 through February 4, 2007 in the Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Gallery and the D. Samuel and Jeane H. Gottesman Exhibition Hall at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.

A Rakish History of Men's Wear , on view through April 7, 2007 in the Edna Barnes Solomon Room at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.

Stars and Treasures: 75 Years of Collecting Theatre , on view from November 21, 2006 through May 5, 2007 in the Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery at the Library for the Performing Arts, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza.

500 Years of Italian Dance: Treasures from the Cia Fornaroli Collection , on view from October 17, 2006 through January 20, 2007 in the Vincent Astor Gallery at the Library for the Performing Arts, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza.

"Where Do We Go From Here?" The Photo League and Its Legacy , on view from October 27, 2006 through February 18, 2007 in the Print and Stokes Galleries at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.

Dance in Cuba , on view through October 28, 2006 in the Plaza Lobby and Steinberg Room Gallery at the Library for the Performing Arts, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza.

Changing Streetscapes: New Architecture and Open Space in Harlem , on view through October 1, 2006 in the Main Exhibition Hall at the Schomburg Center for the Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard (at 135th Street).

Ads Matter: Celebrating Advertising & Social Impact   is on view September 26 through November 30, 2006, at The New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library, 188 Madison Avenue (at 34th Street). Exhibition hours are Tuesday,Wednesday, and Thursday 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; closed Sundays and Mondays. Admission is free. For more information about exhibitions at The New York Public Library, the public may call 212.869.8089 or visit the Library's website at www.nypl.org .

About The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library was created in 1895 with the consolidation of the private libraries of John Jacob Astor and James Lenox with the Samuel Jones Tilden Trust. The Library provides free and open access to its physical and electronic collections and information, as well as to its services. It comprises four research centers - the Humanities and Social Sciences Library; The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; and the Science, Industry and Business Library - and 86 Branch Libraries in Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Research and circulating collections combined total more than 50 million items, including materials for the visually impaired. In addition, each year the Library presents thousands of exhibitions and public programs, which include classes in technology, literacy, and English as a second language. The Library serves some 15 million patrons who come through its doors annually and another 15 million users internationally, who access collections and services through the NYPL website, www.nypl.org.

Support for Ads Matter: Celebrating Advertising & Social Impact was produced by Advertising Week 2006 with support from AOL, the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA), and the Direct Marketing Association (DMA).

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Contact :             Gayle Snible   212.704.8600         gsnible@nypl.org

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