In 1894, N. Plisky’s book *Advertising: Its Significance, Origins, and History* was published.

It was one of the very first manuals on advertising in Russia, featuring a historical overview and a list of advertising examples from that period, most of which were rather curious. Many of the examples cited by the author are truly unique in their ingenuity and originality. In his study, the author writes not only about advertising tools in Europe and America but also provides examples of the distinctive features of advertising in the Russian Empire during that period. As a result, the author of this seminal work did not overlook our hometown.

It is possible that the situation described below caused a massive scandal or was simply a favorite tactic of the cunning Kharkiv merchants.

Merchant Advertisements from Kharkiv.

We’ve always had sales at our special store
…
Thousands of ads
occasionally remind us of this.
And indeed: businesspeople
are highly skilled
when it comes to all kinds of advertising…
The other day, we
came across an unbelievable ad:
It naively claimed that,
because of a fire that had occurred in the store,

the merchant had decided
to hold a very cheap sale of his merchandise…
It would seem that the merchandise
had become cheap precisely because it had been damaged by the fire.

But no! The merchant wants to sell fresh, brand-new
merchandise;
he claims, as if that were the end of the story,

that he has decided to sell his new goods—which he has only just received—
at a very low
price “because of the fire”…
What does the fire have to do with it, you might ask?
And aren’t there plenty of other events,
other misfortunes?!
Will merchants suddenly start weaving even those
into their advertisements,
just to make it as easy and quick as
possible for
our ladies to empty their husbands’ pockets?..

Kharkiv. 1891.