Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising
A fascinating exploration of popular culture over the past century, as manifested in our habits as consumers. Everything from posters to postcards, from chip packets to fads you might remember from ... well, a while back!
History
This fascinating museum has its origins, not in London, but in Gloucester. From 1984-2001 the Museum of Advertising and Packaging was operated in Gloucester, showcasing thousands of items from the Robert Opie Collection. The museum closed in 2001 but re-opened 4 years later in Notting Hill, London.
What to See
The museum is laid out as a timeline, or 'time tunnel', leading visitors through the way packaging and advertising consumer products has changed since the early Victorian period until today. There are over 12,000 items on display, from familiar brands to others that have disappeared from our modern supermarket shelves.
Aside from showing how boxes, cans, posters, and packaging has changed over the last 2 centuries, the museum shows how shopping habits have also changed, how consumers have become more sophisticated and demanding. See how better transportation affected shopping and how the growth of media affected advertising, from newspapers, to radio, to television and beyond.
Its a trip down memory lane, but its also a fascinating look at social change. Learn how the two world wars affected shopping expectations, and how greater freedom and more disposable income for women changed packaging and brand-based advertising.
The museum covers the growth - and disappearance - of fads and changing fashions, and covers toys games, food and cleaning products, cars, music, television, even sweets and snacks; in short, everything we buy and use in our daily lives. Decade by decade, the museum shows how culture has changed, and how it hasn't changed at all! Some exhibits will evoke nostalgic childhood memories, others will simply provide a fascinating glimpse into how consumer branding has changed and affected our lives.
Images are kindly provided by the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising
This fascinating museum has its origins, not in London, but in Gloucester. From 1984-2001 the Museum of Advertising and Packaging was operated in Gloucester, showcasing thousands of items from the Robert Opie Collection. The museum closed in 2001 but re-opened 4 years later in Notting Hill, London.
What to See
The museum is laid out as a timeline, or 'time tunnel', leading visitors through the way packaging and advertising consumer products has changed since the early Victorian period until today. There are over 12,000 items on display, from familiar brands to others that have disappeared from our modern supermarket shelves.
Some familiar Cadbury's brands on display
Its a trip down memory lane, but its also a fascinating look at social change. Learn how the two world wars affected shopping expectations, and how greater freedom and more disposable income for women changed packaging and brand-based advertising.
The museum covers the growth - and disappearance - of fads and changing fashions, and covers toys games, food and cleaning products, cars, music, television, even sweets and snacks; in short, everything we buy and use in our daily lives. Decade by decade, the museum shows how culture has changed, and how it hasn't changed at all! Some exhibits will evoke nostalgic childhood memories, others will simply provide a fascinating glimpse into how consumer branding has changed and affected our lives.
Images are kindly provided by the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising
Ladbroke Grove - 0.1 miles (straight line) - Zone: 2
