This is a story about street furniture; it’s also a story about how we seldom stop to wonder about many of the everyday objects of life around us. And, in this case, it’s a story about the free-standing advertising kiosks that are a feature of cities across Europe, although their numbers are now dropping.
In Berlin, where they were invented, a recent campaign swept away all but a few of the traditional ones in favor of a newer, glitzier, lit-up style, but one of the old ones has been kept, and turned into a memorial for the man seen on its side, above: Ernst Litfass. His signature is also on the column. Below, panels that show the history of advertising and printing.
Litfass was a successful Berlin printer and publisher when he visited Paris in 1843, While others may have been struck by the city’s beautiful ancient buildings, Litfass apparently was most impressed by the pissoirs installed along some streets, sometimes plastered with random posters.
Where others might have seen ‘eyesore public toilet,’ Litfass apparently saw an opportunity for a business. The panel below, by the way, proclaims him the ‘King of Advertising.”
At that time, in Litfass’s Berlin, advertising posters were slapped up anywhere and everywhere—on the sides of buildings, on trees, Litfass, known as a public-spirited type who paid for civic parties, picnics for soldiers and the like, was also crotchety about the ‘wild advertising’ and the disorder it represented. Given that, he would likely have been quite annoyed at the graffiti on his monument!
By 1855, Litfass was ready to roll out his idea. He would install permanent columns along city streets, and sell advertising space on them (and of course would print advertisements to go on them). Litfass would split the revenue with the city, which would give him a monopoly on the business. Inspectors would remove any posters posted without payment.
Eventually, there were over 3,000 ‘Litfassäule,’ or Litfas columns around the city. In addition to their role advertising concerts and the like, they came to be places for public announcements, and during wartime for news and orders.
Soon, the idea spread to other countries; by 1868 France had its own version, called ‘collones Morris,’ after Guillaume Morris, who made a deal with Paris authorities similar to the Litfass deal in Berlin. Below, a Morris column at the Bourse in Paris
For all their history, the day of the classic Litfass Column may be over; there are so many more ways these days of advertising concerts and events and products. As well, in many cities, Berlin included, there are hundreds of bus shelters designed with large illuminated spaces for advertising, often serving as a way to pay for the shelters themselves.
But, even as Berlin’s traditional columns are disappearing, it may not be the end. In 2019, the same year the city’s administration ordered the removal of the remaining traditional columns, it gave a franchise to a new company which plans to install 1,500 updated columns, with lights installed, and in some cases with rotating centers that show all the ads as you stand and watch.
And so, perhaps, the time hasn’t completely ended for the idea that made Litfass famous enough that you’ve now heard of him! Here’s a portrait.
