Advertising by Government Propaganda
Advertising coffee by government propaganda has been indulged in with more or less success by the British government in behalf of certain of its colonial possessions; by the French and the Dutch; by Porto Rico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Brazil. The markets most cultivated have been Italy, France, England, Russia, Japan, and the United States.
Great Britain began the development of coffee cultivation in its colonies in 1730. Parliament first reduced the inland duties. In many ways it has since sought to encourage British-grown coffee, building up a favoritism for it that is still reflected in Mincing Lane quotations. The Netherlands government did the same thing for Java and Sumatra; and France rendered a similar service to her own colonies.
Since Porto Rico became a part of the United States, several attempts have been made by the island government and the planters to popularize Porto Rico coffee in the United States. Scott Truxtun opened a government agency in New York in 1905. Acting upon the counsel and advice of the author, he prosecuted for several years a vigorous campaign in behalf of the Porto Rico Planters' Protective Association. The method followed for coffee was to appoint official brokers, and to certify the genuineness of the product. Owing to insufficient funds and the number of different products for which publicity was sought, the coffee campaign was only moderately successful.
Mortimer Remington, formerly with the J. Walter Thompson Company, a New York advertising agency, was appointed in 1912 commercial agent for the Porto Rico Association, composed of island producers and merchants. Some effective advertising in behalf of Porto Rico coffee was done in the metropolitan district, where a number of high-class grocers were prevailed upon to stock the product, which was packed under seal of the association. As before, however, the other products handled—including cigars, grape-fruit, pineapples, etc.—handicapped the work on coffee, and the enterprise was abandoned. Subsequent efforts by the Washington government to assist the Porto Ricans in evolving a practical plan to extend their coffee market in the United States came to naught because of too much "politics."
Beginning with the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in 1915, the government of Guatemala started a propaganda for its coffee in the United States; as the European market, which had up till then absorbed seventy-five percent of its product, was closed to it, owing to the World War. E.H. O'Brien, a coffee broker of San Francisco, directed the publicity. Some full pages were used in newspapers, but the main efforts were directed at the coffee-roasting trade. The campaign, so far as it went, was highly successful.
Costa Rica also gave special encouragement to coffee-trade interests that offered to expand the United States market for Costa Rica coffee during the World War.
For many years Colombia has been talking of making propaganda here for its coffee, but thus far nothing of a constructive character has been done.
São Paulo began in 1908 to make propaganda for its coffee by subsidizing companies and individuals in consuming countries to promote consumption of the Brazil product. A contract was entered into between the state of São Paulo and the coffee firms of E. Johnston & Company and Joseph Travers & Son, of London, to exploit Brazil coffee in the United Kingdom. Similar contracts were made with coffee firms in other European countries, notably in Italy and France. The subsidies were for five years and took the form of cash and coffee. The English company was known as the "State of São Paulo (Brazil) Pure Coffee Company, Ltd." Fifty thousand pounds sterling was granted this enterprise, which roasted and packed a brand known as "Fazenda;" promoted demonstrations at grocers' expositions; and advertised in somewhat limited fashion. The general effect upon the consumption of coffee in England was negligible, however, although at one time some five thousand grocers were said to have stocked the Fazenda brand. A feature of this propaganda was the use of the Tricolator (an American device since better known in the United States) to insure correct making of the beverage, Brazil also made propaganda for its coffee in Japan, in 1915, as part of certain undertakings involving the immigration of Japanese laborers to Brazil.
The Comité Français du Café was formed in Paris in July, 1921, to co-operate with Brazil in an enterprise designed to increase the consumption of coffee in France.