Great ads from 1914: What people were looking at before the lights went out

Today marks the 100-year anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand, a shooting which set off a chain of events that led to the First World War and would ultimately change our society forever.

The advertising of 1914 captures a unique moment in time. Straddling the dying embers of the Edwardian era and the cusp of the epoch-defining events of the the war, the ads from that period offer a fascinating glimpse of forgotten times and, in most cases, forgotten products (although a few brand names are still recognisable today).

We dug deep into the archives to see what people would have been seeing in the period before the lights went out...

Blow lamps

Sunbeam

Sainsbury's

Cunard

Shaw Taxicabs

Player's Cigarettes

Dreadnought Scotch Whisky

Wrigley's

Royal Worcester Corsets

Pullman

Of course, once the war began, so too did the propaganda. Check out our selection of wartime ads from 1914-1918.