Buster Brown Shoe Advertisement

Buster Brown was a comic book character who appeared in The New York Herald beginning in 1902 with his dog, Tige. In 1904, 'Buster Brown' emerged with his own children's shoe line, capitalizing on the audience of kid readers they had already established through the comics. The branding for these ads were brightly colored and included cartoon illustrations of Buster, catering to their child demographic. Buster Brown's introduction to capitalism was a unique and early instance of using a public persona to appeal to an audience/sell goods; it was also an early instance of attempting to attract child audiences. The company hired live action actors to play Buster Brown, broadening his influence from newspapers to physical spaces.