This book charts how promotional campaigns in which Bernard Shaw participated were key
crucibles within which agency and personality could re-negotiate their relationship to one
another and to the consuming public. Concurrent with the rise of modern advertising the
creation of Shaw's 'G.B.S.' public persona was achieved through masterful imitation of patent
medicine marketing strategies and a shrewd understanding of the relationship between product
and spokesman. Helping to enhance the visibility of his literary writing and dovetailing with
his Fabian political activities 'G.B.S.' also became a key figure in the evolution of
testimonial endorsement and the professionalizing of modern advertising. The study analyzes
multiple ad series in which Shaw was prominently featured that were occasions for
self-promotion for both Shaw and the agencies and presage the iconoclastic style of
contemporary 'public personality' and techniques of celebrity marketing.
