[Ads-l] "bait and switch" antedatings

[Ben Zimmer]

My Wall Street Journal column this week is on the expression "bait and
switch." This link should get you past the paywall:
https://on.wsj.com/3T881nh

OED3 (Sept. 2002 update) has a bracketed cite from 1953 (for "bait 'em and
switch 'em") and a first cite of 1962. Here are some antedatings.

The concept of "bait advertising," with references to "bait" and "switch"
elements, appeared in Better Business Bureau notices in the 1920s.

---
Detroit Free Press, Mar. 4, 1925, p. 14
"Bait" advertising, like disease, has its symptoms. [...] Attempts are made
to "switch" you to something more expensive.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/detroit-free-press-bait-advertising/142690149/
---
Tulsa Tribune, Mar. 31, 1929, p. 4
When a merchant advertises an article he does not want or intend to sell,
he is using "Bait Advertising," because his only purpose in featuring the
article is to lure you into his store. His method of procedure is to Bait,
Switch and then Sell you.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tulsa-tribune-bait-advertising/142690719/
---

Here's the earliest I've found for "bait and switch" (first used
attributively):

---
Sidney Margolius, _How to Buy More for Your Money_ (1947), p. 41
According to H. J. Kenner, a veteran fighter for truth in advertising and
manager of the New York Better Business Bureau, the "bait-and-switch" trick
is especially practiced by a fringe of unscrupulous home-furnishing
retailers who advertise items at a low price but, when a customer comes in,
claim these have been sold, or disparage them in an effort to switch the
customer to higher-profit merchandise.
https://archive.org/details/howtobuymorefory0000sidn/page/40/mode/2up?q=%22bait+and+switch%22
---
Pasadena (Cal.) Independent, May 7, 1950, p. 62, col. 2
Retailers have notified the Better Business Bureau of the alleged
"bait-and-switch" tactics and are asking newspapers and radio stations to
reject the advertising.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/pasadena-independent-bait-and-switch-tac/142691891/
---

--bgz

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