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Posted By: jay behrens

If you ever research on why cards were inserted into packs, it is because their purpose was to provide stiffness for the pack. A marketing genius realized that if you printed something interesting these inserts that people would be more willing to buy your product instead of someone else's. Just because something is printed on this insert/stiffener doesn't diminish the fact that was the primary purpose. SAme goes for Red Man tobacoo cards in the 50s. These cards were used as siffener for the pouch. Printing the pictures of ball players on the stiffener jsut provided an incentive to buy their product over someone else's.

how about gum cards? The primary product being sold until about the 1950s was actually the piece of gum. The baseball card was just an incentive to buy the gum. By the 60s, it had pretty much reversed and gum was a nice bonus for buying baseball cards.

Jay

I've just reached Upper Lower Class. I am now officially a babe magnet for poor chicks.