What are We – Chopped Liver?

I was reading a book about the art world (The Art Biz – The Covert World of Collectors, Dealers, Auction Houses, Museums, and Critics, 1991) by Alice Goldfarb Marquis and she mentioned at one point that many art magazines of that period had ads by luxury good companies. After all, the demographics of art collectors were strong -high median incomes, high disposable incomes, lots of dollars spent on art.

All of which got me thinking why Maine Antique Digest, The Bee, The Magazine Antiques, etc. largely lack such ads by Benz, BMW, and the designer world one sees advertising in The Wall Street Journal’s magazine. I asked Clayton Pennington, editor of MAD who did not know but was open to their advertising dollars if they seek him out. I wonder why we see no such ads? The American antique market must be over $100 million per year. The median collector is older which a goodly amount of disposable income. Why aren’t these companies going after our dollars in American antique publications?

If anyone has any ideas, let me know. A mystery to me. I believe we should demand representation in these company’s marketing budget. Our demographics are being questioned and found wanting. This state of affairs is simply not acceptable.