Over the past 150 years—for as long as advertising has made an impact within newspapers and magazines—the harness horse, and in later years, harness racing, has been a successful turnkey point for creative ad executives.

Known for their authenticity and grounded appeal, horses and harness racing congers up power, excitement, and freedom, to many. According to a Jan.2014 article entitled “The Psychology of Using Animals in Advertising,” by Northwestern Oklahoma State University’s Sherril M. Stone, “Research has shown that brand identity is only one reason advertisers use animals to promote their products or services,” and that “profits are better when animals are included in the advertisement.”

While those in harness racing are accustomed to seeing our trade publications loaded with advertisements that feature horse-related items, such as liniments, stallion offerings, and other products, over the years, some ads or articles touting harness racing have appeared in non-harness publications, such as The Country Gentleman, the American Sportsman, the New Yorker, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated.

Since the late part of the 19th Century, harness racing transitioned from selling harnesses, and other horse-related items in local newspapers, to promoting beer, cigarettes, gasoline, whisky, and other items:

Here are some other examples of where harness racing was promoted in local newspapers:

According to Stone’s report, the kind of animal within an advertisement carries with it the implication of human personality traits which draw people to the activity or product being advertised, and that “pairing the correct animal with the product has implications for the future sales of the product/service. As well, marketing folks often state that using animals in ads tends to increase sales and revenue by a positive emotional response in the viewer.

Certainly, an ad showing the final strides between two battling trotters, if properly executed, could entice a person to want to attend the races. As Stone asserts in her essay, “These tactics are intended to play on the consumers’ emotions as a way to increase sales.”

In a 2007 research study by Spears and Germain, 1,223 print advertisements were studied using the time parameters of 1900 to 2000. Interestingly, during that time period, dogs and horses were the most common animals portrayed. Stone also suggests that “animals promote buying behavior” (whether product or service), and that utilizing a horse or other animal, such as a dog or cat, can prompt an emotional response in the viewer that causes incentive for the viewer to act upon those emotions.