Scott Expedition photo, 1911
The Recording Angel
The Holy Spirit dictating the chant to Pope Gregory (600 AD)
In terms of early advertising around the notion of fidelity, there were two prominent pictorial paradigms, one based on hearing used by HMV (His Master's Voice) where a 19th century painting of a Smooth Fox Terrier named "Nipper" was re-designed to suggest that he recognized his master's recorded voice. This logo became so popular that the Scott expedition in 1911 to the South Pole staged it with one of their own dogs and a portable phonograph they had brought (no power required).
The other paradigm is based on writing characterized as "divine" through the use of a "Recording Angel", perhaps referencing the parallel from oral to written traditions of the dictation of religious chant to Pope Gregory via the Holy Spirit shown as a dove, with a scribe behind a curtain doing the actual writing.
Scott Expedition photo, 1911
The Recording Angel
The Holy Spirit dictating the chant to Pope Gregory (600 AD)
Edison Tone Tests: 1915-1926
1812 Overture, coarsegroove disc, acoustic recording, mono, 1916 (source: British Library);
note the gender roles being played out in the above ad
In the following ad, an ensemble of opera singers (all contracted with Edison) try to determine whether the phonograph recording of their female colleague standing beside it at the back, is being heard live or recorded. The male singers in front seem to be pondering the question quite seriously, while the women.... well, you decide.
Geraldine Farrar sings Carmen, acoustic recording, mono, ca. 1915
In the above ad, the problem of how to depict "fidelity" of reproduction is attempted by first showing (in the insert box) a photograph of the singer standing beside the phonograph, similar to the Edison Tone Tests, and in the drawing, showing her being reflected in the pool with her reflection being the phonograph! The message is, they are the same (as in the Farrar ad). Below we see the same approach based on reflection with the Walkman 60 years later, except that it is treated in a more explicitly sexist manner.
Walkman Ad 1980
Memorex (1970s)
The tagline for Memorex (literally, the "king of memory"), a cassette manufacturing company, was extensively advertised as "Is it live, or is it Memorex?" featuring a variety of personalities, both black and white, being unable to tell the difference, just as the Edison Tone Tests did much earlier. The other meme that was used was the cliche about a soprano being able to shatter a wine glass. In this case, it's presumably the soprano voice being reproduced on cassette that is going to do the trick. In the final ad, we see the longtime logo of the listener being "blown away" by the reproduced sound.
The 1990s: FIDO
In the 1990s,the cellphone provider, Fido, mounted a large ad campaign with the visual theme of people who looked like their dogs.
Of course, the canine image refers back to Nipper in His Master's Voice, and the trait of fidelity, as in "what could be more faithful than a dog?"
Note that the dog got modernized to a robotic version, with the consumer becoming to its "master", even though many cellphone users feel more "tethered" to the leash.
"Fidomatic"
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