Advertising Fans
In the early 20th century fans became a way to advertise and promote restaurants, hotels, shops, ships, politicians, and even funeral parlors. Many of these fans were made with cheap printed paper that could be stripped off and replaced from the ribs (which is where the saying “off with the old, on with the new” comes from) but others were a bit sturdier, such as the catalog fans that showed all of a season's fashions for sale.
