Newspaper ads by the Shamir Brothers appeared in the Israeli press for over forty years, from the very first days of the opening of the Shamir Studio in 1935. Unfortunately very few ads could be found in the brothers' estates. Reuven Cohen, the head of the Shenkar Institute for Graphic Design asked Yoram Shamir to try to unearth Shamir newspaper ads. This project took a number of years searching in the Lavon Institute, the Central Library of the Bar-Ilan University, Ariela House, the Massuah Institute for Holocaust Studies and the Historical Jewish Press web-site of the National Library in conjunction with the University of Tel Aviv. The search yielded over 500 ads that appeared in daily and weekly papers and in professional magazines. The ads give us insight into two important aspects of the time. First, they teach us a lot about the skills of the designers both as artists and as advertising experts. The printing technologies and quality of paper of the time together with the financial limitations of the newspaper publishers delivered a world of black and white in the 30s and 40s: with the printing being only in black. This meant that the quality of photographs included in any ad would be very poor. The solution was to use drawings and designs in black only using various techniques and styles. This is where Gavriel and Maxim Shamir could apply the advanced skills they learned at the School of Art and Design in Berlin.

The newspaper is an advertising vehicle that is quite different from the poster. The competition to attract the reader's attention isn't just between the various ads but also between the ad and the written content of the paper. Given that the size of the ad is defined by the size of the pocket of the client the impact of the ad relies predominantly on the way it conveys the message and the font it uses. Following the designs of Shamir ads over time shows how their skills evolved and their effectiveness increased.

Another important aspect of a newspaper ads collection is the fact that the dates of the ads are more likely to be known then the dates of the various other vehicles of advertising campaigns such as packaging, posters or leaflets. For instance, if you want to know when the design of Bejerano Brothers' cigarettes "Simon Arzt" was created all you need to do is search for ads relating to this keyword in the newspapers of the time.

Some newspaper ads became icons, for instance: War Bonds (Milveh Milhama), The Best to Flying (Hatovim Lata'ys). Some commercial ads entered popular folklore (Don't despair, smoke Knesset 6 - Al Tityaesh, Assen Knesset Shesh - which rhymes nicely in Hebrew). Ads don't only reflect their time but also the social and national norms of the period.

Our collection of Shamir ads is far from complete. The researcher Eran Litvin and other friends occasionally donate newly discovered ads to our collection, such donation being gladly and excitedly welcome.

We had difficulties in recording some products' and manufacturers' names Hebrew or English spelling. The problem arises from the fact that in Hebrew the ads rarely included the vowel marks. We had to use some creativity to get as close as possible to the pronunciation of the names.