The MOFBA or Museum Of Foreign Brand Advertising In The R.O.C.《民國中外廣告博物館》, is a private & non-profit collection located in Shanghai, China: Art, Design, History
The origins of Tiger Balm trace back to the 1870s in Rangoon (now Yangon), Burma, where Aw Chu. Kin (胡子钦), a Chinese herbalist from Fujian Province's Yongding County, established his apothecary. Chu Kin had emigrated from China in the 1860s to help his uncle's herbal... 2/n 
Coca-Cola was available in China since the early 20th century, when bottles were first imported from its Philippines manufacturing base. The soda was advertised by Shanghai restaurants catering to foreigners, such as Sullivan’s, in as early as 1916. 2/n 
Bayer was founded 1863 as „Friedr. Bayer et comp.“ in Barmen, Germany as a dyestuffs producer by Friedrich Bayer and Friedrich Weskott. The company’s links with Greater China date back to 1882, when it first began marketing its colorants there. In the early years,... 2/n 
W.D. & H.O. Wills was a British tobacco importer and manufacturer formed in Bristol, England in 1786. It was the first UK company to mass-produce cigarettes. The company’s “Pirate” cigarettes were launched in the Chinese market in 1891 and most likely marked the earliest... 2/9 
The first to present projected moving pictures to a paying audience were the Lumière brothers in December 1895 in Paris. They used a device of their own making, the Cinématographe & the first ever created film titled “Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory” can be seen below. 2/25
Although cocoa was introduced to Europe sometime in the 16th century it was not until the Industrial Revolution that new processes emerged which sped the production of chocolate & created an affordable mass market product. In 1824 John Cadbury began selling tea, coffee and.. 2/n 
The construction of the China Eastern Railway from 1897 to 1902 attracted many Russians to settle in the rapidly developing northern Chinese city of Harbin. Among them was Karaite-Jewish tobacco merchant Aron E. Lopato with his wife & two sons Eli Aaronovitch (1874-1936)... /2 
The Chinese Eastern Railway, constructed by the Russian Imperial Government from 1897-1902, provided a shortcut for the world's longest railroad, the Trans-Siberian Railway, from the Siberian city of Chita, via Harbin to the Russian port of Vladivostok. Its southern branch.. 2/n 
From the inscription visible above the entrance in this photo, we can discern that the building in question is the Yunyao Electric Light Co power plant (永耀电力股份有限公司) in Ningbo, China. The coastal city in the province of Zhejiang lies around 200 km south of Shanghai... 2/ 
But first a quick background on the famous luxury watch. In 1848 a young watchmaker named Luis Brandt opened a workshop called “La Generale Watch Co” in the small Swiss village of La Chaux-de-Fondes. The business grew & after it was taken over by his sons, the Omega brand... 2/17 
Hiroshi Morishita (1869–1943), founded the Morishita &Co Apothecary in Osaka in 1893. Shortly after in 1895, he was drafted for the Sino-Japanese War & deployed in Taiwan where he observed the locals taking herbal pills to reduce the risk of contracting diseases. Upon his... 2/22 
Major Drapkin & Co was a tobacco manufacturer founded in England in 1898. Its best-selling brand was The Grey’s, named after the Royal Scots Greys cavalry regiment of the British Army. The company eventually became part of the United Kingdom Tobacco Co which got listed on... 2/18 
To understand why we have to start from the very beginning: The idea of honey soap has its roots with Englishman William Hesketh Lever. Beginning in 1874, Lever’s wholesale grocery business had been marketing a soap called “Lever’s Pure Honey”. His main competitor... 2/23 
The crumb trail of Bakerite leads us back to the American J.D. Sullivan, who after serving in the Spanish War, came to China at the turn of the century & established the Denniston & Sullivan photo supplies store on Broadway (Daming Rd.) in the Shanghai International Settlement. 