last word
Pursuing Presbyopes
by Stephanie K. De Long

Ask many seasoned optical veterans when they think lens advertising really came into its own, and they'll say it paralleled the pursuit of progressive-addition lens marketshare.

PAL advertising started shortly after Essilor and American Optical began marketing progressive designs in the U.S. in the '70s. A decade later, two major players duked it out for marketshare on the pages of optical publications. Next came the Age of the Contour Plot--with lens advertisers comparing their progressive lens plots to the competition. And the rest is, well, history.

While all of this is fact, the truth is that the pursuit of presbyopic patient marketshare is nothing new.

For proof positive, take a look at the ads below.

1910: Kryptok is the first lens to be advertised directly to consumers; 1946: Shuron sends a fashion message to postwar presbyopes; 1953: Ultex says its one-piece bifocal will erase headaches.

Everyone desires to live long, but no one would be old.

--Jonathan Swift