With all the talk these days about high-tech solutions to advertising concerns—Tweeter, Facebook, email campaigns—there’s something so refreshing about turning to refrigerator magnets. The Chinese (and the Europeans) were the first to discover the properties of magnetism, at early as 600 B.C. The first refrigerator magnet was discovered by William Zimmerman of St. Louis, Missouri in the early 1970s.

These days, refrigerator magnets are used as souvenirs, as a kitchen decoration, as advertising mediums, and as novelty items. They are fabricated from magnet sheets printed and cut into all kinds of shapes and sizes. They cost less to make than a postage stamp, and their advertising value is incalculable. They are often made in business card size, and cut into shapes like cars, pigs, houses—everything you could think of. Photo frame shapes and notepads with magnets on the back on them are also common. They present all kinds of messages, and not just for advertising—mottos, inspirational sayings, and humor. They’re also used for fundraiser's, or for announcements of special events, or even for wedding favors.

The best advertising refrigerator magnets, of course, combine the message of a business with the above types of messages. People don’t throw away refrigerator magnets; they display them, and display them for years. An advertising campaign that costs pennies could last for a very long time. It’s easy to slap them on a refrigerator to hold up something important. Think of your own refrigerator. Of the ten or fifteen magnets there right now, I’d bet that most of them are advertisements. What better way for a business to keep its message in front of their customers, on a daily basis, for year after year?

Now think of the magnets that stand out through the clutter. They’re probably professionally-made. They’re probably well-made; you want them to actually hold stuff up, not weak magnets that slide down the refrigerator door after about a week. You want readable text on them, not printing that fades or peels.

Louise J. Greenfarb, who owns the largest refrigerator advertising magnets collection in the world, stores her collection on the exterior of her car. Did you know that there are companies that actually make advertising magnets for automobiles? Now, that’s taking a good idea to its extreme. Of course, it makes sense. A car is probably the biggest magnetized object in the world; why not put an advertisement on it, especially when it’s the company car?

Refrigerator magnets for your car.