Don’t Fear the Reaper

Corporations have been a major part of world expos almost as much as countries. (Just take a look take a look at the Panasonic, Mitsubishi or NTT pavilions at Expo 2025 in Osaka.) Expos were an efficient way to create an indelible image before an audience larger than many countries that no rival could hope to compete with.

In the 19th century, the McCormick Harvesting Co. steamrolled competitors with marketing materials that focused on its reapers winning competitions at shows from agricultural exhibitions to world’s fairs. Its 1882 catalogue, for example, declared “McCormick’s Machines are the Best in the World” with “First Prize Taken by them at Every World’s Fair.” The company reached peak ballyhoo after winning 25 medals at the 1900 Paris World Expo with this fantastical depiction for the French edition of its catalog: It portrayed a reaper driven like a Roman chariot through an admiring international crowd on a Parisian boulevard towards a triumphal arch.