Pennysaver
Encyclopedia
A pennysaver
A pennysaver (or free ads paper, Friday Ad (British English
British English
British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...

 or shopper) is a kind of free community periodical available in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 (typically weekly or monthly publications) that advertises items for sale. Frequently pennysavers are actually called The Pennysaver (or Penny Saver, Penny-saver, PennySaver). Many pennysavers offer local news and entertainment, as well as generic advice information, various syndicated or locally-written columns on various topics of interest, limited comics and primetime TV listings grids in some papers. The term is widely used in an arc from Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 through New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, and Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, though there are Pennysavers elsewhere.

Usually containing classified ads
Classified advertising
Classified advertising is a form of advertising which is particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals which may be sold or distributed free of charge...

 often grouped into an extensive set of categories
Categorization
Categorization is the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood. Categorization implies that objects are grouped into categories, usually for some specific purpose. Ideally, a category illuminates a relationship between the subjects and objects of knowledge...

. Pennysavers may also be published by the locally dominant daily newspaper in the area as a brand extension
Brand extension
Brand extension or brand stretching is a marketing strategy in which a firm marketing a product with a well-developed image uses the same brand name in a different product category. The new product is called a spin-off. Organizations use this strategy to increase and leverage brand equity...

 of their publication, and feature advertisements published in the same style as the parent newspaper.

History

Horace Greely and Ralph St. Denny founded the Pennysaver in Ohio in 1948. Then the Chenango Valley Pennysaver in 1949 (published continuously to this day). Horace bowed out, but Ralph stayed on to become nationally known as an innovator, mentor, a pioneer and a true original, until his retirement in 1995.

There are a number of independent and unrelated organizations that use the name Pennysaver.

In popular culture

The Pennysaver plays a significant role in the 2007 Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

-set film Juno
Juno (film)
Juno is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody. Ellen Page stars as the title character, an independent-minded teenager confronting an unplanned pregnancy and the subsequent events that put pressures of adult life onto her. Michael Cera, Olivia Thirlby, J. K....

, in which the main character, Juno, searches for adoptive parents for her unborn child in the publication.

The Pennysaver is mentioned in a Season Four episode of "My Name is Earl
My Name Is Earl
My Name Is Earl is an American television comedy series created by Greg Garcia that was originally broadcast on the NBC television network from September 20, 2005, to May 14, 2009, in the United States...

," titled "Bullies." A man Earl is attempting to cross off his Karma list mistakes Earl as a man "from the Pennysaver ad." Pennysaver is also a reoccurring element earlier in the series in an episode titled "Didn't Pay Taxes."

In the HBO Original Series "True Blood
True Blood
True Blood is an American television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, detailing the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional, small town in the state of Louisiana...

" the fictional Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 town also has a local Pennysaver. In the season 3 episode, '9 Crimes,' Sam places an ad for a waitress in the Pennysaver.

In an episode of "The Game (U.S. TV series)," produced by Kelsey Grammar, Pennysaver is mentioned in an argument between the two main characters.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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