History of advertising in Britain day and into the 20th century. An advertising tactic that he used was to associate the Pears brand with high culture and quality. Most famously, he used the painting "Bubbles" by John Everett Millais as an advertisement by adding a bar of Pears soap into the foreground. (Millais protested at this alteration of his work, but in vain as Barratt had bought the copyright.) Barratt continued this theme with a series of adverts of well groomed middle-class children, associating Pears with domestic comfort and aspirations of modern cleanliness. Barratt established "Pears Annual" in 1891 as a spin-off magazine which promoted
Mark Pears in 1952, by his grandfather Bernard Pears (who changed his name from Schleicher on emigrating from Austria) and his father Clive Pears, and is run by Mark Pears with his younger brothers Trevor and David. Mark Pears has run the company since his father died in 1984, when he was aged 21. According to "The Daily Telegraph", Pears won't allow his photo to be taken, or say which of the 212 companies of which he is a director, a "complex labyrinth of operating and investment companies", is the main holding company or what the group's annual profit might be. In