Flyer (pamphlet)

Flyer (pamphlet)

A flyer or flier, also called a circular, handbill or leaflet, is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in a public place.

Flyers may be used by individuals, businesses, or organizations to:

• Promote a good or service, such as a restaurant or nightclub.
• Persuade or send a social, religious, or political message, as in evangelism or political campaign activities on behalf of a political party or candidate. Flyers have been used in armed conflict: for example, airborne leaflet propaganda has been a tactic of psychological warfare.
• Recruit members
• Advertise an event such as a music concert, nightclub appearance, festival, or political rally

Like postcards, pamphlets and small posters, flyers are a low-cost form of mass marketing or communication. There are many different flyer formats. Some examples are:

• A4 (roughly letterhead size)
• A5 (roughly half letterhead size)
• DL (compliments slip size)
• A6 (postcard size)

Flyers are inexpensive to produce. Their widespread use intensified with the spread of desktop publishing systems. In recent years, the production of flyers through traditional printing services has been supplanted by Internet services; customers may send designs and receive final products by mail.

But flyers are not a new medium: prior to the War of American Independence some colonists were outraged with the Stamp Act and gathered together in anti-stamp act congresses. In these congresses they had to win support, and issued handbills and leaflets, pamphlets, along with other paraphernalia, to do so.

Today, some jurisdictions have laws or ordinances banning or restricting leafleting or flyering, and owners of private property may put up signs saying "Post No Bills"; this occurs particularly on wooden fences surrounding building sites or vacant lots.