The term came into Middle English around 1387 because of a popular comic poem published in Latin as Pamphilus, seu de Amore (Pamphilus, Concerning Love). The name was derived from the Greek "friend of everyone" and became the name of the printed product.

Its first connotation of a tract covering contemporary issues and heated arguments appeared in 1642. It is also called a libelle, from the Latin libellus, meaning "little book." In Spanish, panfleto is a brief written libel that is defamatory. In German, French, and Italian, pamphlet often has negative connotations of libel or religious propaganda. In Russian and Romanian, the word pamflet connotes a work of propaganda or satire, and is translated as "brochure."

Pamphlets can contain anything from product messaging to medical information to political propaganda to religious treatises. Martin Luther's 95 Theses was seen by most people in the form of a pamphlet.

Freestanding inserts (called FSIs in the US) continue to increase in number despite declines in newspaper circulation. More than 80% of coupons are distributed via FSIs in Sunday newspapers. The advertising insert (when inserted in a newspaper), circular (when hand distributed to homes or businesses), pamphlet (when given out in the store or on the street) or mailer (when mailed) are all the same thing - a multi-page, unbound printed product.

Most inserts are printed in centralised plants with versioned front and back pages based on a black plate change and then transported to newspaper sites for inclusion in the paper on a specified day. Transportation costs are an important factor. One future scenario sees the insert being printed at the newspaper plant using digital technology. To accomplish this, several important factors must be accommodated: low cost per unit, lightweight coated stock, and paper width. Thus roll-fed toner or inkjet would have advantages in this market. Now printed by roll-fed offset litho (and some gravure) the pamphlet is ripe for technological change and represents a major opportunity for digital printing if all requirements can be met.

The argument is that centralised printing on large offset presses is very inexpensive. This is true now, but technology often changes things.

Imagine a distributed printing approach allowing marketers deadlines of days, not months. Instead of printing at big centralised plants, files could be sent to plants closer to the point of insertion or distribution. What would it be worth to change products and prices quickly? The FSI is ripe for change.

Of course, a pamphlet mailed without a name (just an address) is often considered junk mail. If newspapers continue to lose circulation, new approaches will be needed to provide the "blanket" coverage some marketers want.

One may argue that the political and informational pamphlet has now moved to the web in the form of blogs and websites. But there are so many of them that none stand out from the crowd. If you want to stand out, put it on paper and get into someone's hands.

Frank Romano is professor emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology.