Advertising vertising unless the manufacturer is substantial and can be
depended on, and unless the advertising itself is trustworthy. A
would-be dishonest advertiser would have a hard time getting anybody to
sell him the advertising space or time nowadays. There were never many
dishonest advertisers, but it takes only a few to hurt all. The
advertising business has grown a great deal since the advertisements
themselves became more dependable.
Advertising vertising unless the manufacturer is substantial and can be depended on, and unless the advertising itself is trustworthy. A would-be dishonest advertiser would have a hard time getting anybody to sell him the advertising space or time nowadays. There were never many dishonest advertisers, but it takes only a few to hurt all. The advertising business has grown a great deal since the advertisements themselves became more dependable. You see an ad in a magazine. How did it happen to be there—that exact ad, in that magazine, on that date? Here is the way, step by step. Our story will begin when a manufacturer appoints an advertising agency to handle his advertising for him.
Let us suppose that this particular manufacturer makes a brand of soap for washing dishes, doing the laundry, and other kitchen purposes. First, the account executive of the advertising agency studies the product. He compares it with every other kind of kitchen soap. He will probably send samples to a laboratory, to have it tested by scientists. From the laboratory, he will probably find out what this soap has that makes it different from, and perhaps better than, other soaps. Next, the account executive wants to know what kind of soap American women want in their kitchens. He may send out a large crew of men and women to go from one house to another and ask the women questions. From the results of this "survey" the agency will make out a list of what is most appealing in a soap. Suppose they find out that American housewives like soapsuds with fine, small bubbles. And suppose, by coincidence, their client's soap (the laboratory said) happens to make these small, fine bubbles. That will be a "selling point" worth advertising. Top to bottom: Coopers, Inc., N.Y. Board of Transportation, Outdoor Advertising, Inc. These pictures show three different kinds of advertising.
At the top, photographers are setting up lights and cameras to make an advertising photo. In the middle you can see the poster* used to advertise different products in a New York subway station. At the bottom i* Time* Square at night, *how- ing the huge electric sign* called "spectaculars." These are electric billboard*. Most of them flash on and off at times, to show different words or make figure* seem to move.
