-TUESDAY, JUNE it. 1S60
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, ORE.
Stores would begin cancelling orders. Very quickly, manu
facturers would close down plants and lay off millions of
employees. Volume production would be a thing of the
past . . . and so, prices would rise fast.
Within a week most radio and television stations would
close up shop for lack of revenues. The ability of many
j newspapers and magazines to perform their full, vital func
tions would be seriously impaired! And the cost per copy
would zoom for those that tried to keep running only on
circulation revenue.
This alternative to advertising can hardly be the goal of
the critics of advertising. Without advertising our national
economy, our national life, would be bleak indeed. In many
ways, advertising is the power plant of our society.
MORE CUSTOMERS FOR MORE PRODUCTS
American creative genius and wonderful ability for organi
zation have resulted in a tremendous flow of goods of all
kinds. This creates a crucial need for masses of people
anxious, willing and able to buy and consume these goods.
Only a society with a constantly rising standard of living
can provide the customers. These customers have to be
sought, taught and often persuaded to move higher in the
scale of living. This is the job of advertising.
I Machines produce products. Advertising produces cus-
'tomers. As machines produce more goods, advertising is
needed to supply more customers.
Suppose all our warehouses and stores become filled
with merchandise. What would happen if this merchandise
remained on the shelves? There would be a glut. Every-
, thing would slow down. Sure, people would still have to
buy the necessities of living food, shelter, wearables, medi
cine. But that is hardly enough to keep a very small part of
our factories, railroads, trucks, planes, stores in operation.
Millions and millions of people would have to be laid off.
Advertising not only gives people news' about the new
products, but provides the urge for people to own and enjoy -,
these products. The wider, and deeper the penetration of
our products into the life, of America;' he greater the need .
for more production. This 'means more jobs; More jobs'.-
. mean more people able to enjoy what we make. More people ;
buying means more, still more production. And so on and
so on. The result is that more Americans can enjoy more
of the fruits of their labor than people in any country
anywhere in the world can enjoy theirs. ' . .
' ADVERTISING LOWERS PRICES , ' '
Docs advertising raise .the cost of goods? On the contrary.
Through newspapers, television, magazines; radio and bill-.
: boards, an advertiser can talk to a prospect for a tiny frac-'
tion of a cent. Advertising is the quickest and cheapest way
of reaching large numbers of people. It enables the adver
tiser to reach his market (customers)! inexpensively ' and
thus increase his total production, thereby reducing the
cost of making and selling each unit. ; ,"':
THE CULTURAL EFFECTS OF ADVERTISING ;
j It's because of advertising that our mass media of com
; munication can afford to command the finest talent from
all over the world and give to the American people informa
tion, stimulation and education which, in other countries,
are available to very few people. X .V -,
Advertising makes its cultural contribution' in another
way. Advertising is in large measure responsible for better
living, less drudgery, more leisure for more people. This
creates opportunities for intellectual and spiritual activities
equaled in few, if any, other countries. While millions arid
millions of dollars are being spent by Ameriqans for cars,
boats, sports equipment and the paraphernalia of leisure,
there is a growing hunger for improvement of the mind and
for aesthetic enjoyment.
WHAT' ARE THE "NEEDS" OF PEOPLE?
Critics of advertising sometimes indict jt for creating: dis
satisfaction in- people's minds with vwiat . they'haye, and
persuading and cajoling them into buying what they neither
needinor want.- But-what; are "needs?"'. The 'needs'' of
people in undeveloped .countries' are not "-the. same as' our
,needs.; Our needs pf .5iyears ago are not the same:as they,
are today.. We don't actually "need" elcictric'razors.'electric
refrigerators, vacuum, cleaners,! television sets,, shampoos,
beauty treatments, -packaged goodsoreven automobiles.
But would critics of advertising stop encouraging people to
want a better life? Would they have the millions of people
who create, produce, and market the so-called "non
essentials" thrown out of jobs? Do they want us to go;back
to the more primitive living of other countries? ' j
ADVERTISING PUBLIC SERVANT . ..
Frequently, the advertising industry is called on to do direct
public-service jobs for the Government as well as for pri
vate public-service organizations. This it. does through the
Advertising Council, a non-profit organization supported
by American business and advertising media. Here's what
President Eisenhower said to the Advertising Council in
Washington several months' ago :. T ' . -
- - ' i - -, i : :'; w- ':
"For eighteen years you have been stimulating the nation's
conscience in areas where the voluntary work, of great
numbers of people has been necessary . in order to promote ;
worthwhile causes.. I -know you have been in such fields as
conservation, organized charities, safety, prevention of acci
dents, and more recently in giving your effortstofthe job
of pointing out to our people the need for self-disciplins
if we are to avoid debasement of our currency and prevent
. inflation.! . .'"..'-..;':;,'.,! " ' - . ;
."And I think no other body has-done, more in this
regard in trying to inform America across the' board of
these things than has The Advertising-Council.''
friMii bt Iht Inttrat of wider undtrstendlng of odvtrtliint, by
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE