How "Reason-Why" Copy Dried Up a County
A 16-page pamphlet reprinting an article from the trade journal Judicious Advertising, issued by the American Issue Publishing Company of Westerville, Ohio.
What it is
A 16-page pamphlet reprinting an article from the trade journal Judicious Advertising, issued by the American Issue Publishing Company of Westerville, Ohio. It explains how the "dry" side won a local-option vote to close the saloons of Lenawee County, Michigan, with two weeks of newspaper ads. The copywriter dropped a planned sentimental campaign on finding that voters feared higher taxes, and argued money instead: federal liquor figures scaled down to about $7,500 a year per saloon, a $1,000,000 two-year drink bill that could stay in the county, and two black columns setting the $500,000 yearly drink bill against $31,000 of licence fees. Each ad carried a "free information coupon" for questions, spoke as "we", wrote "WHEN" rather than "if", and kept headlines to five words. The campaign closed with a bandwagon ad, a one-night newspaper and an appeal "For Your Little One's Sake".
Why read it now
Read it as a case file on reason-why copy written by the winning side. The publisher was the Anti-Saloon League's press, so the results are self-reported. The moves that still hold: find the objection the audience actually holds, here taxes, and answer it with local numbers; make reader and advertiser one "we" against an outside enemy; turn a large abstract sum into a picture, a 16-inch column beside a 1-inch one; invite questions, answer each one personally, and count them to learn what to write next. Research on social proof and on concrete, local figures supports these moves. What does not hold: the "scientists tell us" line about four words per glance has no source, though short headlines remain sound; the $7,500 per saloon is a national average passed off as a county fact, which the "wets" were right to dispute; and flattering voters' intelligence while calling opponents less than "the better class of citizens" plays on vanity. Use: add a question box to a campaign, answer every entry within a day, and rank the questions each week to choose the next ad.
Passages worth keeping
Scientists tell us that the human eye can grasp only four short-length words at a single glance. Except for the first day's ads, no more than five words ever composed the "dry" headlines.
بحجة أن العين لا تلتقط إلا بضع كلمات قصيرة في النظرة الواحدة، لم تتجاوز عناوين الحملة خمس كلمات بعد اليوم الأول.
The copy writer in the first two days of the campaign corrected the mistake of talking to the voter in the third person.
في أول يومين كان الكاتب يتحدث عن الناخب بصيغة الغائب، ثم صحّح ذلك وصار يخاطبه مباشرة.
At no time during the campaign was there expressed any "if" as to the probable outcome of the campaign.
لم تُظهر الإعلانات أي شك في النتيجة، فكانت تتحدث عن الفوز كأنه أمر واقع.
Only such examples as were directly applicable or could be made directly applicable to Lenawee County were utilized in the campaign.
اقتصرت الحملة على الأمثلة التي تنطبق على المقاطعة نفسها أو يمكن ربطها بها، وتركت أمثلة الأماكن البعيدة.
not even the outside booze barons can dispute Uncle Sam's bookkeeping
عبارة تستند إلى الأرقام الحكومية لتقول إن تجار الخمور القادمين من الخارج لا يستطيعون الطعن في حسابات الدولة.
What it teaches best
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