Printers' Ink, January 2, 1919 (Vol. 106, No. 1)
A 136-page issue printed seven weeks after the Armistice, with an N. W. Ayer ad for Cox's gelatine on the cover.
What it is
A 136-page issue printed seven weeks after the Armistice, with an N. W. Ayer ad for Cox's gelatine on the cover. The lead, by Jefferson Thomas, shows how the Florida Citrus Exchange rescued growers who had netted less than half their costs: tree-ripened fruit only, careful packing, the Sealdsweet brand, a levy raised from one cent to ten cents a box, copy teaching buyers to judge an orange by its juice, and returns 25 cents to a dollar a box above other growers. Frederick C. Kendall weighs factory-owned stores, Bruce Bliven reports the expected 1919 advertising boom, a 1905 Richard A. Foley essay against superlatives is reprinted, James D. Adams argues advertising must remove prejudice (Gillette, revolvers), Val Fisher covers Britain's sale of German-owned brands, and Maxwell Droke attacks cheap dealer literature. Editorials urge insurers to fund health advertising after the influenza epidemic.
Why read it now
The citrus case is the most useful piece: a commodity turned into a brand by fixing the product first (grading, ripeness, packing), then advertising a standard buyers could check, paid for by a per-box levy. Category boards and cooperative brands still run on this model, and the report that branded fruit held its price when unbranded fruit flooded a market fits modern evidence that brands earn price premiums. Adams's point that advertising often has to remove a fear or a habit rather than create desire is sound and still underused. His warning against three-month "whirlwind" launches fits Binet and Field's finding that brand effects build over years. Foley's attack on unsupported superlatives holds; most regulators now require proof of "best" claims. Bliven's forecast that new wartime advertisers would expect too much and then quit is a pattern worth watching in any boom. Dated: the anti-German boycott editorial, the patriotic framing, and grapefruit sold as "more potent than medicine". Use: list the fears and habits that stop your buyer, then write one ad for each barrier.
Passages worth keeping
Housewives now will wait several days for a supply of their Sealdsweet oranges rather than accept fruit of unknown origin and doubtful quality.
الإعلان أقنع ربات البيوت بأن جودة هذه العلامة مضمونة، فصرن ينتظرن أيامًا حتى تصل بدل شراء فاكهة مجهولة المصدر.
Advertising cannot make a woman any more afraid of burglars, but it can make her less afraid of revolvers.
الإعلان لا يصنع الحاجة من العدم، لكنه يستطيع إزالة الخوف الذي يمنع الناس من تلبية حاجة موجودة أصلًا.
the only way to destroy an idea is to put a new one in its place.
الفكرة القديمة لا تزول بمهاجمتها، بل بوضع فكرة جديدة مكانها، كما جعلت جيليت التخلص من شحذ الشفرة هو الفكرة بدل الحدة.
So we might as well make up our mind that a successful advertising campaign is a long campaign.
الأفكار تنمو ببطء في أذهان الناس، لذلك الحملة الإعلانية الناجحة حملة طويلة لا دفعة خاطفة.
People no longer believe that a thing is "best" or "largest," or "foremost" just because the advertiser says so.
الجمهور لم يعد يصدق أن المنتج هو الأفضل أو الأكبر لمجرد أن المعلن قال ذلك، بل صار يشك في هذه الادعاءات.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
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