Printers' Ink, November 23, 1911 (Vol. 77, No. 8)
A 96-page weekly issue that printed the Printers' Ink Model Statute, drafted by Harry D. Nims: one sentence making it a misdemeanor to place before the public an advertisement containing any statement of fact that is "untrue, deceptive or misleading." It sits inside part two of editor John Irving Romer's "Legal Repression of Dishonest Advertising," which argues that a law needs a police power and proposes grievance committees in local advertising clubs, modelled on the Bar Association, to gather evidence for prosecutors.
What it is
A 96-page weekly issue that printed the Printers' Ink Model Statute, drafted by Harry D. Nims: one sentence making it a misdemeanor to place before the public an advertisement containing any statement of fact that is "untrue, deceptive or misleading." It sits inside part two of editor John Irving Romer's "Legal Repression of Dishonest Advertising," which argues that a law needs a police power and proposes grievance committees in local advertising clubs, modelled on the Bar Association, to gather evidence for prosecutors. Jules B. Schloss reports an Atlanta clothing firm's fake "condemned building" sale, prosecuted by admen but freed on a technicality. Other pieces: Frederick W. Nash on Heinz salesmen posting ad proofs and building displays in some 25,000 stores; Herbert N. Casson arguing that a large corporation must advertise to keep public goodwill; and S. Roland Hall on training a letter department out of stock phrases.
Why read it now
This is a founding text of advertising regulation, later adopted in some form by many American states. Its core test still governs: what matters is whether a claim is untrue, deceptive or misleading, not whether the advertiser can be shown to have meant harm, and most consumer-protection rules and platform ad policies now work from the same idea. Romer's point also holds: a rule with no one whose job is enforcement stays a dead letter, which is why self-regulatory bodies and ad review teams exist. What has dated: reliance on criminal prosecution pushed by local clubs; enforcement today runs through regulators, platforms and competitor complaints. Casson's claim that big firms must advertise to earn public tolerance anticipates corporate reputation advertising, though his political remarks are opinion. Hall's rules (named salutations, no stock phrases, a short note when a note will do) read as a current style guide, and the Heinz piece shows sales staff multiplying paid reach. Use: test every claim in a new campaign against the statute's three words before it ships.
Passages worth keeping
which advertisement contains any assertion, representation or statement of fact which is untrue, deceptive or misleading, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
أي إعلان يتضمن معلومة غير صحيحة أو خادعة أو مضللة يعد مخالفة يعاقب عليها القانون، بغض النظر عن وسيلة نشره.
No honest man has anything to fear from any honest law, provided it is so drawn as to be free from all ambiguity.
المعلن الصادق لا يخاف من قانون عادل، بشرط أن يكون القانون واضحًا لا يحتمل تفسيرات متعددة.
What is everybody’s business is nobody’s business.
إذا كانت مكافحة الإعلان الكاذب مسؤولية الجميع فلن يقوم بها أحد، ولذلك يجب أن تكون وظيفة جهة محددة.
They have found that while a little corporation may advertise, a large corporation must.
الشركة الصغيرة تختار الإعلان، أما الشركة الكبيرة فمضطرة إليه لتكسب ثقة جمهور يخاف من حجمها.
Formal and hackneyed expressions such as “would say,” “replying thereto,” “your esteemed favor,” etc., were listed as objectionable.
العبارات الرسمية المحفوظة في المراسلات التجارية وضعت في قائمة الممنوعات، لأنها تجعل الرسالة باردة ومكررة.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
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