Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-06-10
FAILURE OF PRIVATE ADvER.
Using.
Why Cards, Circulars and the Like are
Failures rs Advertising Mediums.


From the New York Commercial Bulletin
Within the last few years it has become the
fashion with some people to do their advertis'
ing in their own private way, instead OF
through the newspapers. Some distribute
cards, some circulars, some pamphlets, some
even almanacs, and some inconceivable mon
strosities of oddly, circulating them by the
hundreds of thousands through the mails.
The printers art has been taxed to the utmost
to crafty the tastes of these advertisers. Some
of the finest as well as the basest specimens of
the art Of engraving, of chromo-lthographing
and of colored printing are being produced for
these purposes, and every conceivable style of
fancy paper is brought into requisition. The
advertisers vie with each other in the elegance
of their design and the costlinesS OF their de-
vices, taking it for granted that the receivers
will conform their estimates of the status OF the
advertiser to the artistic pretensions of his adj
vertisement. some people may regret that the
noble art of printing. at the period OF its high
est achievements, should be subjected to such
debasing uses; but to those who thus employ
the art. 1t should be equally q matter of concern
object tor which it is intended. With him who
notices such advertisements at all the first feel
ing on receiving one of these
SUPERB SPECIMENS OF TYPOGRAPHY
or engraving apt 10 be one of disgust that it
relates to the artistic pursuits of his butcher or
his bootmaker, or that the subjects of its ele-
CANT illustrations are chairs and tables refrige-
rators and brooms he throws it down with an
lndefinabe grudge against the man VINO has
been guilty OF SUCH ridiculous prostitution OF
art. and, without exactly knowing it, he is dis
t1nctly convinced that Il tradesman who spends
so much money in such an homogeneous way
is not likely to be endowed with the common
sense OF good man of business or to sell
cheaply.
In truth, however, those who take any notice
Whatever of this flood of announcements form
but very small per centage of those who re-
celve them They have come to be the NUS
ance OF both the parlor and the counting-room.
AT nome they are never opened but with diSap-
Polntment, because they come in the place of
letters really hoped for. In the Office the mer-
chant finds his morning mail stuffed with these
lntrus1ons upon the serious affairs of his bust
ness. which he inwardly curses or impatiently
cons1gns to his waste-paper heap. In short if d
pubic vote could be TAKEN it would unanimous
~ declare these drumming missiveS TO be an in
tolerable nuisance that should be denied the
privilege of the mails.
Men OF business who resort to this method of
advertising cannot be ignorant of the TACT that
the people whom they would reach
HAVE BECOME NAUsEATED WITH IT.
They must be aware that they themselves dis
regard all such appeals for patronage; and what
reason have they to suppose that others receive
their applications with more patience? Sa-
gacious advertisers are beginning to see this,
and are returning to the old method of public
announcement. The newspaper is, in every
sense, the best medium for advertising and, for
a given result, it is by much the cheapest also.
~
toners than any private announcement can:
ana 1t is more certain to receive attention. The
private circular is thrown aside as a thing which
people have come to regard as Il bore, and which
Is neglected because its recipients have no time
TO attend to it.. The newspaper is used in each
day hour of leisure and readers find interest
In reading its advertisements as well as its
news, because Of the variety they present and
the information they convey respecting Il wide
diversity OF interests. 1t may be safely estima-
ted that an announcement made through the
press is noticed 10y fifty readers where, made in
private way, it would reach but one. If, there
lore, the same amount We're expended in either
case, the result would be fify-told better from
the former method than from the latter. There
are, undoubtedly, cases in which the circular is
~ better medium than the newspaper. Such,
for instance as where the matter Is necessarily
lengthy, and the cost OF newspaper space would
therefore be very large. But such cases are
quite exceptional; and the sooner advertisers
learn the folly Of their present large expendi-
lures in seeking publicity through private
success.