The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-12-08

HITMoR Is Also USEFUL.

1cs+it tt4oA.
HUMOR IS ALSO USEFUL.
1t does no harm to put touch of humor
into your illustrated advertising-humor.
however of the gentle and genial sort,
rather than OF the wildly violent and
grotesque kind II your advertisement looks
too much like caricature people will think
the whole thing is a joke. and while you
May get the reputation OF being humor-
ist somebody else will get the trade. / have
Just been looking at two illustrated Florida
advertisements. One shows a little picka-
ninny-blacker than the crack of doom
climbing up a palm tree. his white eyes
rolling in a wild frenzy, while fat ALI
gator sits at the foot OF the tree smil-
ing maliciously. The other picture Is a
photograph of a Florida beach in mid
winter. with a lot OF people bobbing around
In the surf and the rest lolling around on
the sand, with that same hearty disregard
for attire that you see down at Coney
island In the hottest day OF August. The
alligator picture Is funny, but IL would
never persuade anybody TO go to Florida;
bit the picture of those bathers languorous-
" summing their shins on the Florida sand
while NE in the North paying the
plumber for thawing out our pipes would
start a man of to pawn his ulster to get
ticket on the next train for the land
Of sunshine and birds and midwinter bath
ing.
There ~ s5ne sort OF picture that, in my
opinion, a modest man who Is simply after
hdsiness and not notoriety will carefully
avoid. nd that Is his own picture. / am
ewars ssat there has been considerable
advertLsins OF this sort among medicine
people and one or two shoe men. and
presume from its long continuance 1t has
been successful advertising. but
am inclined to think that the
advertising was successful rather
by reason of its persistence than
because 1t was adorned by the proprietary
visage. II Is questionable taste, this OBJ
truding your own face on the public all
the time; II savors strongly of vanity, and
vanity Is something that we all dislike
In others. 1t certainly lacks dignity and
smacks OF ouackishness. People don't care
what ySu look like; they want 10 know
what you've got, and how much IL is.
I don't think a proprietor's face in the
advertisement OF his goods ever attracted
customer and 1 know from having asked
the question OF divers people that 1T has
repealed possible customers. Don't obtrude
your personality. Push your goods to the
front and not yourself
GET GOOD PICTURES.
There's one thing regarding which you
can't be too particular. the artistic quality
OF your Illustrations. Don't let one OF the
clerks get up your pictures because he says
that when he was a boy in school he used
to draw cows and cats on his slate which
were highly commended by the other boys
Get somebody to do your pictures who can
draw; for. whether it is right or wrong,
your goods viii be judged by the appear
ence of your advertising. It's not expen-
sive. getting little outline sketches drawn
suitable for newspaper work. find no Diff
ncu1ty In getting all the single-column pict-
ures want at one or two dollars, while IL
want TO branch into something three or four
columns wide, I can get for S. piece OF
drawing rs artistic as anything you will
ma In the illustrated papers. You viii find
Il Of great assistance In getting I'D ideas
for illustration II you will look through the
illustrated advertisements so much In vogue
in the magazines; or, better still, II you will
glance through the illustrated papers occa-
sionalIy. I don't mean to suggest your
stealing any OF their pictures bodily or in
part. but you'll run across a good many
which viii suggest something easily ap-
plicable to your advertisers.
Keep up with the artistic fads OF the day.
The poster craze. for instance, which has
not yet run It's course, has proved most
admirable adjunct for advertising. Only in
adapting a passing fad to advertising pur-
poses you must use some Judgment. Don't be
the first to take it up. because people won't
know what you're driving at. And don't be
the last to hold on. because people get tired
OF passing fads, and any advertising device
that has been worn threadbare may well
be left for your competitors use.
In a general way, the best advertising
picture Is the picture that needs the fewest
words to complete the story. If you haven't
yet tried pictures in your advertising, try
few and see how they hit people. If no one
else In your line in your town has used
them. that's all the more reason that you
should JOHN p. LYONS.