Smyrna times., 1895-05-22
The Literature of Advertising.

| correspondence 10 the Times.
In advertising now may be seen some
fine examples of descriptive writing.
Take for instance the Wanamaker and
Gimbel Bros. advertisements of Phila-
delphia they are as a rule gems of
literary merit. These brilliantly exc
cuted word-pictures rely chiefly for
their excellence upon the simplicity
and fidelity of cOlor-effects, and to the
unlimited range given to the artists in
making interesting reading of what
elsewhere is regarded as ordinary
trades goods. They appear with tell
| ing effect in all the country newspapers
and form by their freshness and origi-
nality the most entertaining sort of
reading. While it is true the writers
of them may with note book in hand
make careful tour of their big estab-
lishments for the purpose of securing
proper data,-the real work of these
mastery efforts only begins with this.
They go out into the fields and take
inspiration from nature itself, catching
all the beauties of unfolding spring.
The play of color in the ever changing
sheen of green. The radiant coronets
of Varigated blossoms that adoruinp
every branch transfgure them into the
mesh and wool of natures deft Weav-
ing, garlanded into a hundred telling
shapes, speaking mutely of that dis
tant resurrection toward which all hu-
manlty trends. Something of this is so
skillfully interlaced with wonder pile
OF cottOnades that in the telling to
hundreds of thousands of readers later
on in the newspapers the charm of
exquisite cOlOring so enhances the
value of the otherwise ordinary goods
that they sell from the counters faster
than the prOverbial hot-cakes.
Again, when the roses bloom and tbe
strong lights and shadows of the sum-
mer solstlce caught here and there bv
sparkling brooks and playing hide and
seek among woodland dells and ath-
wart the hilltops until mingling with |
the pillows of the sun-kissed wheat |
they exultingly riot in all the splendor
OF the years manhood. Later on when |
the rich dress fabrics from the looms of |
Europe view the light in all their irri-
descent gorgeOusness in the big stores
the telling of these summer siestas
come in for their share in helping vast
ly to make the superb goods sell more
readily.
Thus it goes Oh, fancy and realitv 50
blended that to read be.
tween the lines one finds easilv Doetrv
ana prose entwined in the most enter
tanning manner. Contrary t0 the
ancient maxim, THAT in business there
Is no sentiment'-these masterpieces
IN advertising amply disprove, and
"hlle being costly, so greatly increase
sales by the powerful aid of the press
as TO be worthy of emulation bv MI
trades people. 1t is not to be expected
mat with most merchants even an
proXimatlOn to such an extensive and
elaborate system of advertising is at all
possible. Yet, as an object lesson. tbev
yet the pace for the omisson of the t;ne
worn stereotype style of advertisements
nat by often repeated sameness reDeI
ather "a, than attract the trade they seek.
" nateVer Is good in art has its value
"hile to some extent it is pardonable | (
Il admlring the work to despise the
workman. The work itself to pass the
rdeal OF mediocrity must be above the
workman, that Is to say, the advertise
nent TO be successful should have mora
Tlglnalty, more variety, and more
orrowed plumage than the goods itself
Facts and figures are hard of them
elves to make interesting. The imagi- b
atlon not being appealed tn. never :
esponds. More than half of what ia
iorth doing at all is intended for the
Imagination through the sense of sieht
hd surely 1t ought to be self-evident
lat the merchant who fails to excite
le interest of the public in his adver-
sements, has neglected primarily his
wn imaginative facuIties.
The effort required to do this too
ten nullifies the desire; hence is to
seen the same old hackyped "adT
aklng its appearance daily or weekly
le year round.
The newspapers are then the banners
trade which sweeping along pell-mell s
every conceivable channel, have al.
ction given to it in which thousands
ew not the surging masses below. but
e inscriptions on the banner above.
j. B. S.