The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1907-04-04
.>LnHLBoARD
MID ADVERTISING
WjlW Not So Profitable as rnat to
fN> BE Had IN Newspapers.
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Al meeting OF the IWentletn Gem
ury Club in Boston recently, accord
ng to the Boston Transcript, Nathan
ell G. Fowler, Jr., spoke on billboard
Advertising in a large part. as fol-
ows;
am uncompromisingl opposed to
billboard advertising for the follow
ing established reasons: First, bill
board and other forms of outdoor
Advertising constitute a second or
third grade of profitable publicity.
BY many prominent and successful
advertisers they are classed as lille
gitimate methods of advertising.
Comparatively few advertisers con-
,ider them of more than secondary
value; ninety per cent. OF the better
class of advertisers refuse to use
khem at all. The fundamental basis
~ all good advertising, whether It be
Of national or local character, is vest
ed in the newspaper and periodical
Of the regular issue. All other meth
Dds are worth comparatively little,
unless used in conjunction with news
paper or periodical advertising. The
economy of business, as well as that
Of every other estate, separates things
into the proper and the improper.
Successful advertisers. as a rule
those who have studied advertising
values-divide advertising into the
primary classes: First, the legitimate,
which includes advertising space In
the newspaper or other periodical;
and secondly, other forms of adver.
tising, which include the BILLBOARD
and other more or less questionable
advertising schemes. Something for
nothing isn't business, and is worth
what is paid for It. The advertise
ment which the reader pays for the
privilege of seeing is worth a dozen
times more than the advertisement
thrust upon him.
From the readers standpoint the
billboard advertisement is something
for nothing and commands the re-
spect of nobody. The public acknowl-
sdges the newspapers right to carry
advertising. 1t knows that without
advertising neither the newspaper
nor the magazine could remain self
supporting. It does not object to
newspaper or periodical advertising;
In fact, 1t favors it, because this class
of advertising has an educational and
other intrinsic value.
Frequently the advertising pages
of the great newspaper and magazine
contains more real and valuable in.
formation, and show moro intelligent
expenditure Of brain-power, than can
be found In the average literary page.
Secondly, billboard and other forms
Of outdoor advertising desecrate ma
ture, injure the scenery and outrage
the rights of the public. without
leave or license these flaming adver.
tisements are forced upon us at the
sacrifice of decency and of ordinary
fair play. The question naturally
arises, why do advertisers use the
billboard and other illegitimate forms
Of advertising unless they have q
business-bringing value?
There are two answers to the ques-
tion, First. all forms of advertising
have some value, and the billboard
may be profitable, although It is not,
and cannot be, as good as first-class
newspaper and periodical advertising.
Then the lower class of advertisers
are forced to use questionable meth
ods of publicity. The low class and
fraudulent advertiser Is obliged to
confine his advertising to billboards.
to religious newspapers, and to other
mediums which do not discriminate.
1t has been said that sixty per cent.
OF advertising is wasted. Whether
or not this be true, seventy-five per
cent. of our advertisers are not i'm
pervious to fiattery. They like to
see themselves in print, and especially
in color. Billboard and outdoor sign
solicitors are strenuous trade-getters.
They besiege the advertiser by day
and by night. They employ artists of
the boldest school, and they present
the advertiser with a sketch which
will please him. whether or not II
is acceptable to the public and has
real business value. The advertiser,
and especially the distributor of low
grade goods, Is impressed with bold
designs. with heroic pictures of HIM
self. This billboard sketch impresses
him immensely because It is immense.
( 1t looks its size, and the advertiser,
in his ignorance, does not realize that
space Of few inches in great
mediums like the Youth Companion
and representative newspapers, is
worth a thousand times more than
the biggest billboard.
For personal reasons, COR reasons
built upon self-conceit, the advertiser
becomes the easy prey of the bill
board solicitor. He uses billboards,
partly because it pays him to do so,
and because billboard advertising is
down to his level and fiatters him.
Now. what are we going to do about
itf The billboard is nuisance, and
Will continue to be, until the greatest
power on earth--public opinion
does something about 1t, whether or
not 1t talks about it. The kind of re-
form some of us have, and am not
excepting present company, is cold
storage reform, the kind that isn't
warm enough to run. Talking aRainst