Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1910-11-11
Advertising
[Ta|kS
TRUTH IN
ADVERTISING
By w. j. HAMPTON

That an advertiser will not make
public statement over MS own sigma
ture concerning the goods he offers to
possible customers which he can not
substantiate. He might do it, per-
haps, over his counter, face to face
with customer, but giving it wide
spread publicity seems to put diff
ferent moral aspect upon 1t and he
sticks to the truth. A like reasoning
is followed, in a way. by the man who
says one thing on the street, and quite
another on the witness stand.
Granting that a certain amount of
exaggeration is legitimate and permits
sible, is it not evident in great many
advertisements that that limit Is ex-
ceeded? 1t is bad business, but are
not a good many advertisers making
statements to the public which they
can not make good? 1t would hardly
be fair to say that they never intended
to make good and were misrepresent-
ing for the purpose of attracting the
attention of possible customers, but
whether it be said or not the result is
the same.
Among a certain class of advertis-
ers, those especially advertising in
mediums circulating among country
subscribers, the downright lie seems
to be part of their stock in trade; in
deed, in many instances it Is the very
basis of their business. But such adj
vertisers are little better than crooks
and the Post Office Department gets
them If they escape the police. 1t is
particularly the advertisers in city
newspapers to whom this article Is adj
dressed. At intervals in New York
city large and reputable houses ed
vertise books for sale at prices much
below what regular booksellers can
handle them These books, always
standard works, are represented as
equal in every way to the regular edt-
tions and the difference Is price is &C
counted for by the fact that the seller
has bought out stock Of publisher,
or some other equally plausible ex-
cuse, and the books are sold to GUS
toners who think they are getting
bargains. Possibly they are bargains,
for a book by standard writer is
bargain to anybody who gets it at a
reasonable price and reads it, but that
does not make the books what they
are represented to be, and very cas-
ual examination will prove that they
are not equal to the regular editions
either in binding, paper, printing. or
dc nf hNNlyc
sold every year. by large stores all
over this country. But is 1t necessary
to misrepresent in order to sell?
Wouldo't buyers feel that at the price
they were getting their moneys worth,
even IL they were not regular edi-
tons! In my opinion a frank state
ment of fact by the advertiser would
not interfere with the sale at all. Pur-
chasers are satisfied with the books
as they are and will buy them, but
they do not want to be deceived.
Again in the newspapers will be
seen display advertisements of all
wool clothing, guaranteed, so the adj
vertisement says, but the price given
is such that all except the very ignO-
rant know the goods cannot be as
represented. Yet a great many such
are sold to intelligent customers who
believe the advertiser is telling the
truth, and that he has secured the
goods at a forced sale or in some one
of the many ways whereby genuine
stuff may be disposed of at imitation
prices. When a customer finds that
he has been fooled, the advertiser
loses him and as many Of his friends
as he can take with him. On the
other hand had the advertiser frankly
said what the goods were and at the
price were equal to the genuine, the
customer could have no fault to find.
Along numerous other lines the reck-
less advertiser pursues the same
course of Misrepresentation and not
only Injuries his own business, but
that of others, and implants doubts
in the minds of those who read adver
tisements to such an extent that be-
fore a great while no advertisements
will be believed unless accompanied
by sworn statement before a notary
Some time ago l read an advertise
ment in a shop window which read:
THE Only Place on the Avenue
Where You Can Get Two Collars for
a Quarter Several days after, it
was gone and / learned that it had
disappeared because of postal card
received by the advertiser. There
wasn't much on the card, but there
was enough to make him sore. 1t
read: You are right, it is the only
place on the avenue where you can
get two collars for quarter. At
every other place you can get three
or four" or course, some rival in
business must have sent the card, but
II that advertiser had not been ex-
ceeding the limit Of exaggeration in
advertising, he never would have got
such a disagreeable Jolt.
While the advertisers. who are SO
reckless of their language, are hand
ing out statements concerning the
quality of goods which are not true.
they do not make such mistakes in