The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1911-12-28

/ Talks
DIGNITY IN ADVERTISING.
People Asked to Purchase Are En-
titled to Respectful Considera.
tion-Some Modern Methods.

All advertising should be dignified
In its way, whether 1t be exploiting
two-cent article or a thousand-dollar
one. You are asking people to buy,
and they are entitled to respectful lam
guage and a polite manner. Levity
is all very well in its way, at times,
but 1t should not be INDUCED In at the
expense of dignity. The advertiser
should have respect for himself and
his reputation, as we'll as for the peo-
pie he Is making his appeal to.
The cheaper. commoner articles Of
everyday use by the great masses of
the people have been advertised hon.
estly, straightforwardly and with dig
nifty for a great many years They
are, perhaps. the kind of goods that
might be- advertised in a less dignified
way without any consequent injury to
the sales. Sometimes an advertiser
OF some popular article will indulge in
slang that catches" certain class of
people. Sometimes he stoops to sys-
TENS and methods that are decidedly
"infra dig" but, because of the ma
ture Of the article. the public over
looks the indiscretion.
But when the manufacturers or deal
ers In articles that appeal only to the
intelligent and wealthy classes-ar-
ucles the cost Of which runs up into
the hundreds of dollars-lose their
self-respect and abuse that of the pub
lie by adopting circus methods to ad-
vertise their products, we be pardon
ed for feeling surprised, and we can
not but agree heartily with the author
tiles who have endeavored to stop this
style of publicity when it has over
stepped the bounds Of reason.
The postoffice authorities, and the
stress Of public opinion, have recently
ended the so-called puzzle PROPOSE
tions" of many of the popular piano
houses, and a few of them have taken
refuge in a new scheme, which is
even more reprehensible than the
'rebus" and puzzle plans. The lead
ing idea is to sell pianos on time pay
ments, and one firm with many
branches throughout the country re-
Gently offered cash prizes of 500 and
$40 bills for the best Slogans" or
catch phrases that would advertise
their particular piano. So far as is
known, the prizes were duly awarded
but the unsuccessful contestants were
far more fortunate than the winners,
according to the statement Of the firm
alluded to- Outside OF the chief prize
winner. the other ten received, respec-
lively, ten dollars each. while those
who tried but failed to win a prize,
were rewarded by the firm with an
order for sS7-to apply on the pay
ment of any piano purchased from the
firm within a given time.
An accompanying circular states
that these orders are "as good as gold
coin" to any one wishing to purchase
a piano, and that the order is as good
as so much cash."
The winning slogans were therefore
only entitled to ten dollars each. while
the unfortunate rejected ones each re-
ceived the equivalent of nearly nine
times as much as the winners got.
This appeared very curious logic ex-
cept on the supposition that the order
for $S7 was really worth about the
value of the paper 1t was printed on.
The trick was so palpable that 1t Is
reasonable to suppose the indie
fatigable authorities will soon be
after the offending firm again, and
with q probable indictment to follow.
While 1t is scarcely likely that any
person really needing a piano could
be hoodwinked into such scheme as
the above, 1t is nevertheless high
time that all reputable piano concerns
got together and made some determin'
ed effort to stop such tricky advertis-
ing in connection with their really dig
nified and very reputable business
Fame