The Yale expositor., 1913-06-26
advertising
Oaks
HUM0R IN ADS THAT
MEANS SOMETHING
Kind That Causes Smiles That
Yield to Sense Of Conviction
Is Effective.
sv WILBUR D. NEsRIT.

If YOU care to, you can trace
"humor" and human back 10 the
same root, or at least to the same
tree.
The trouble Is that some people do
not differentiate between humor anu
cut.and.dried clownishness. Nelther
do they differentiate between humor
and wit. or between humor ana Jest
ing.
They just call them all "humor.
Humor is a very human attribute
The dictionary gives us such classln-
cations as good humor,' iii humor'
and so forth. All these phases, Vi
humor are human manifestations
part of our daily lives. They CLASSIFY
| the good.natured man and the grouch'
the optimist and the pesslmist'
Certainly an advertisement is not
| to be construed as vehicle lot the
! obvious lest or the dragged-in Joke
An advertisement is neither an AFTER
dinner speech nor feature column
1t is a business proposition but II
surely can be and should be good-
natured
You NAV be as grouchy as you
please in the privacy OF your SANE
tum. You may rule things with an
iron hand and make your employees
stand around or get what ID what
Rut when you meet Mr.. Customer,
you shed your crouch as a garment,
and YOU most assuredly DO not can
him down for having the temerlty 10
want to buy your goods.
There are places where the unsus
pecting customer is made to feel that
his utterly helpless mental state Is
pitied and that a truly marvellous
kindness is being shown him in walt
ing on him-but that doesn't coax
him into the observation-disclosures
a-customer class.
Re pleasant" is not only policy
II is a fixed rule Of successful sales
manship.
And whenever anybody tells you
not to be pleasant in your advertis-
ing make him show you why.
Good humor in advertising? BY all
means.
But. funny" advertisements!
Advertisements are not for the
purpose of making people laugh
They are for the purpose or pleasant
" convincing people that they ought
to buy the goods advertised.
And the man or woman who is
pleasantly convinced is the best
friend an advertiser can have.
Funny Ads by Humorless Writers
Most funny advertisements are
written or planned by humorless PEG
nile. II they had the comic spirit
within their beings they would know
l. better. A saving grace OF humor Is
mighty help in time OF trouble. II
. lifts people over the rough places anc
lightens the cloudy days.
The Lord in his infinite wisdom
creates every now and then a speci
men of the utterly humorless man
= Probably this is done as an ooJec
lesson to the rest of us. And wheI
an utterly humorless man takes hi
: utter humorlessness seriously he be
: comes that form of critic who, because
he can see no reason for others en-
loving life and work and buying ant
selling lifts up his hands and bewail
the drift of things toward the DENIM
ton bowwows.
/, have seen artists who paint grea
r pictures unbend and dash of tn
most absurd caricatures of their owi
y work. have heard musicians VIII
o are able to evoke strains OF heavenl
u melody produce the raggediest
9 ragtime parodies Of the composition
e of the great masters. ! have hear
y professional humorists tell storie
and read poems which clutched tn
/ heartstrings and brought tears G
a which those who shed them were VI
u ashamed.
u George AIDE pounds home trut
u I'm his Fables In Slang, and b
- hounds It home in a way that make
- you smile and makes you thinl
L. Mark Twain wrote some OF the will
% est. most improbable funny thing
70 and he wrote some OF the gentles
- most human, and naturally humorou
10 things that ever came from the brai
OF man. And he wrote life OF Joa
of Arc that is so serious and SINGER
Z and withal so filled with human kin
ness and touched with deep hume
,e that II can never be forgotten.
J., A sense OF humor is sense
II humaneness.
g. All normal people have this.
CT But the turning of jokes-the Gu
ting and fitting of buffoonery in
y the same old jest day after day-th
IL is as far from huinor as the Glow
as in circus ring is from Joe Jefferso
All good advertisements are humC
us-good-humorous They are frien
" in tone. They have the angle
human appeal. They have the ri
m OF truth and sincerity, because tn
at approach you In way that you u
derstand They don't need explar
DO, ton. They are heart-high.
an the Joke a clsneins Shaft.
A Joke glances on the memoi