The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1914-11-14
VIGILANCE "AD'
BOARD NEEDED,
SAYS MARTIN
Value of Advertising Would Be
Boosted by Supervision, Ex-
~ pert Declares
TELLS OF SUCCESS OF
PLAN IN MINNEAPOLIS
Committee Insists That All Pub
lefty Be Absolutely Clean
and Truthful

Mac Martin. president of the Mac
Martin Advertising company. Of Min
peapolis: president of the Minneapo-
lis Advertising Forum, ana chairman
of the research committee OF the As
sociated Advertising Clubs OF the
World, who lectured before the
Adcraft club of Detroit. In the Board
OF Commerce, Friday night, believes
that Detroit and, In fact. every city
in the United States, should have a
vigilance committee similar to that
now being operated In connection with
the Minneapolis Advertising Forum.
This vigilance committee Of the
advertising mems association In Min
neapolis Is devoted wholly to educat-
ing Minneapolis advertisers to a full
appreciation Of the value OF clean.
truthful advertising copy. The com
mittee investigates every advertise
ment. the veracity of which Is ques-
tionable. does what II can to persuade
the advertiser to conform to the
standards OF truth. and then. II neces-
sary. compels him to by prosecution.
you would be surprised IL you
knew how much good this vigilance
committee has done for advertising
In Minneapolis" said Mr.. Martin, Fri.
day morning. THE committee Is sup
ported by contributions from Mime.
apolis newspapers. merchants and ad.
vertising agencies, and We are all CO.
operating to purify advertising copy.
THE committee has paid secre-
tary who investigates all cases OF
questionable copy. II one Of our mer'
chants, for instance, feels that a
competitor Is making misstatements
In his advertisements which are hurt
ing business, he makes request to
the committee to have the advertise
ment investigated. Our secretary
then interviews the advertiser com
planned against. and II he finds that
the truth is not being told in the copy,
he uses all possible moral suasion,
and In case that fails the committee
prosecutes.
"The intense Importance of truth to
advertising cannot be over-estimat-
ed" continued Mr.. Martin. 'If the
merchants, publishers, and advertis-
ing men the world over do not make
every possible effort to raise the
standard of advertising. the great
force of this science will be greatly
discounted. People must be taught
from experience that they can depend
upon the truth OF the advertisements
they read, and then we will find that
the results obtained from advertising
will be tremendously increased. 10.
cal vigilance committees like ours In
Minneapolis, organized in Detroit and
our other cities, would do much to
bring about clean advertising"
Mr.. Martin says that one of the
leading conservative magazines of the
east short time ago asked its read.
ers II they believed the advertise
ments they read In the publication.
Eighty per cent OF those replying said
they did not believe what was con-
tanned in most of the advertisements.
which. according to Mr.. Martin, shows
that the advertising value Of large
percentage Of the circulation Of all
publications has been in a large meas
ure destroyed through the readers
lack of confidence.