Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-07-25
Hunor in Advertising
SweIls Bank Accounts


Henry ]. Heinz, pickle magnate,
began with the surplus of "a back
yard garden which he was energetic
enough to cultivate in piping times
| OF peace. When he died he was the
employer of thousands of men and
women and the proprietor of busi-
ness which yielded him such profits
that he was a very wealthy man.
! The late T. A. Snyder, of Gin
cinnati. catsup magnate, began in
small way marketing tomato cat
sup which his wife made and which
the neighbors esteemed. He retired
from active participation in business
! when he was not an old man and
devoted himself to yatching, travel
! in foreign countries and to motor
ing when motoring became q Nat
| ional pastime. He did not grow as
rich as Mr.. Heinz.
Mr.. Heinz, like Mr.. Snyder, no
doubt owed his inspiration to do
mestic success in treating the pro-
| ducts of the garden. He had one
name Heinz" in connection with
| pickles happened to hit the funny
! bone of the American people and
Henry Heinz was recipient of
great deal of highly profitable ad
vertising for which he did not pay.
The comic opera song, Heinz Is
! Picked Again." did not bear directly
upon the qualities of the pickles Mr..
Heinz sold. In fact, did not come
| nearer the Heinz stock in trade than
1t came to the famous peck of pickl-
ed peppers Peter Piper picked.
Nevertheless, a ditty dealing with
the drunkenness of n character
sung, not wept or honored, upon the
musical comedy stage was good ad-
vertising for a good business man.
The 'fifty-seven varieties was a
commercial idea. but it was adapted
easily to the mood of current humor
and the phrase flowed freely from
pen and tongue with benefit to its
originator.
The career of Henry ]. Heinz IL
lustrates the power of advertising.
1t illustrates also the great value
of an advertising idea or phrase
which transcends the common pur-
pose of advertising and achieves
popularity which results in it's being
repeated gratis until it becomes a
part of the speech and writing of
the period. Pitcher originally, and
Fletcher after him. gained a good
deal of free advertising by paying
for the publication of children cry
for it, until humorous repition
spread it far beyond the channels
of advertising. 1t is always we'll to
bear in mind that nothing is more
powerful in argument than humor,
and that it is true almost equally
that nothing is more valuable to
advertisers than an. idea or a phrase
which strikes the public humorously
and is employed, not in praise of
the wares in behalf OF which it was
originated, but nevertheless always
with indirect or inferential refer
ence to them.
T. A. Snyder was a good adver-
tiser and did a profitable business.
Like Henry J. Heinz he capitalized
a good household product and made
money out of it, but he did not origi-
nate an advertising phrase which
travelled from lip to lip and from
| column to column without cost to
the business it represented. Neither
of these successful men had the
benefit of the enormous amount of
free advertising which has come to
a well-known Detroit manufacturer
not as a result of the genius of a
! phrase maker in the advertising de-
| partment but because of very
nearly universal disposition to crack
a good-natured joke in commenda-
ton of a cheap but effective device.
The Detroit manufacturer stands
alone as a recipient of free adver-
| tising. The experience of Heinz i'll
lustrates the happy capitalization of
a phrase as well as the capitaliza-
ton of product. The phrase might
not have travelled as far and as long
had not the name Heinz" falling
upon the Anglo-SaXon car caused
| humorous reaction, and possibly If
the late Mr.. Heinz had been more
self-conscious or less alive to the
value of humor as advertisement he
might have regarded the humorous
employment of his advertisement re-
sentfully. 1t is not of record that
he voiced a protest against popular
disposition which turned money in
| to his Golfers.