Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1925-05-22

waste motion and time,
But there are some economic
wastes which can be eliminated by the
advertising managers. One of these
You are already attacking through
your development of research activi-
ties. An advertising agency is .
selling agency. The indispensable
attribute Of salesmapship is an 'un-
derstanding of the market. Compe-
tent craftsmanship requires that its
efforts be expended in territory and
by methods which shall reach the
maximum number of buyers at the
minimum cost. It follows logically
that sound market analysis must be
an integral part Of advertising sales
manship. All this requires hard. in
tensive, not superficial analysis. Re-
search in these matters is like that
in any other branch of economics. It
takes time to develop experience and
method. You have already gone q
long way in this direction.
There is another economic waste
through advertising which has given
your organization great concern and
is of the most profound concern to
the public. / do not refer to the
field of fraudulent representation, for
that is simply porch climbing. What
do refer to is the advertising of ar
ticles which do not really contribute
either to usefulness, comfort, or even
luxury.
To attain a permanence in public
confidence, to maintain position as
part of the economic machinery of
the country, the advertising executive
and the medium need to see to it that
the desire they create is satisfied by
the article they present To estab-
lish the good will of the public toward
producer of goods and service is not
alone necessity to success in ad-
vertising, it is also necessity to the
advertising executive and the adver-
Using medium if advertising is to
maintain it's influence.
Great advancement has been made,
so great in fact that while advertis-
ing at one time may have been looked
upon as a nuisance and an intrusion
for the beguiling of the credulous
only, it has now come to take place
as commercial news and as an eco
nomical method of craftsmanship. It's
first step in progress was when the
medium, recognizing it's responsibility
to the readers, exercised censorship
over extravagant, distasteful, and
misleading copy. This gave more
crsdibility to truthful advertisements
themselves. The next great step was
your organized action of advertising
managers, advertisers and advertis-
ing mediums through moral suasion
Vigilance Committees and Better
Business Bureaus.
It is not much to say that from all
the many inventions and the multi
tude of ideas that are poured forth
daily in the preparation of advertise
ing there is emerging science and
a profession. 1t is becoming a sci
enee in it's search FOR method and a
profession in it's skill of management,
am told there are seven thousand
students in our business educational
institutions preparing for advertis-
| ing as a career.
But the milestone which will mark
the passage from trade TO a profess
sion is the establishment of group
ethics. 1t is upon this subject that l
wish to lay some emphasis. The
group characteristic of law and med
icine and engineering is not alone
the training of skill required, it is
the elevated code of relations with
fellow men, the incorporation of res
possibility to the community into the
daily task, the insistence upon high
sense of service given, that marks
their distinction. The use of the slo-
gan ''truth in advertising" and the
vigilance agencies which you have
set up to protect the consumer are
themselves the finest of proof that
this business is evolving toward high
ly ethical standards.
| Advertising unfortunately still has
to contend with some residue of I'M
ethical practices and with accumulat-
ed prejudices which arise from the
methods of many years ago. But in
the organizations which you have set
up, the principles which you have ad-
vocated, the practical steps which
you have undertaken, we are seeing
new day in the ethics of advertising
itself. And just so far as those
ethical principles are embodied in
practice, just that far will the public
grow in confidence in advertising and
just that far have you progressed in
to, profession.
Now all this description and com
ment upon the work of your profess
sion raises for me another picture
in which we can take great pride.
Through the discussion and advocacy
of standards OF conduct and ethics