Imperial Valley press., 1938-07-29
The POst-Press Business Review

the shortsighted policies adopted
by many organizations of reducing
their sales force and advertising
and other sales activities.
The Professor of Economics of
New York University, Lewis Haney,
wrote, II consider advertising to be
an important productive force. Ad-
vertising is a part of selling; SELL
ing is part of exchange; eX-
change is part of production, for
production consists in adding utili-
ty to goods. When goods are put
in the hands of people who want
them more than the people who
have them for sale, the whole
community is benefited.
ut should be noted especially
that in these days, people have
come to look upon the advertise
ments printed in newspapers as a
part of their regular shopping
technique"
Merryle Stanley Rukeyser, of New
York City. says, selling by print
ed or oral word at this juncture of
national economic distress is the
spark plug which will regenerate
socially useful activity. Nowadays
when a salesman or an adman ac-
complishes a sale, he not only
benefits the seller and his customer,
but also helps to put back to work
an unemployed person in some
distant factory. Business creating
advertising thus helps to set in
motion benign spiral of recovery
influences.
advertising helps to iron out
the existing maladjustments, which
prevent us from reaping the fruits
of our magnificent productive
mechanism.
Advertising Symbol of Liberty
Advertising, as we know it, is
also an important democratic sym
Dol. II is a token of the freedom of
choice of American consumers.
Each day the consumers quietly
hold plebisite, and by spending
or withholding their purchasing
power they select businessmen who
are to flourish as we'll as those who
are to fail. In tOtalitarian cOun-
tries, there is no need for adver-
tising. which is based on the art
of persuasion. Over there, the die
tatOrs make the decisions, and the
public follows along slavishly-Or
is purged. Thus advertising is more
than a tool of business. 1t is an
essential symbol of individual lib
erty and initiative. 1t is a recOgni-
ton of the freedom of the consul
mer to make his own decisions"
Carl Smith of the Babson In
stitute responded with a most con-
structive statement: advertising
is an important factor in economic
stability. Advertising creates wants,
and wants create business. In 1916,
comparatively few American con-
sumers desired to eat cheese. Only
3l5,000,000 pounds of cheese were
consumed in that year. But adver-
tlslng stimulated a taste for cheese
and now America consumes more
than GAS 100000 pounds of cheese
year.
In 1912, only 250OOO automobiles
were sold. With the aid of adver-
tlslng nearly 100000 persons pur-
chased motor cars by 1926. To meet
this new demand for efficient and
economical transportation, hun
dreds of new industries sprang into
being, hundreds of thousands were
put to work, and the industries
Sprang into being, the standards
OF wages and living were raised and
business generally prospered.
advertising alone, however, can
not bring prosperity. 1t may create
wants, but until enough people
nave enough money to spend for
the things they want, business can
not be prosperous. Increased pur-
chaSlng power is just as vital to
the return of prosperity as increas-
ed wants created by advertising
Advertising Increases Availability
improved economic condition,
come when wants have been Great.
ed by means of advertising and
when there has been a reduction nj
commodity prices to the consumer
by means of reduced costs of pro.
duction and distribution. Advertis.
ing plays an important part in thi.
economic process. Witness the pric,
reduction of automobiles from S2Ot
to $500 in a period of 25 years, OF
the cost of rayon from Sl.85 pel
pound to $57 per pound"
Lee x. Bristol, vice president O
the Bristol-Meyers Co., said,
Frankly I consider the Who'll,
subject one SO vast and compli
Gated that no single answer woult
be a competent one. Obviously, sell
ing will play an important part il
maintaining all industry through
out good and bad times"
Many other people have gone OF
record as indOrsing advertising a
a recovery aid, including such mer
as Secretary of Commerce Roper
DR.. Morris Fishbein of the Ameri