The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1941-07-03

gear AS result, wage earners are
laid off and they can no longer
afford to buy things they want.
Then, unless the condition is cor
rected. we follow the long spiral in
to depression-less employment,
less wages, less buying, and then
still less production, still less en-
ployment and wages, still less buy
ing, and SO on-round and round
All this tragic state of affairs could
be started by having dictator en-
force a decree that business must
forthwith cease its advertising and
stop all efforts to sell goods. Our
present-day normal volume of bus
mess simply could not exist without
the pushing power of those who are
constantly trying to sell things.
So far as advertising by itself is
concerned, we cannot think of it as
anything but just a part of the
whole selling effort of business. 1t
was invented to sell goods and it
is very efficient way to sell them.
Some products are sold through adj
vertising alone. but in most cases
advertising merely helps to sell,
making the work of statesmen easier
and more efficient.
Companies that advertise consist
emily do SO because this gives them
a quicker and more economical
method of distributing goods That
is, advertising saves time and mon
ey in the process of getting prod
! ucts from factories into the hands of
consumers. If this were not true
there would not be very many
advertisers.
This fact, that advertising is COM
Daratively a loW-cost form of SELL
ing, is an important point for con-
sumers, and it is now always clearly
understood. The point is that if
there were no advertising, then the
total cost of selling the same VOL
ume of goods would be much higher,
for the lack of advertising would
have to be made up by other, and
more cumbersome methods.
i Looking at it this way, we can
see that advertising saves money in
selling just like the purchase of an
improved machine often saves mon
ey in manufacturing. The consum-
er eventually gets the benefits of
such savings, provided that there is
free competition.
The most dramatic and interest
ing use Of advertising is in announc-
ing new products and inventions. 1t
is in this field that the need for
advertising is best illustrated.
There is new invention. Let us
say, for example, that we have pro-
duced new kind OF stocking made
Of synthetic fiber, after years OF re-
search. The fabric is better than
silk and it is less likely to run. The
public doesn't know about it. In
fact, the public has seen other ar
tificial silk hose that have proved
inferior, and women who want quail
lity are now prejudiced against sub
stitutes for the genuine silk. But let
us assume that we really have a
product that is better than silk
worm silk. How shall we market
lit?
1T will cost a great deal of money
TO build factory, and more mon
ey must be spent to organize and
operate sales force. If we should
start on small scale, the unit cost
of manufacturing these new stock
tings would be so high that the sell
ing price would have to be far
above the prices of genuine silk
stockings and nobody would buy
them. The only way we can ever in
troduce this new product successful
Il ly is to bring the price down by
mass-production methods. To dc
this we must make the stockings ir
large quantities, right from the
start.
But we can't do this unless there
is large demand for the product al
the very beginning of our manufac-
turing operations. There is one
way, and only one way, in which
we can get started. 1t is through
advertising, large-scale advertising
We must not only announce the new
product as could be done in an or
binary news story, but we must tel
all about the wonderful propertie:
of these amazing new stockings ant
how lovely the ladies will look whel
they wear them. Il the advertis
ing is successful, many women will
want to buy the new hose, and on
factory can operate on mass
production basis. Then our new in
dustry will have a chance to. sue
coed.
This is an actual account of a
existing product 1t illustrates no,
! necessary advertising is in the i'm