Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-04-29

CdltOF or harper Bazaar,
luertiserS' Association.
get into her office when the insurance man
cant-that's the real estate man with pic
lures of little farms and lists of marvellous ,
bargains that can be bought for nothing.
Is his story really any better than yours?
A ND this brings me right back to the
"A dry language of insurance. In my
office in Harpers Bazaar. we have some
Is women on our editorial staff. | flatter
myself that they are unusually able.
Yet when we began to work on our
insurance article and started TO read
pamphlets and tracts on insurance, we be-
came hopeessly entangled. With each
step, we plunged deeper into doubt
BY the time Mr.. Leslie Gould came to
- our rescue, every woman on the floor had
one question she wanted answered. It
was then we scrapped the idea of an in
surance article and simply asked Mr..
Gould to answer our own questions in
terms of A, B. c that we could all under
stand.
Now the repercussions in the office
of the Bazaar were amazing. Five girls
have taken out insurance just because
they finally understand the subject-and
SO has one of our most glamorous Powers
models who happened to be around the
offices when we were going to press.
7 BELIEVE that we have broken editorial
ice that needed breaking badly. 1
think you'll find more and more magazines
following suit But | think that you TOO
need to break ice and search for easy ways
- of explaining insurance clearly to women
For instance, let me read two statements
which believe mean the same thing.
You may say to a woman -.
Our company offers policy which
carries these features: automatic premium
loan and optional settlements consisting Of
either life annuity or settlement of the
proceeds"
Or you may say
Our company offers policy where
by, if You fail at any time to make your
payment, the company will make your
payment for YOU. At later date, YOU can
then pay back the company, plus a small
interest charge
when lou have made all your pay
. ments on your policy, the insurance COM
pany either will send YOU check for the
full cash sum or, il YOU prefer, will send
YOU a check for lesser amount every
month for the rest of your life"
/ know which argument will carry
weight Will al NOHldI'
I INSURANCE needs a school of trans
L lators, who would put every insurance
message into language every one would
understand Every copy writer should try
writing at least one advertisement di-
rected to a child of 10 . 1t might be the
greatest insurance advertisement ever
written.
Insurance has dignified tradition
There is the danger Of leaning over
backward to maintain this dignity. We
nave exactly the same problem in Harper's
Bazaar. The Bazaar was started in an era
OF great riches and fabulous fashions,
when things were done" or mot done"
Well, every day we are changing our
magazine to suit the times . . putting in
less expensive fashions, fashions right for
the times, talking to the woman on her
own terms -. And we are managing to do
1t without sacrificing the quality or the
magazine. From now on. shall be read
ing every scrap of promotion about insur-
ance with great interest.
Forgive me if ! have covered old
roads, or made suggestions that YOU have
thought OF long ago Perhaps ] HAVE
rushed IN bit where angels fear TO tread.
II | have, hope that you will drop in at
Harpers Bazaar, turn the tables on me
and tell me how an insurance expert would
run woman's magazine