ADVERTISEMENTS.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18659, 7 April 1926, Page 10

ADVERTISEMENTS.

THEIR EFFECT ON OUR DAILY LIVES. In a leading article dealing with recent changes in its make-up, the London "Spectator" has something to say about "the philosophy, the uses, and the methods of advertising." "We live, it is said ; in an age of advertisement. We. cannot escape from it; the right thing to do is to inspire and use it and bend it to our will so that we get all its advantages without futility or vulgarity. "Most people do not understand even now how much the public- depends upon advertisements. Advertisements simplify life for everyone. They make buying easier because readers of advertisements have in their memories a ready-made catalogue of what there is to buy. • If advertisements suddenly etppped people would, we think, be almost staggered by the difference which the absence would make. In trade we should seem to have taken a step back into the park Ages. "When there was a printers' strike in New York the newspapers appeared temporarily in miniature without advertisements/, and the first thing to be noted was that the sales of the large stores instantly dropped. In America the psychology of advertising has been so far elaborated that- it is accepted as worth while for. advertisers to set out a general truth or principle without connecting that, truth' or principle, for the time" being at all events, with any particular article. Thus ' they create in the -public what may be called a favourable .state of- mind,, ono which is more capable later of receiving particular impressions. It is enough. for the advertiser, that is to'l say, to call attention to, Jhe important part palyed by his industry, and to his own willingness to' spend money freely on publicity!. The,example, of.course,' is being, followed in this country.

I'/The old-fashioned. idfca that advertisements—within which category wq include at )east in the case of newspapers,' a. sign that desperate remedies were needed to save an expiring business is out.of date. Advertisements- ate no longer regarded asa kind .-'Of insult when -they -'are directed to.; intelligent people; « It is understood ,well enough ..not pierely that prosperity .may be prosperity by : idyertiseinehts', hut that greater prosperity' can probably only be, obtained iii .that jvay.i i '. \ ;■

■ "Finally, !adfei;ti»sments are a,a enormous benefit to the public, for this reason. By' continually 'making ti» goods advertised known they increase the sales' of those igoods,. and 'it thus becomes, possible., to produce .them more cheaply. The greater 4he amount produced the • lower the/'cbfct of individual, production. ;, . .'..',-■,,.

"In- brief, from the point'of view of the readers of. n paper advertisements ought to be eagerly encourage?;. They provide, the .wherewithal for a" larger and better paper .y A.larger and better paper brings more readers;, and the more readers there'are'the more advertisers.'willing toi' advertise. This brings in still more revenue; which in its turn thake's possible * further impro*e;ments,in:the paper. , Here indeed is a- beneficial circle."