ADVERTISEMENT SCHEME

Shannon News, 26 October 1926, Page 4

ADVERTISEMENT SCHEME

SLOGANS ON KNVKJ,OPKS, . BRITISH POSTAL SYSTEiM "HELP FOR TRADE RIVALS." Advertising relating- to commerce, municipalities, hospitals and societies will soon appear on British letters by the million The scheme of advertising on letter's is being carried out under the Economy Act of 1926. The /■ Postmaster General has placed a contract with a London firm which will accept > orders on his holm If for paid advertisements. The advertisments will he embodied in the dies of. post office dare-stamping' machines and will appear as part of the postmark oh all letter's passing through the machines. Orders may be for a. week or more, and for the machines at one or mor e offices. This scheme is being opposed by.a great many leading men of business, chiefly because of the danger that when they are advertising their own goods by letters through the post a rival firm's advertisement may appear on the envelop. Mr. A. de. V, Leigh; secretary of the London Chamber of Commerce, , *said in regard to.' the proposal: "The schem e of advertising by postmark does not seem to be a desirable one, • chiefly because the advertiser in many cases may be paying to advertise the goods sold by his rivals. This seems to be the great drawback." "If we send out a catalogue advertising . our goods," .istated a member of the staff of one firm, "most likely it will arrive, at its destination bearing a slogan on the envelope advising people to shop with a rival firm." At another firm's office it was stated , that this method would not be used, and a member of the staff of a third establishment remarked that it was hardly the kind of method that firm f v.-ould use to advertise its good^s. Th e advertisig manager of one large firm said: "I do not think it is likely to become popular. I remember that during the Boer War a certain form, of- advertising was introduced." he added. "The advertisement used to appear at the back of postage stamps, for the idea wts that they would be seen when the stamps were used. This method proved to be a failure, although a number of . firiwj adopted it. The entire idea died within three months. ; "Now" says the Daily Mail "while there is no objection to advertisements on envelopes when they are of a national character, such air, 'Buy War Loan,' or 'Visit Wembley,' there is a pretty strong objection to their use for purely commercial purposes. The post office is paid to cany a letter from the writer to the person to whom it is addressed, and there is no mora] wright to stamp upon the the envelope an advertisement over which the sender has no control. It might well happen that a letter conveying news of the death of a relative or a dear friend might have its envelope defaced by, an advertisemnet totally out of keeping with the occasion. "Moreover, the scheme is inherently unfair. Why should, a man who works up a fine business and thus has a large correspondence have to run the risk of being victimised by the Post Office by having t.h c . goods of a rival trader ' advertised on the letters he sends out? The whole scheme is undignified and unjust, and the money. It would bring in is not worth the ridicule and hardship it would cause,''