ADVERTISING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 78, 23 March 1914, Page 4

ADVERTISING.

An interesting. discussion upon the question, “Who Pays for Advertising?” took place last month at the Aldwych Club, London. Mr James Walker (“Manchester Guardian”) presided over a large attendance. The discussion was opened by Mr John Hart, who contended that the manufacturers who suffered owing to the successful advertising of another firm were the people who paid for the advertising. If a man’s output decreased, his production and distribution expenses must increase. Advertising meant successful trading, and neither the consumer nor the trailer nor the manufacturer paid for advertising. The cost was carried to the goodwill of the business. One speaker contested Mr Hart’s arguments. Expenditure was not necessarily limited. Advertising created new demands, and, by some law of compensation, provided the means for it. They were all living in better times to-day; expenditure had increased, and advertising had created a demand for things that people never wanted before. Advertising was the'cheapest form of selling, and the consumer obtained the advantage. The consumer did not pay anything for advertising. Mr T. Swinburne Sheldrake declared that those who said there was a fixed amount of money available for the purchase of commodities, and that it was a definite and determined amount, were talking absolute nonsense. As civilisation had progressed, the wealth of the world had progressed, and the wealth of the world was not a question of so many sovereigns, but a question of the exchange capacity of the inhabitants of the globe. Advertising was a very good thing for the town and the country; it made money circulate. It induced people to acquire property of which they did not feel the need before. v