Bootie lacing tor redworm rearing — it's all there...

Taupo Times, Volume 23, Issue 58, 23 July 1974, Page 9

Bootie lacing tor redworm rearing — it's all there...

Half the enjoyment of the typical American outdoors magazine stems from the advertisements cluttering it up. Time was when most magazine readers deplored the volume of advertising obscuring the meat of magazines. But over the years we've become so accustomed to hunting for thimbles of text among thickets of advertising that, provided we don't buy American magazines too often, the occasional experience of a multi-page, multi-colour glossy is something to look forward to. And cheap at twice the price. What's 65c (NZ) for 230 pages of insight into the American hunting and fishing scene as interpreted by magazine editors and advertising directors? Can we buy a New Zealand equivalent? Just now, pre-occupation with conservation colours a great deal of American thinking on the outdoors, and is naturally reflected in articles and advertisements. Not surprisingly, it has become big business. Businessmen realised at the outset of the conservation cry that saving the environment could be just as rewarding financially, for some, as covering it with concrete, steel, and noxious effluents had always been for others. Hence no fewer than four pages of conservationcareers advertising in a recent outdoors magazine. The North American School of Conservation says: "Don't be chained to a desk, store counter, or factory machine. "Enjoy an outdoor life

with the extra rewards of hard muscles, bronzed skin, vibrant good health. "Sleep under pines. "Catch breakfast from icy streams! "Feel like a million — and look like it,. too!" Competitive advertising in the same issue, for the National School of Conservation, points out that: "The man who wears a 'conservation badge' is a man of action; a man admired and respected by men and women alike. "He is qualified and trained to handle emergencies — to preserve our forests, waterways, and wildlife... often to wear a pistol because he knows how to use it." Great stuff? Sex and violence, too, by George. Surely, Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, and Sports Afield, the big three of American outdoors magazines, have never had it so good, Explosive increases in hunting and fishing participation and in conservation interest, ensure an aggregated readership of several millions. And it will be growing fast. But, the larger the circulation of any magazine, the more diverse must its advertising lifeblood become. Hence the incredible range of product-advertise-ments in the magazine I've been looking at. Among dozens of full page advertisements are two for the Navy, one for the Coastguard Service, and one for the Army. Therifs a double-page spread on 20 ways to save money on your phone bill, from the Bell Telephone people, seven full-colour pages for seven different brands of cigarettes, 1 3 colour pages from car

manufacturers and assorted full pages from insurance, whisky, razor blade and hair oil companies. But it's the little advertisements that create the most fun. The Doggie Dooley, for instance. "It's a rustproof, heavy plastic doggy septic tank. "It uses safe nonpoisonous enzyme bacteria to liquefy pet stools for ground absorption." How about that? If you, by chance, have acquired a taste for giant bullfrogs, if you want to earn money lacing babies' bootees, or writing songs, or selling stamps, or raising redworms (asking price, $25 for 5000), this magazine will seem a godsend. If your main reason for buying the magazine was to read' about hunting and fishing, well, there's something there for you, too. When you tire of reading the advertisements, the experiences and advice of fishermen and hunters can be found, offering entertainment and instruction. Strangely, the style of angling features in the

magazine has reverted to the "Me and Joe" style that editors just wouldn't look at a few years ago. Maybe they've realised that angling is how you find it at the time, &nd that if anyone can write well about a particular trip, such an article will mean more, and read better, than generalisations. Even so, certain ingredients must be provided, including the whereabouts of the fishing, and how to get there, local fishing regulations, conservation matters, the most suitable gear, and so on. Undoubtedly, trout fishing articles and advertisements in American magazines are of great interest here in New Zealand. While, generally speaking, the average angler here enjoys much better fishing than his American counterpart, there's no doubting the enthusiasm with' which Americans fish for their mainly small trout — or the care they take to rnatch gear correctly to the §ize of the fish. And there's no doubt that if it were not for American materialstechnology, we would not possess the wide range of excellent tackle we use today. Now, they've applied the researches of an Englishman, William Watt, in the field of high modulus graphite, to the manufacture of carbon fibre fishing rods, which may supercede fibreglass rods. The manufacturer's advertisement for those rods is certainly more believable than another from the same magazine — for an ultra-sensitive directional locator "to locate buried treasure from a lohM^y' off."