RADIO ADVERTISING
Sir-Regarding "Buyer Beware’s" letter on radio advertising, there is no doubt that when this type of advertising first came over the air it was a sensation. Grocers will remember a certain tonic food which had hung fire for months selling like hot cakes. But the thing iss now overdone. To-day when you ask a customer what tea she would like the reply is very often "It doesn’t matter-they are all the same." In which case she gets the line showing the greatest profit to the retailer. Radio advertising has become a dull ‘and dreary business, and an announcer could be _ forgiven if he suddenly screamed "Take a dose of Epsom Salts -it would do you far more good than Blank’s Bilge at 4/6 a pop." In the olden days when newspaper advertising
was paramount a short slogan was effective. Many will still remember such slogans as "Every picture tells a story," "Won’t wash clothes," "Pink pills for pale people." To-day your innards are taken out and dissected by the Dragemoff Drug Coy. in such a way that you end up with a bellyache if you didn’t have one to start with. At popular hours you are compelled to listen to one minute of advertising to one minute of music. You are listening to a thrilling play and just @hen the hero is pressing his lips tenderfy to hers the sponsor chips in with a few wellchosen words on halitosis. Well, ses you, why listen to the Commercials? Frankly I think it is the personal touch or that breezy manner that appeals even if they sometimes stir up a wasp’s nest. Just imagine "This is the weather office" being toned up a bit. For "fair to fine weather" a little light trilling on the piano accompanied by birds twittering, and for "dull and overcast" a thundering on the keys and crashing of glass. I do not wish to condemn radio advertising entirely. It is an excellent way of putting over a new line, but advertisers should co-operate with the retailers before launching a new campaign. Often we are asked for a line we have never heard of, then are told by an amazed customer that "it has come over the air" as if that settled everything. Many "dud" lines are just put over on the vrinciple that there is one born
every minute.
E. C.
RUSSELL
(New Plymouth).
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19490506.2.14.2
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 515, 6 May 1949, Page 5
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399RADIO ADVERTISING New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 515, 6 May 1949, Page 5
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