Advertising Ideas
By GERVAS HUXLEY.
13110PAGANDA, in one form or another, is a business -11.: as old as man himself. It is the art of influencing public opinion. Like other arts, it was doubtless known to prehistoric cavemen ; but, invested with the me- chanical powers of modern civilization, it has now become dignified into a science—the science of advertising. Modern advertising is a surprisingly recent development. There must be many still alive who can remember viewing an illustrated Press advertisement as a startling innova- tion in the sober columns of their morning journal, while most of us can recall, on any blank wall space, the inscrip- tion, "Bill Stickers will be Prosecuted," which furnished so eloquent a commentary on the scope and status of poster advertising. Advertising, to most people, means the "boosting" of a particular product with the object of increasing its sales. We must, however much we dislike it, admit its force. Even if we dispute its effect on our own actions, we cannot gainsay the figures brandished by the advertising agent and the Press, which show, for example, how one campaign increased the sales of fish by 87,000 tons in one year ; how another, in six years, sent up the weekly sales of a Swiss Roll from 10,000 to 500,000; how yet another more than doubled the output of a certain brand of shoes. We must recognize, too, that advertising is no matter for the amateur. It has become -a business requiring highly specialized knowledge and technique. In America there are even University Professors of Advertising.
But advertising does not end with the simple function of selling branded goods. The forces which can double the demand for a drink or a cigarette can be employed with equal success for less specific objects. Publicity for the services of railways, banks, shipping and insurance companies, the advertising of a centre such as Regent Street, co-operative advertising of commodities through "Eat More" campaigns, all illustrate sonic of the wider ground which advertising has steadily and successfully developed in recent years. An even more general form of advertising has been carried out by the Empire Marketing Board, which has made an ambitious attempt to influence the buying habits of the nation. Instead of trying to persuade people to buy specific Empire goods, it has hammered away at advertising an idea—the idea of Empire buying in general—and has concentrated on creating a background of goodwill against which the more direct advertisers, who have Empire goods to sell, can show off their wares. The success attained by the Board in its six years of existence—and notably in its recent "Buy British" campaign—shows that this advertising of ideas can get concrete results. In other countries the same tendency can be seen at work. By far the most interesting example is the great Russian experiment in publicity—the "putting over" of the Five Year Plan, for which the Soviet have commandeered all the channels of advertising of the nation and released down them the mightiest flood of sustained propaganda that the world, probably, has yet seen.
The most obvious fact about this new form of adver- tising is that we are only beginning to experiment on the fringes of its possibilities. Sir Stephen Tallents has pre- sented a convincing ease, in a recent pamphlet, for the conscious projection of English national life on to the world's screen. He would like to see a subtle and wide- spread campaign with the object of enhancing England's prestige overseas. This is one possible application of "idea advertising." Another, of even greater importance, lies in the field of international affairs. For if there is one idea that needs, above all others, to be injected into the veins of every country in the world, it is surely that of the necessity of peace and the need for disarmament. There has lately been formed in Paris an organization called " l'Office de Propagande Graph ique pour la Pa ix." The moving spirit behind this organization, and its first President, is M. Jean Carlu, whose reputation as a poster artist extends far beyond his native France. M. Carlu was convinced, like most intelligent people, of the mad futility of war and armaments. He felt that those whose business it was to excite the desires and needs of mankind for commercial ends could contribute a real service to humanity if they devoted their special knowledge and gifts to the projection of peace. He was certain that the existing efforts of the various peace organizations could be made nine') more effective if they were backed by the full force of the best modern advertising technique. Ile therefore enlisted the willing help of a group of the leading advertising technicians in France, and formed his organization. Its objects arc to study the methods of projecting peace, to place its services at the disposal of any organization carrying on peace propaganda, to carry out such propaganda itself, and to support analogous organizations in other countries. Already 20,000 copies of a very effective disarmament pester, designed by M. Carlu, arc being displayed in France.
Having started his organization in France, M. Carla visited Berlin in order to urge the formation of a sinlilar or- ganization in Germany. He at once found the fullest cid hu- siasm and support for his ideas in German advertising circles. A concentration of all those German technicians able and willing to help in a scheme of international peace propa- ganda is being effected by l'rofessor Frenzel, the well- known editor of Gebrauchsgraphik, who has also placed his paper at the disposal of the League. A few weeks ago M. Carlu visited London. He met there a few of the leading men in poster advertising, and he found no less enthusiasm and support amongst our English technicians than he had met with in Germany. As a result of his visit, plans have already been formed to organize their services in the cause of projecting peace in England in a similar fashion to France and Germany. Clearly their first step must be to study the technique of peace pro- jection. The art of advertising an idea is not wholly similar to ordinary commercial advertising. The simpler and more concrete the object to be advertised, the more straightforward is the advertiser's task. A branded soap, for instance, has a few peculiar virtues to be proclaimed, and its name to be engraved as indelibly as possible on the potential customer's mind. Almost one thought and a few phrases—sometimes only the name itself—will suffice. The call to action is equally direct. It is simply to buy the article. For such a purpose the bludgeon is probably the most effective weapon.
But the world of ideas consists of more .complex material. There are so many more sides to an idea than to a cake of soap. It is difficult to condense the appeal into simple and brief terms. Arguments must be fuller. Reasons must be stated subtly or they may only rouse a spirit of antagonism or of boredom. Overstatement is dangerous. Humour may be a two-edged weapon. Too direct or too ingenuous presentation may result in bathos. The call to action, which is essential in all advertising, is usually less clear. Probably the flank attack is more effective than the frontal ; taking one by one the diverse facets of the theme, and presenting it in many different ways until its hold is established, rather than attempting
to force it whole down the public's throat. The choice of media for the message is important. They must allow for the presentation of the case by argument and reason. The message will probably be overshadowed if it has to compete side by side with the shouting of the "slogans "of commercial advertisements. Continuity and flexibility are also essential. Above all, the importance of prestige must be remembered. The manner of presentation must command the respect both of those who are likely to accept the message and even more of those who will be difficult to convince. Vulgarity, however striking, must be avoided. The highest standards of quality and dis- tinction must be set. Cheapness cannot be afforded. Only the best artists and craftsmen are good enough. The methods must never be old-fashioned or out of date: It must be realized how greatly such details as the choice of typesetting or paper or the quality of the printing will subconsciously influence the minds of the public.
And the projection of peace presents peculiar difficul- ties. It is of no use merely to proclaim the horrors of war: Advertising what guns and bombs can do to you and yours may well arouse the desire for counter-armaments. Good advertisements should be-positive and not negative. The idea of peace must be projected as something active and desirable in itself. The conception must be removed that peace is necessarily passive, to be exemplified by gravid cows chewing the cud in a pastoral landscape. Peace must be given action, glamour and romance. It must have the fire and the urge of war. It must be shown as something that youth as well as age will desire. Such essays as have hitherto been made in the projection of peace have not frankly been impressive. It will be of interest to see bow far the technicians, who, thanks to N. Carlu's lead, are now to take a hand in the work, will be able to succeed. 'They will, at least, have behind them the good wishes of a distracted world.
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