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Howard Luck Gossage, dubbed The Socrates of San Francisco, believed that “most advertising in existence is, in itself, a detriment to the industry.”

“Trying to explain responsibility to advertising men

is like trying to convince an eight-year-old that sexual
intercourse is more fun than a chocolate ice cream cone.”
Howard Luck Gossage; 1917-1969

Howard Luck Gossage, an advertising man who hated advertising, had a vision of what it should be. He believed that too many people who create advertising rely on repetition of an essentially dull message .

“There is only so much fertilizer one ought to use,” Gossage observed, “but people tend to lay it on so thick that it begins to obliterate the crop it was supposed to nurture… At which point it starts to attract flies, the neighbours complain and the stench is unbearable!”

“Is advertising worth saving? From an economic point of view, I don’t think that most of it is. From an aesthetic point of view, I’m damn sure it’s not; it is thoughtless, boring and there is simply too much of it.”

Marketing legend David Ogilvy described Gossage as “the most articulate rebel in the advertising business.”

One year after his death, Gossage was posthumously inducted into the Advertising Copywriters Hall of Fame.

Thirty four years after his death, a landmark study by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) verifies that the fertilizer is, indeed, still obliterating the crop.

Making money and corrupting the morals of a minor at the same time is not my idea of ethical advertising. Recently a television ad depicted a small boy breaking a window so the owner’s wife could upgrade to their own style of window. There were several messages inherent in this ad that bother me.

First, it says that it is O.K. to destroy other people’s property if the owner gets someone
else to do it. It’s like arson, but without the fire. Then, if you lie to the insurance company
(and your husband) and say it was an accident, you can use the money to buy a new window.

Of course, since the damage will be over a thousand dollars, the crime is now a felony.
Felons can’t hold government jobs and are marked for life. Oh, yeah, insurance fraud is a
crime, too. But who would fall for such an idea? You’d have to find a little kid, give him
money and get him to promise not to tell who paid him and why. All eight year old children
have to face life’s decisions sometime, don’t they?

Now, some ad executive decided to put these ideas on the tube so that millions of people
see it, including a lot of kids. So what if the cost of insurance goes up, the cost of the TV
ad is tacked on to the price of the product and everybody makes a profit? That’s a good
thing, isn’t it?

Did you ever buy something advertised on TV or in a magazine and was disappointed with the quality or the performance of the product? While it is impossible to change the way some companies advertise their products, here are a few clues that will warn you away from being cheated. Over-the-counter medications are prime examples of the old carnival pitch. If words like ’sometimes’, helpful’, bigger’, or ‘more effective are used, then you know that without a comparative study and the percentages to go with them, these modifiers serve only to put a positive spin on the product.

When a medication is helpful, does that mean one per cent of the time or ninety percent of the time? How often is sometimes and bigger than what? Products touted as ‘amazing’ or ‘fantastic’ get your adrenaline going, but don’t let it get to your wallet. Personal recommendations are purely anecdotal and have nothing to do with a comparative blind study. Adjectives like ‘incomparable’, ‘incredible’ and ‘unbelievable’ often mean exactly what they say. Skin products are rampant with false claims and mythical properties. In science class, we learned that the human skin is practically impervious to anything you put on it except for some acids or strong alkali. A simple softening hand lotion is all you’ll ever need and then only in unusual circumstances. Hair shampoo is another catch-all for superlatives. A bar of hand soap in soft water will wash your hair fifty times for eighty cents and do a great job.

I once ordered three ‘Multi-fruit trees’ from a magazine ad. The picture showed apples , pears, cherries and peaches growing from the same tree! I paid my $5.95 and received three dried out sticks wrapped in spaghum moss. Not even Darwin himself could resurrect these specimens. Other similar items found their place in the attic, like FM transmitters (Fool your friends with your voice on the radio!), instant breast enhancers, fifteen watt bulbs that last forever, and an all-purpose stain remover that supposedly helps remove (almost) any stain. So don’t be taken in by the seemingly wonderful qualities of ‘bargain’ products. Rely on scientific studies, consumer reports and trial and error. If that doesn’t work, ask your mother.

Great age allows for making a lot of mistakes. I hope I learned from some of them.

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Classified advertising is a form of advertising that many new business owners overlook. With today’s shift in advertising from off-line and online there’s never been a better time to use his valuable marketing tool.

Correctly applied classified ads can yield the most exposure to your product in any of available online. When improperly used however a classified ad can be a tremendous waste of money.

To be a success with classified ads and any off-line advertisements it’s absolutely critical to keep the four key components of direct marketing in mind at all times. The four components are the marketing message, the marketing target, the marketing vehicle and the marketing frequency.

It’s not enough to find the best advertising deal possible while getting your advertisement in front of the eyes of as many people as possible. To run a successful marketing campaign you must always consider what drives your customer to buy. Simply put you must always seek to deliver the right message to the right person in the right place at the right time for best results.

The four components: The marketing message,the marketing target, the marketing vehicle and the frequency and timing.

You’ll have the greatest advertising success when you know what you’re marketing, and to whom. Knowing what to market will be the foundation of your message and who you market to, is the marketing target. You will need a way to get that message to the target marketing vehicle and you must do it often enough to cause a response.

When you follow these rules it will be much easier to determine why your response rates aren’t high enough. It could be due to you making the wrong offer, or targeting people who aren’t interested in purchasing your product. It could be you’re putting your message were the target market will not see it, or you’re not doing it often enough.

When it comes to analyzing what could be wrong with your advertisement you can see the importance of the four components mentioned above. Realizing your products marketing potential can only be realized by using thorough market research of your past and potential customers. Once you have successfully determined what prompts the most likely customer to purchase, you can frame your advertising message to meet them.

Matt Sherborne is the Author of Get Rich Trading E-Currency and Explode Your Ad. You can visit his advertising blog here: Best Advertising Advice For information on the best Myspace tools visit: http://www.myspacereviews.com

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