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THE WEEK ix& "WA-SXIINGTON
AS VIEWED BY OUR WASHINGTON NEWS BUREAU
October 23, 196U
While name-calling hits new lows in the political arena, federal agencies here are looking to change some product name-calling in advertising, from tv sets to fruit juices and sewing machines.
The FTC last week held a hearing on its plan to change the time-honored practice of referring to tv set size by number — 19-inch, 21-inch, etc. Instances of overblown retail advertising which mention picture size without qualifying information fired the commission to take a new look at the old standards. FTC proposes that new disclosures paring down inch-size replace the "overall diagonal" and square-inch picture area required In a 1956 ruling.
During the hearing. Industry planted some strong doubts of the feasibility of a new nomenclature which would, produce top to bottom industry dislocation and mean very little to the consumer. Under the proposed rules, the consumer would have to recognize his familiar 21-inch set in advertising that specifies: 19-lnchj 19-lnch picture; 19 by l5-lnch picture j 20Inch picture measured diagonally, or 262 square Inch viewing area.
The new standard would banish customary trade measurement of a diagonal that includes thickness of the picture tube, and. evolved from the diameter measurement of the old. round, tubes.
Industry association spokesmen for manufacturers, distributors, retailers, parts and service dealers said there would be confusion not only for the consumer ("who couldn't care less") — but for all users of cathode ray tubes, in space and defense and Industrial contracts world-over.
Jack Wayman, staff director of consumer products division of the Electronics Industry Assn., explained that tv set designations in practice are "secondary meaning." This is the term given to the acceptable shorthand, of communication between seller and buyer, which may not reflect exact specifications. Typical example is the builder's "two-by-four" planks which are actually planed down to smaller size.
Wayman produced a sheaf of letters from electronics associations abroad, and industry segments at home, pleading for the status quo on tv set measurement. A note from the national Better Business Bureau said they had never received a single consumer complaint on tv set size.
It was pointed out that FTC complaints about overblown advertising of tv set size go largely to retail advertising. The manufacturers and distributors have lived up to the qualifying requirements in any mention of tube-size, EIA's Wayman pointed out. But the retail advertiser, the copy writer or layout artist Is "merely doing what comes naturally, when he assumes," we believe justifiably, "that the consumer Is not Interested in the detailed explanation."
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October 26, 1964 13
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