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434 HARVARD BUSINESS REPORTS
of the producer or of the director has any appreciable weight outside of the trade.
• The usual forms of motion picture trade advertising are of somewhat less importance now than formerly because so large a proportion of the sales are made to the chain theater organizations through direct personal contact. The buyers in these instances probably know as much about the picture as do the salesmen. General trade announcements are therefore less effective in these cases.
Two distinct criticisms may be made of most trade advertisements. One is that they tend to be extremely blatant even for ordinary pictures. When a distributor wishes to describe a really exceptional picture, he is frequently at a loss for vocabulary with which to do it. A second weakness is partially a result of the first, namely that most trade advertising is very substantially discounted by exhibitors as being overoptimistic though not actually untruthful.
It may be seriously questioned whether the policies followed by distributors in the past relative to trade advertising have been as productive of results as they should have been. The necessity and the real value of trade journal advertising are not to be discounted, but that it has not been used in as efficient a manner as possible is true. Frequently, the advertising has been dissipated over too many trade journals. In 1929, there were between 60 and 70 trade and "fan" publications of which over one-half were directed specifically to exhibitors. Undoubtedly but a very limited number of these reached many exhibitors. Granting the necessity of a number of worthwhile trade journals, one might reasonably raise the question as to whether or not distributors were wasting money by advertising in a very considerable number of journals of rather dubious value.
Irrespective of the value of trade journals to exhibitors, and irrespective of whatever monetary returns the distributors may obtain as a direct result of such advertising, it has sometimes been contended that certain distributors carry advertisements in the more influential trade journals because of a desire to obtain favorable editorial support. This, it is held, is extremely important, particularly where frequent differences arise as between distributors and exhibitors.
Many of these comments have no particular application to the Califilm Corporation program, which seems to have been particularly well planned, the mediums having been well selected, and the emphasis placed on the proper point. November, 1929 H. T. L.