NAB reports (Jan-Dec 1944)

Private enterprise has created the arsenal of democracy upon which all nations in varying degrees rely to liberate themselves from the Germans and the Japanese. So advertising, voice of American industry, foolishly de¬ nounced by some as wasteful, sometimes despised as frivo¬ lous and actually marked for destruction by extremists in various governmental agencies, has modestly accomplished tasks essential to the United States and to a free world. In the process, advertising has been sifted and improved. It has risen to a great opportunity and given itself a new importance and a new dignity. Getting any idea clearly understood by millions and tens of millions of men and women is an appallingly vast under¬ taking. Generals can give orders, but until an order is comprehended clearly, it cannot be obeyed. Presidents and administrators can make suggestions and appeals, but until the suggestions are understood and the appeals accepted as reasonable and sound, they are without effect. Advertising is the modern procedure for making ideas and suggestions plain and persuasive. The essence of ad¬ vertising is the distribution of information in understand¬ able and pleasing doses. Pictures, type, arguments illus¬ trated by words or photographs, comedy, eloquence, music — all of these human devices to enlist interest, to hold attention, to win approval, to convince, have to be em¬ ployed. These are the familiar ingredients of the art of advertising. They have been used at times poorly and for unworthy causes. They have been used in this war success¬ fully and honorably in great causes. Soon after we entered the war, the national government, after much debate, decided to use advertising as a means of winning public support for war projects. The public was asked to buy War Bonds, to conserve food, to salvage metals and paper. We were urged to take the complicated steps necessary to achieve some degree of economic stabili¬ zation. Young women were called upon to enlist in the Wacs and the Waves and other branches of national service. The response of the public to these appeals has been magnificent. The great objectives of the nation are beingattained. Advertising has performed no miracles, but in practicable human fashion the war goals are being ap¬ proached. So advertising has been firmly established as a vital instrument of public service. The war itself has proved that, through advertising, democratic people can be persuaded quickly to take action necessary to their whole national defense. Other advantages, quite unexpected, have resulted. For much of the advertising the government has paid nothing. While Washington was mediating upon the advantages and political complications of buying advertising for na¬ tional purposes, industry itself organized the War Adver¬ tising Council, composed of advertisers, advertising agen¬ cies, newspapers, magazines, radio, outdoor advertising and other groups, to mobilize the advertising energies of the country for war. Corporations that had been adver¬ tising their own products, voluntarily devoted their money, time and space to the advocacy of public causes designated by the government. During 1943, advertisers actually con¬ tributed over $300,000,000 to carrying on the various infor¬ mational campaigns that our government wishes to present to the American people. Advertisers who gave their money, their energies, and their ingenuity to these efforts were moved by the same unselfish considerations that persuaded other men and women to give whatever they had to the national defense. Few, if any, saw advantages accruing to them from these contributions to the government and to the winning of the war. The businessmen who refrained from advertising their own wares in order to use their space for governmental purposes, however, are being rewarded by a new friendship from their consumers. The manufacturer who used his space or time to help in the war effort has by that fact established a reputation for public service that has given added confidence to his product. Nobody set out at the start of this war to prove that private business enterprise was the most productive of the available ways of making the most weapons in the shortest time, nor did anybody hope to find a new justification for advertising or for advertisers during a world war. What has happened is merely a by-product of relentless concen¬ tration upon the winning of the war. For this very reason, it is the more firmly established. ADVERTISING'S RESPONSIBILITY IN POSTWAR EMPLOYMENT Enclosed with this issue of the NAB Reports is a copy of the talk to the Newspaper Representatives Association of New York, delivered on June 22, 1944, by Neil H. McElroy, vice-president in charge of advertising and promotion for the Procter & Gamble Co., Cincinnati, O. Here is one of the most important statements ever issued on the opportunities and responsibilities of advertising in the postwar world. Moreover, it was released by the lead¬ ing national advertiser. It deserves to be read and re-read as a guide to future conduct. Bearing in mind that the talk was delivered before newspaper representatives, broadcasters can take honest pride in this reference to radio advertising: “Radio advertising has had a tremendous growth in this country at the same time that magazine and newspaper advertising have failed to keep pace. To my mind, there is only one reason for this : That is that radio demon¬ strated its ability to give to a large number of advertisers more sales per dollar of advertising expenditure.” But there is also a word of warning against a smug attitude of complacence on the part of some broadcasters in the following quotation: “Radio advertising will doubtless continue to increase until the economics of the medium change either because of increased costs of time and talent or because the increase in number of radio networks reduces the attainable cover¬ age of any individual program.” In other words, advertisers do not love broadcasting per se. They do like the kind of results radio produces. The moral seems pretty obvious. FMBI BOARD TO MEET A meeting of the FMBI Board is scheduled in Walter Damm’s suite at the Ambassador East, in Chicago, on August 28, at a time to be announced by Damm. WARTIME CENSORSHIP CONTROL COMMITTEE DISBANDS After a meeting between the officers of the Office of Censorship and the Executive Committee of the Foreign Language Radio Wartime Control, it was decided that the aims and purposes of the Control had been achieved, and it was no longer necessary for it to function. The coopera¬ tion and conscientious observance of the regulations of the Code of Wartime Practices by the foreign language broadcasters has made its continuance unnecessary. The Control was formed in May, 1942, and has func¬ tioned since that time, acting as representative for sta¬ tions carrying foreign language programs with the Office of Censorship and other Government agencies. The mem¬ bers of the Committee recently received letters of com¬ mendation from Byron Price, Director of the Office of Censorship, and J. Harold Ryan, former Asst. Director of the Office of Censorship and now President of the NAB. A balance of $500 which remained in the treasury after the dissolution of the Control, was donated to the Ameri¬ can Red Cross after approval of this action was expressed in a poll of the Executive Committee and member stations. The Committee has indicated its willingness to serve again should a need for its services arise. August 25, 1944 — 291