Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1962)

members look upon GMA as their organization to provide leadership with the trade, the public, the government, communications, press, and so on. Growth traced. Our industry has had a fabulous growth, especially within the last two decades. It grew from a $16 billion annual business to an estimated $80 billion in 1962. This growth did not just happen because people have to eat, or because of population increases. Had we depended on these two factors only, our total annual food consumption bill would probably people and to our total economy. Today's homemaker has the distinct privilege of selecing her groceries from an assortment of some 8,000 items instead of a limited selection of 1,000 items as before. Two-thirds of today's items are either new or were materially improved within the past 10 years. She prepares her daily meals of nutritious, tasty foods for a family of four, in 1 y2 hours compared with an earlier time requirement of 5 1/9 hours. Today's food products, in many instances, are far superior in nutri Plllllllillllillllllllliilllllllllllllllllllllll!illlllllll^ Ominous warning by Willis to tv managements: "OUR manufacturers in 1962 will invest $1.2 billion in advertising. . . . I wish I could say . . . nice things about the relationships of our advertisers with tv. Even though the networks receive about 65% of their revenues from GMA members, there is lots to be desired in our relationships ivith their top managements." flllllllllllllll!lllllll!llllliHllllllll!il!lllllllllllllllllllllllllliilllll!IIM now be $40 billion instead of $80 billion. This extra growth resulted from many things . . . good management at all levels, fine teamwork among all segments of the industry, heavy investment in research, new and improved products, modernization of plants, new equipment, automation, and very importantly, advertising and promotions. It was the combination of these many factors that helped to promote this extra growth. This industry has made great contributions to the American tion, tastiness, safety, variety, and reliability of quality. Today's new household items with their built-in maid service provide many time-saving devices which have materially lightened the homemaker's chores. Largely because of the availability of safe, tasty, nutritious foods, and the public's greater understanding and appreciation of the value of good eating, the American people, as a nation, are healthier now than ever before. Children are taller. Sports records are continuously broken and the life span is constantly in creasing. The American consumer never had it so good. While our government's over-all cost-of-living index shows an increase of 17% within the last 10 years, exclusive of food, we are highly pleased to say that the cost of our government's standard "grocery basket" costs no more today at the supermarket than it did 10 years ago. This standard "grocery basket" set up by the government contains some 80 selected basic grocery items carefully weighted as to consumer usage. It is the composite cost of this "grocery basket" that the government uses as a monthly measurement of food prices at the grocery store. Whenever we make the statement that today's grocery basket costs no more than it did 10 years ago, it naturally raises eyebrows for some people spend more dollars now at the supermarket than ever before. There usually is a practical explanation for this. The family may be larger today, and growing children require more food. People are also buying different and better foods. Additionally, they buy many other items at the supermarket: magazines, cigarettes, stockings, kitchen utensils, etc . . . all are paid for out of the grocery budget. Recently, you have seen several magazine and newspaper articles on "Why Our Food Is a Bargain." That is a correct statement, as it relates to the over-all cost-of-living items, and especially when measured in terms of hourly wages related to purchasing power. Ten years ago the American factory employee worked 51 hours to earn enough money with which to buy the government's monthly market basket of farm foods. This year he earns enough money from 37 hours of work to buy the same standard "market basket." He has the income of 14 hours work for spending for other things ... a real contribution to our total economy. In this country, we spend about 20 cents of our dollar income, after taxes, for food. This leaves 80(£ available for buying other things. In Russia they need about 50 cents of their dollar to buy foods. {Please turn to page. 51) 28 SPONSOR/26 NOVEMBER 1962