Sponsor (Apr-June 1964)

Inside SPONSOR "When copy unacceptable under our standards is acceptable in other media, our job is all the tougher." That's the essence of what Code Authority director of the NAB, Howard H. Bell, told members and guests of the Poor Richard Club in Philadelphia last week. But he said more. "I urge our colleagues in the print media to join with us in this endeavor, to urge the advertising community to accept what we have set out to achieve and to work with us, as many agencies and advertisers are doing at the present time," he said. While the type tyros who heard him were not likely to react like kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar, I'm sure that his message was understood, particularly that "it's not really a question of whether one medium is licensed and another is not." Like a modern John Donne, Bell was tolling a message for all the "thees" in the advertising firmament . . . "Contrary to the belief of some, no medium is impervious to the hand of government. Nor is it concern for the government meddling alone. The best self interest in advertising should hear clearly his call to "share a common role to serve the public's interest and declare ourselves for industry-wide professional standards to protect the public's confidence. To destroy that confidence is to undermine advertising's effectiveness wherever it appears." Rather than just plead for the cause, SPONSOR has begun to look and listen for specifics to spotlight. We'll pin them down for you as we find them. It will be particularly interesting to report on what the A.A.A.A. research on the consumer judgment of advertising will reveal. ;it the end of the month. 555 FIFTH Gum. £fc^ WBT sales repeat? We are the national advertising agency for National All-Jersey and The American Jersey Cattle club. They have asked me to contact you for permission to reprint in their publication, Jersey Journal, your feature, "WBT milks a good sales gimmick," in the March 23 issue of sponsor. They would, of course, credit the article to your publication. Owen Carroll Byer & Bowman Advertising Columbus, Ohio Happy to oblige — Ed. "Real Issue" Touched Since the release of the government report on smoking, many thousands of words have been written and spoken on the subject. But we at WXLW Indianapolis felt that in many cases the real issue was never touched upon. Therefore, we prepared an editorial on the subject, which we thought was one way in which broadcasters could aid their audiences. We told the public: "At this very time, the FTC is studying methods of controlling the advertising of cigarettes. The advertising profession is exploring new ways of presenting the product. The tobacco industry is spending thousands of dollars in research in an effort to answer the results of the report on smoking. The NAB Radio and Tv Code Boards are hammering out new controls because proposed guidlines are 'not adequate to meet the need.' "All of this activity and additional restriction because of a government report! "Has anyone ever written a go\ernment report on the abuses of the automobile in America? Has anyone made an effort to label all automobile advertising as an implement that could injure and possibly destroy the careless user' Whal docs the FTC say about such label 12 ing and restriction in automobile advertising and promotion? How many more Americans were maimed or killed each calendar year ir ij abuses of driving as compared tcjj smoking? What will the Radio anclj Tv Code Boards do with this much more deadly problem? "Someplace in the American scheme of things there was, at one time, the right and privilege oi freedom of choice. "Somewhere at the beginning ol man's choice the word Freedom was born. It originally came from the contraction of a phrase — Free to choose one's doom. Whatever happened to Freedom?" Robert D. Enoch President WXLW Indianapolis, hid. Costs & controls As old subscribers to your spun sor magazine, we will be grateful to you for the following information. We are interested in buying the latest out or considered best book or publication dealing with Costs and Control of Operations in a tv radio station and network. Kindly give us the name of such a book with its publisher's name and address, for us to order it. Carlos Touchc Telesistema Mcxicano, Mexico City. Mexico NAB, RAB, network libraries and the New York public library sug-t gest these possibilities: The first (overs accounting procedures only. while the second pertains to general administration. Ogden, Warde B.: The TV Business: Accounting Problems of a drouth Industry. Ronald Tress,\ N. Y., 1961. $6. (The author is a partner in the widely known accounting firm of Trice Waterhouse.) Reinsch. J. Leonard and Ellis, Elmo: Radio Station Management. Harper. V. Y., 2nd revised edition. 1960. $6.50. SPONSOK