Two on a Lively Art

Some years ago a really great advertising man, the late William Cole Esty, was told that certain people didn’t like the commercials in the Camel cigarette radio shows. “I don’t give a damn whether they like them or not,” said Mr. Esty, “so long as they hear them.” He was stating a fundamental truth: advertising is an intrusive act. I do not see why this fact should be softened, and neither does Nicholas Samstag, Director of Promotion for Time, the Weekly Newsmagazine, who has recently issued a study of the subject called Persuasion for Profit (University of Oklahoma, $3.75).

Mr. Samstag practices a specialized kind of selling, which is not always identified as such—a side show, as he puts it, Under the main advertising tent. He is a promotion man. Promotion men seek to circulate ideas to the benefit of their clients or the companies for which they work, and they do this without buying direct advertising. Mr. Samstag Writes in fascinating detail of how these tilings are done at Time. And with engaging frankness, he tells us how he asked himself the question, in middle life and a success, if he had put in all these years at a genuinely rewarding occupation. He gives us the answer of a sensible man, and it is, “on the whole, yes.” Indeed, on some pages he almost reminds the reader of Sandburg’s peddler who was “terribly glad that God made fish,” so he could sell them.

FF

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Some years ago a really great advertising man, the late William Cole Esty, was told that certain people didn’t like the commercials in the Camel cigarette radio shows. “I don’t give a damn whether they like them or not,” said Mr. Esty, “so long as they hear them.” He was stating a fundamental truth: advertising is an intrusive act. I do not see why this fact should be softened, and neither does Nicholas Samstag, Director of Promotion for Time, the Weekly Newsmagazine, who has recently issued a study of the subject called Persuasion for Profit (University of Oklahoma, $3.75).

Mr. Samstag practices a specialized kind of selling, which is not always identified as such—a side show, as he puts it, Under the main advertising tent. He is a promotion man. Promotion men seek to circulate ideas to the benefit of their clients or the companies for which they work, and they do this without buying direct advertising. Mr. Samstag Writes in fascinating detail of how these tilings are done at Time. And with engaging frankness, he tells us how he asked himself the question, in middle life and a success, if he had put in all these years at a genuinely rewarding occupation. He gives us the answer of a sensible man, and it is, “on the whole, yes.” Indeed, on some pages he almost reminds the reader of Sandburg’s peddler who was “terribly glad that God made fish,” so he could sell them.