Sorry, but I must say one word more about the radio in connection with
advertising and it is lack of eye-value. Copywriter though I he, I must still
admit the great worth of the right illustration to an advertisement. Giving
the radio all the advantage the fact remains that while it may be able to
attract the ear with entertainment before it assaidts it with some advertising
message which in most instances has no relation to the free show which
accompanies it, it still lacks ability to picture the product or to picture any
scene which dramatises the product.
It takes the picture maker to present to the mind, by way of its most
registering force, the eye, the true impression of the product, the true services
of the product. Brush, pencil and camera they possess abilities the radio
cannot duplicate. As the eye is the most reliable agent of the mind it is the
one to which the mind gives most heed, most response. The mind remembers
the messages transmitted to it by the eye longer than it does those sent to it
by any of its other agents.
So let us be aware of the fact that because of the importance of commercial
art to advertising its responsibility is proportionately great.
THE PACKAGE
Most advertisements are concerned with things. Even when that which
is purchased takes the title of a service there is usually a thing involved in the
operation of that service. A telephone instrument is useless unless it is
connected with some means of voice transmission yet without the instru
ment, all the elaborate wiring, all the vast systems of switchboards, human
and mechanical operations, control and direction would he just as useless as
the unconnected instrument. To the consumer, the telephone instrument is
the package in which the telej)hone service is delivered.
To the motorist, the motor car is the package in which a means of
transportation is delivered. Hardly do I need to go farther in that direction.
You see the point I am trying to make. Practically everything advertised
is possessed of some form of package. We need to consider that fact and not
confine our packaging outlook to tins and tubes and cartons.
Modern publicity has made use of that freedom very effectively in many
instances. It can do so in many more instancesprovided modern publicity
can persuade the advertiser to make and keep his package modern. Some of
the most painful results which have offended the consumer eye, when it has
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