On 8/2/13 7:17 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 02 Aug 2013 17:20:34 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

On 8/2/13 5:08 PM, wrote:

I dunno. I remember when cigarettes were being aggressively marketed on
TV. I wasn't convinced I needed to smoke them. Same with booze. Or meals
from McDonalds. Or sugary soda pop.

Maybe being in the business jaded you to the ads but if they didn't
work, ad agencies would not be able to sell them and it would not be
12-14 minutes of every hour on TV.

It is also why ads cost a couple billion dollars an election cycle
these days. Somebody must believe ads work.


In Detroit, I wrote ads and news release stuff for a reference book
publisher, Motown Records, financial PR, and then in DC, I wrote ads for
Porsche of America, Florists Marketing Council, a couple of unions,
trade associations and ads and PR for Ringling Brothers. No cigs, booze,
crappyburgers or sodapop. Even handled a couple of local car dealers and
a department store. Most of the ads were aimed at building traffic,
e.g., getting customers to the dealer's showroom. After that, it was up
to the salesman or saleswoman. Had a lot of fun doing Mercedes and Fiat
radio commercials for a local dealer. Back then the car dealers were
individually or family owned, much better than dealing with "the suits."

Did you believe your ads were going to coax someone into buying your
product who might not have if they didn't see the ad?
That was the point.


That was your point. Mine was that we didn't sell harmful crap such as
cigs, boozes, unhealthy food.

"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
m...


That was your point. Mine was that we didn't sell harmful crap such as
cigs, boozes, unhealthy food.

--------------------------------

You should run for mayor of NYC.

You're a regular Michael Bloomberg and Anthony Weiner rolled up in
one.

On 8/2/13 8:17 PM, Eisboch wrote:


"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
m...


That was your point. Mine was that we didn't sell harmful crap such as
cigs, boozes, unhealthy food.

--------------------------------

You should run for mayor of NYC.

You're a regular Michael Bloomberg and Anthony Weiner rolled up in one.



Wasn't my choice. I was an ad/pr agency employee back then. The owner(s)
decided what sorts of business they wanted or didn't want. In the ad
biz, hard to think of a sleazier consumer product to sell than cigarettes.

On Fri, 2 Aug 2013 20:17:30 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:



"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
om...


That was your point. Mine was that we didn't sell harmful crap such as
cigs, boozes, unhealthy food.

--------------------------------

You should run for mayor of NYC.

You're a regular Michael Bloomberg and Anthony Weiner rolled up in
one.


===

He's a weiner all right.

In article ,
says...

On 8/2/13 7:17 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 02 Aug 2013 17:20:34 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

On 8/2/13 5:08 PM, wrote:

I dunno. I remember when cigarettes were being aggressively marketed on
TV. I wasn't convinced I needed to smoke them. Same with booze. Or meals
from McDonalds. Or sugary soda pop.

Maybe being in the business jaded you to the ads but if they didn't
work, ad agencies would not be able to sell them and it would not be
12-14 minutes of every hour on TV.

It is also why ads cost a couple billion dollars an election cycle
these days. Somebody must believe ads work.


In Detroit, I wrote ads and news release stuff for a reference book
publisher, Motown Records, financial PR, and then in DC, I wrote ads for
Porsche of America, Florists Marketing Council, a couple of unions,
trade associations and ads and PR for Ringling Brothers. No cigs, booze,
crappyburgers or sodapop. Even handled a couple of local car dealers and
a department store. Most of the ads were aimed at building traffic,
e.g., getting customers to the dealer's showroom. After that, it was up
to the salesman or saleswoman. Had a lot of fun doing Mercedes and Fiat
radio commercials for a local dealer. Back then the car dealers were
individually or family owned, much better than dealing with "the suits."

Did you believe your ads were going to coax someone into buying your
product who might not have if they didn't see the ad?
That was the point.


That was your point. Mine was that we didn't sell harmful crap such as
cigs, boozes, unhealthy food.

Cars can be quite harmful.... Circuses routinely abuse animals.

On 8/2/13 10:04 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 02 Aug 2013 19:50:13 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

On 8/2/13 7:17 PM, wrote:


Did you believe your ads were going to coax someone into buying your
product who might not have if they didn't see the ad?
That was the point.


That was your point. Mine was that we didn't sell harmful crap such as
cigs, boozes, unhealthy food.

Nobody said you personally. Perhaps you didn't sell those products
because you had a moral problem or maybe they just never made you the
right offer.
It still does not change my original statement that advertising and
lawyers are not doing us any good. They simply raise the price of
everything.


For common items, advertising increases the volume sold and in the good
old days, that meant lower prices. These are the days of the perpetual
corporate rip-off, so who really knows.

The several agencies I worked for had some standards against what the
owners believed were harmful products, although one of them was
interested in representing a winery.

I still remember the "research" I did for a car dealer who didn't want
to pay for research on which local radio stations to include in the ad
buys. I got him to have his service writers turn on the car radios of
customers bringing their cars in and note the stations to which the
devices were tuned. That was a fun account, a successful dealership that
had two locations and handled Mercedes and...gulp...FIAT.

On 8/3/2013 7:12 AM, F.O.A.D. wrote:
On 8/2/13 10:04 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 02 Aug 2013 19:50:13 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

On 8/2/13 7:17 PM, wrote:


Did you believe your ads were going to coax someone into buying your
product who might not have if they didn't see the ad?
That was the point.


That was your point. Mine was that we didn't sell harmful crap such as
cigs, boozes, unhealthy food.

Nobody said you personally. Perhaps you didn't sell those products
because you had a moral problem or maybe they just never made you the
right offer.
It still does not change my original statement that advertising and
lawyers are not doing us any good. They simply raise the price of
everything.


For common items, advertising increases the volume sold and in the good
old days, that meant lower prices. These are the days of the perpetual
corporate rip-off, so who really knows.

The several agencies I worked for had some standards against what the
owners believed were harmful products, although one of them was
interested in representing a winery.

I still remember the "research" I did for a car dealer who didn't want
to pay for research on which local radio stations to include in the ad
buys. I got him to have his service writers turn on the car radios of
customers bringing their cars in and note the stations to which the
devices were tuned. That was a fun account, a successful dealership that
had two locations and handled Mercedes and...gulp...FIAT.

He certainly got what he paid for.